Trusting the Holy Spirit

[FutureAndAHope]

Mat 10:18-20 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

One key I believe to witnessing is allowing the Holy Spirit to speak. We may have an opening line, or small talk to get a conversation going, but it is always good to not trust in methods. Jesus told His disciples not to premediate what they would say, but allow the Spirit to control their speech.

Allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us does not mean that everything will be a word of knowledge, God may lead us down a path that is purely natural. It just pays to be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

As an example, once I was out witnessing, and after saying "hi" to a guy, and asking him how he was doing, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to ask him if he was part of a band. He said no. Then said that he was a part of a church band. So he was a part of a band. But it bought up the topic of church and led to a brief spiritual conversation.

Sometimes the little natural thoughts we get come from God. I often say "Are you ... ", or "do you...", I don't often come out and say "You are a ...". Once I was witnessing and a guy came up to me, I felt he was a Suni Muslim, so I just said "Are you a Muslim? He said yes. So I said a Suni? He replied yes. Again it opened up a conversation about God.

For me the voice of God is not pushy, it is just very natural, very safe. That is not to say God does not sometimes ask hard things, rather when witnessing God seeds thoughts that seem 100% natural, thoughts you would not be scared to ask. The point is not to prove any point, it is not to prove we can get a word from God, God may not give anything prophetic, it is just giving God the freedom to tailor our speech to the needs of the individual.

 

[Blade]

Luke 11 13...have you received the holy Spirit since you believed..

 

[1Tonne]

I do agree with letting the Holy Spirit lead you. But in many cases, especially when starting out doing street evangelism or 1 to 1, you are best to have prepared yourself. This too is biblical. To be prepared to give a defence for your faith.
When I first started doing 1 to 1 at the parks, I did not prepare myself because I believed that the Holy Spirit would direct my words. In the end I stuffed up big time and it was rather embarrassing. I learnt from this that it was good to be prepared just in case.
So don't be afraid to write a script out and memorize it. You may start with it and then the Holy Spirit may lead you another way in the conversation.
A script that leads to and tells the Gospel can be very powