Anxity in evangalism...

[InWhomInHim]

Hi there,
I would like to start off this thread nice and slow. I am looking to edify and be edified by individuals that have anxiety before, during and or after evangelizing. To tell you more about myself, I am a men's Bible Study leader at a local mission in Colorado. I suffer from social anxiety, and low self esteem, and also I have difficulty opening conversations to strangers. It really is a task for me to do so without feeling anxious. I use to nurse my anxiety as an unbeliever by substance abuse, so I know much about the shackles of addiction. I am free from substance abuse, and I rely on the Lord's grace that is sufficient for me to get though the most difficult of trials.

I want to share with you the Victories that God is teaching me, He is showing me how to overcome my anxiety via the Word and resting in Christ! To rest is critical in every aspect of our Christian walk. I am not talking about getting enough sleep here folks, by the way is important , but I am talking about faith rest here! Woot woot! Rejoyce y'all, this is good stuff here.

So, what is this amazing thing called faith rest here, and why am I fired up about it, and why should you care? I will post more on faith rest in my following blogs.

I have some great victories in these area (glory to God in the Highest) and I absolutely know that:

1. Iron sharpens Iron
2. Romans 8:28 ALT But we know that to the ones loving God all things work together for good, to the ones being called according to [His] purpose.
3. I have some sound teaching to share with those suffering from anxiety.

I look forward to speaking with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ about these topics. Thanks!

Take care and God Bless

-InWhomInHim

 

[InWhomInHim]

The Complete Green Letters: A Guide to Spiritual Growth
By Miles J. Stanford

Chapter 15—Rest
​

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest” (Heb. 4:9–11). So many of the life-giving truths in the Word consist of two intertwining halves that are inseparable. “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.” As for labor, it is true that there is a great deal of struggling and searching and pleading and agonizing in the process of discovering and understanding truths fitted to our needs. And much of the same pathway is trod (or crawled) in an effort to appropriate and enter in. All this is not in vain; it is necessary. But it is not the key that opens the door to reality. Rest is the key to entering into rest!

In the important but exhausting labor process we come to see the needed truth; we become sure of our facts; we begin to realize something of what is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ. The appropriation of, the resting in, the reality must be on the basis of faith, not struggle and labor. We are told to reckon, to count on, what we now know to be true of us in Him as set forth in the Word. “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15). We are told to quietly and steadily look to our Father in confident trust and thankfully receive that which He has given to us in His Son. “These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest shine hand, they are filled with good” (Ps. 104:27, 28).

Norman Grubb shares a good word on the principle of labor and rest: “Take as an example the learning of a foreign language. You are faced with a series of hieroglyphics in a book, you hear a mealy of sounds around, which mean absolutely nothing. Yet you know that it is a language that can be learned. More than that, you have gone there to learn it. Now that is the first rung in the ladder of faith. However weak or waveringly, in your heart you do believe that you can and will get it. Otherwise, obviously you wouldn’t try to learn it. So you plod on. Many a time faith and courage fail, the mind is weary and the heart is heavy, and you almost give up. But not quite. To give up is faith’s unforgiveable sin. On you go at it. Months pass. It seems largely to go in one ear and out the other. Then—the length of time depends on the difficulty of the language and the ability and industry of the pupil of course—a miracle seems to happen. The day or period comes when, without your hardly realizing it, what you are seeking has found you; what you are trying to grasp has grasped you! You just begin automatically to speak the language, to think it, to hear it. What was an incomprehensible jumble of sounds without, has become an ordered language within the mind.

“So, in the spiritual labor of faith, the moment or period comes when we know. Every vestige of strain and labor is gone. Indeed, faith, as such, is not felt or recognized any more. The channel is lost sight of in the abundance of the supply. As we came to know that we were children of God by an inner certainty, a witness of the Spirit in our spirits; so now we come to know that the old ‘I’ is crucified with Christ, the new ‘I’ has Christ as its permanent life, spirit with Spirit have been fused into one; the branch grafted into the vine; the member joined to the body, the problem of abiding becomes as natural as breathing.”

Thank God for the needs that just will not allow the hungry heart to stop short of finding them met in Him. It is necessary to remember a fundamental principle in the spiritual life: that God only reveals spiritual truths to meet spiritual needs. How many rest on the initial stage of the new birth: “Born again … of incorruptible [seed] by the word of God” (I Pet. 1:23) and fail to press on to know “Begotten … by the resurrection of Jesus Christ … to an inheritance” (vv. 3, 4).

Through the years the hungry-hearted believer finds that he has been brought a long way, and each step of the way has been personally experienced. This is reality which springs from faith founded on the facts of the Word. “The more clearly we enter by faith into objective truth, or what is true of us in Christ, the deeper, more experiential, and practical, will be the subjective work in us, and the more complete will be the manifestation of the moral effect in our life and character” (C.H.M.).

Yes, brought a long way, walking a step at a time, by faith: The rest of faith concerning our justification; the rest of faith concerning our acceptance; the rest of faith concerning our position in Christ Jesus; the rest of faith concerning our identification with Christ in death, resurrection and ascension. Each step established in the rest of faith brings us to the next one. Each must be settled before the next can be rested on.

It cannot be too strongly stated that unless the believer is firmly established in the steps of Romans 1–5, he cannot truly enter and rest on the truths of Romans 6–8, no matter how many special meetings and conferences he attends or so-called revivals he becomes involved in.

“Dr. James of Albany, who was used to bring hundreds into the deeper truths, declared that he usually found that ‘failure in the higher stages of the Christian life was due to imperfect understanding and acceptance of the gospel of salvation in its fundamental principles.’ It is a rare thing to be able to sit down and teach, because in most settings today one is limited to dealing with ‘the first principles of the oracles of God,’ and can go little further than the basic facts of the new birth. You cannot deepen spiritual life that is not there! You will only build askew if the foundations are not properly laid! A lack of appreciation of the wonder of a full salvation in Christ opens the door to every kind of overbalance and spells continual frustration and failure” (J.C. Metcalfe).

Often believers manage to trust God for truths they need, only to slip from grace over into the legal realm in seeking to produce the particular truth in their life or service. Once in possession of a truth, we are to rest—He will produce.

“In actual experience, when we have apprehended our deliverance through death with Christ, the self-life often appears more alive than ever! Just here God would have us stand firm (rest) upon His written Word. The increasing revelation proves the surrender to the cross to be real, because the Holy Spirit takes us at our word and reveals all that He has seen lying underneath—reveals it that it may be dealt with at the cross. Our part is to yield our wills, and take God’s side against ourselves, whilst the Holy Spirit applies the death of the cross to all that is contrary to Him, that it may be really true that we who are of Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Gal. 5:24).

“The faith that receives from the hand of the Father is in two stages, and we are not to give up just because the struggle-and-labor phase does not produce the prize. ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’ And, do not let us forget, faith begins by being a labor (Heb. 4:11) or fight (I Tim. 6:12), although it is consummated in a rest (Heb. 4:3). That is to say, the first stage of faith is always the battle of taking hold by the will, heart, and intelligence of some truth or promise which is not real to us in experience, and declaring it to be ours in spite of appearances. We do not appear to be dead unto sin and alive unto God. We are told to believe it, and so we dare to do so and declare so. A thousand times, maybe, faith will be assaulted and fall: unbelief will say ‘nonsense,’ and we shall belie our declaration of faith; but the labor of faith means that we deliberately return to the assault. Once again we believe and declare it. This we persist in doing. As we thus follow in the steps of those who ‘by faith and patience inherit the promises,’ a new divine thing will happen within us. The Spirit will cooperate with our faith (as He is invisibly doing all the time), and to faith will be added assurance. Labor will be replaced by rest. The consummation of faith has been reached” (N. Grubb).

“True activity is that which springs out of, and is ever accompanied by, rest. It is only as we know what it is to be ‘still,’ that we are ready to ‘go forward’ ‘We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go’” (E. H.).

“Let us take care lest we get out of soul-rest in seeking further blessing. God cannot work whilst we are anxious, even about our spiritual experience. Let us take Him at His Word, and leave the fulfilment of it to Him.”
Stanford, Miles Stanford,

(Garland, Texas: Electronic edition by Galaxie Software) 1999.

If anyone has questions regarding this chapter, please get back to me. I want to go over this stuff with you. I teach the Green Letters everyother Tuesday at my Church.

Take care my brothers and sisters. May the God of All Comfort richly bless you with peace that passeth all understanding.

-InWhomInHim

 

[CoCrucified]

Dear InWhomInHim,

This is an excellent topic. I have anxiety in evangelism as well, and I expect most Christians who actively share the Gospel, experience this to one degree or another.

I believe the Holy Spirit often makes an appropriate opening for us. We need to be keenly aware of what is being said around us. If someone brings up religion, that's a green light for being able to present the Gospel. A mention of religion by another individual expresses a desire to converse about spiritual things.

Witnessing to strangers is entirely different than sharing the Gospel with someone we know on a day-to-day basis. When we work with someone, go to school with someone or have other frequent contact, they get to know us and our testimony (good or bad), and this will have a lot to do with how we can discuss spiritual things with them. When someone knows a bit about you, they might become curious and ask about your church, Bible studies or other aspects of your faith. This is a perfect opening to share the Gospel with them.

Just recently I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with two people I had just met that same day. I normally find it nearly impossible to witness after first meeting people, but both of these individuals mentioned religion, and that was my clue the Holy Spirit had opened the door for me to share the Gospel.

I believe it's important to allow the Holy Spirit to empower us for service. If we try to witness without "abiding in Christ" our efforts will be powerless and we will be vulnerable to attacks from the enemy. I believe we abide in Christ by:
#1 Being in fellowship with God by claiming 1 John 1:9. i.e. confessing any known sin
#2 Knowing our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. (Romans chapter 6 and Gal. 2:20)
#3 Considering (reckoning) our old sin nature (old man) to be powerless in our lives. It was crucified with Christ! (Romans 6:11a)
#4 Considering (reckoning) ourselves to be alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:11b) The very life of Christ and the power of God that raised Him from the dead are ours through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

If we are abiding in the Vine (Christ) we will have His power for service. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13)

If we witness through His power, we should be free of anxiety.

I think this speaks of something different, but the principle of Him giving us the words to say when we need them applies:
"But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit."
(Mar 13:11 NKJV)

I'm looking forward to more discussion on this topic.

CoCrucified (and CoResurrected too!)

 

[InWhomInHim]

Knowing out Identification With Christ

I think that it would be good to post some sound teaching on the subject of Identification with Christ. As with all teaching, it must be proved in the Holy Bible. And we as believers have to realize that it takes time to appropriate and learn to rest in this foundational teaching. Personally I found enough blank pages in the back of my Bible to write this down. It helps me to remember it, and it is good for reference. Please share this with other believers, it is important!

-InWhomInHim

The Positional Truths

The Believer’s Unfathomable Riches in Christ


Introduction
When anyone accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior they are instantaneously enriched with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3) and declared to be complete in Christ (Col. 2:10). In fact, the Apostle Paul refers to these blessings as “the unfathomable riches of Christ” in Ephesians 3:8. “Unfathomable” is the Greek anexichniastos which means “past finding out, unsearchable, not to be tracked out.” The idea is that the believer’s blessings in Christ are “too deep to be measured.” Many of these blessings, however, are clearly defined for us in the Bible. When you receive Jesus Christ by faith, at least the following 34 things are unconditionally promised to you as a member of the body of Christ, the Church, as stated in God’s holy Word.However, if you never receive Jesus Christ by faith as the only begotten Son of God who died on the cross in your place to pay the penalty for your sins, and rose again to ever reign with God the Father, then you will forfeit these awesome blessings.

The Position and Possessions of the Believer
1. In the Eternal Plan of God
a. Foreknown: Romans 8:29; 1 Peter 1:2
b. Elect of God: 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:2, Romans 8:33, Colossians 3:12,Titus 1:1
c. Predestined: Ephesians 1:11, Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:5
d. Chosen: Matthew 22:14; 1 Peter 2:4
e. Called: 1 Thessalonians 5:24
2. Reconciled
a. Reconciled by God: 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Colossians 1:20
b. Reconciled to God: Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:20
3. Redeemed: Colossians 1:14; 1 Peter 1:18, Romans 3:24
4. No Condemnation: Romans 8:1, John 5:24; 1 Corinthians 11:32, John 3:18
5. Related to God Through Propitiation (the satisfaction of God’s holiness):
Romans 3:24-26; 1 John 2:2
6. All Sins Removed by His Efficacious Blood: 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 4:25
7. Vitally Joined together with Christ for Judgment of the Old Self “Unto a New Walk”
a. Crucified with Christ: Romans 6:6
b. Dead with Christ: Romans 6:8; 1 Peter 2:24
c. Buried with Christ: Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12
d. Raised with Christ to Walk By a New Life Principle: Romans 6:4, Colossians 3:1
8. Free from the Law
a. Dead to the Law: Romans 7:4
b. Delivered from the Law: Romans 7:6, Galatians 3:25, Romans 6:14; 2 Corinthians 3:11
9. Children of God
a. Born Again: John 3:7, John 1:12; 1 Peter 1:23
b. Quickened: Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13,
c. Children of God: 1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 6:18, Galatians 3:26
d. A New Creation: 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15, Ephesians 2:10
e. Regeneration: Titus 3:5, John 13:10; 1 Corinthians 6:11
10. Adopted (placed as adult sons): Romans 8:15, 23; Galatians 4:5-7


11. Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ
a. Made the Righteousness of God in Christ: Romans 3:22; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 3:9
b. Sanctified Positionally (Positionally set apart in Christ): 1 Corinthians 1:30, 6:11
(not experiential sanctification per John 17:17 or the final perfection of the believer per Ephesians 5:27 and 1 John 3:3.)
c. Perfected Forever: Hebrews 10:14
d. Made Accepted in the Beloved: Ephesians 1:6; 1 Peter 2:5
e. Made Qualified: Colossians 1:12
12. Justified: Romans 5:1. Romans 3:24, Romans 8:30; 1 Corinthians 6:11, Titus 3:7
13. Forgiven all Trespass: Colossians 1:14, Colossians 2:13, 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, 4:32 (A distinction is necessary here, between the complete and abiding judicial forgiveness and the oft-repeated forgiveness within the family of God. See 1 John 1:9)
14. Made Close: Ephesians 2:13 (There is a corresponding experience, see James 4:8 and Hebrews 10:22.)
15. Delivered From the Powers of Darkness: Colossians 1:13, 2:13-15

 

[InWhomInHim]

Position, Possessions, and Privileges of Identification With Christ
Part 2
​

16. Translated into the Kingdom: Colossians 1:13
17. On the Rock, Christ Jesus: 1 Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 1:21
18. A Gift from God the Father to Christ: John 17:6, 11-12, 20; John 10:29
19. Circumcised in Christ: Colossians 2:11, Philippians 3:3, Romans 2:29
20. Partakers of the Holy and Royal Priesthood
a. Holy Priesthood: 1 Peter 2:5
b. Royal Priesthood: 1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6


21. Chosen Generation, A Holy Nation, and a People of God’s Own Possession
1 Peter 2:9, Titus 2:14
22. Having Access to God: Ephesians 2:18, Romans 5:2, Hebrews 4:14-16, 10:19-20
23. Within the “Much More” Care of God: Romans 5:9-10
a. Objects of His Love: Ephesians 2:4, 5:2
b. Objects of His Grace: (1) For Salvation: Ephesians 2:8 (2) For security: Romans 5:2; 1 Peter 1:5 (3) For service: Ephesians 2:7 (4) For instruction: Titus 2:12-13
c. Objects of His Power: Ephesians 1:19, Philippians 2:13
d. Objects of His Faithfulness: Hebrews 13:5
e. Objects of His Peace: Philippians 4:6-7, Colossians 3:15
f. Objects Of His Comfort: 2 Thessalonians 2:16
h. Objects of His Personal Care: 1 Peter 5:7
i. Objects of His Intercession: Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 9:24
24. His Inheritance: Ephesians 1:18
25. Our Inheritance: 1 Peter 1:4, Ephesians 1:14, Colossians 3:24, Hebrews 9:15
26. A Heavenly Association: Ephesians 2:6
a. Partners with Christ in Life: Colossians 3:4; 1 John 5:11-12
b. Partners with Christ in Position: Ephesians 2:6
c. Partners with Christ in Service: 1 Corinthians 1:9, 3:9; 2 Corinthians 3:6, 5:20, 6:4
d. Partners with Christ in Suffering: 2 Timothy 2:12, Philippians 1:29; 1 Peter 2:20, 4:12-13; 1 Thessalonians 3:3, Romans 8:18, Colossians 1:24
27. Heavenly Citizens: Philippians 3:20, Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 12:22, Luke 10:20
28. Of the Family and Household of God: Ephesians 2:19, 3:6, Galatians 6:10
29. Light in the Lord: Ephesians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5
30. Vitally United to the Father, Son and Spirit
a. In God: 1 Thessalonians 1:1, Ephesians 4:6
b. In Christ: John 14:20, Colossians 1:27 (1) A member in His Body: 1 Corinthians 12:13, (2) A branch in the Vine: John 15:5, (3) A stone in the Building: Ephesians 2:19-22, (4) A sheep in the Flock: John 10:27-29, (5) A part of His Bride: Ephesians 5:25-27, (6) A priest of the kingdom of priests: 1 Peter 1:5-9, (7) A saint of the “new generation”: 1 Peter 2:9
c. In the Spirit: Romans 8:9; Compare “the Spirit in you”: 1 Corinthians 2:12


31. Blessed with the “First-Fruits” and the “Earnest” of the Spirit
a. Born of the Spirit: John 3:6
b. Baptized by Means of the Spirit: 1 Corinthians 12:13
c. Indwelt by the Spirit: 1 Corinthians 6:19, 2:12, John 7:39, Romans 5:5, 8:9; 2 Corinthians 1:21, Galatians 4:6; 1 John 3:24
d. Sealed with the Spirit: Ephesians 1:13, 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:22
e. Anointed with the Spirit: 2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:20
32. Glorified: Romans 8:30
33. Complete in Him: Colossians 2:10
34. Possessing Every Spiritual Blessing: Ephesians 1:3

Adapted from Systematic Theology, Volume III, Soteriology, pp. 234-266, by Lewis Sperry Chafer, Dallas Seminary Press by J. Hampton Keathley III, a 1966 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and former pastor of 28 years. He wrote for the foundation and taught Greek at Moody Northwest (an extension of Moody Bible Institute) in Spokane, Washington. ©1996 Hampton Keathley III.

Anyone is free to reproduce this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s consent. Verse text removed for brevity.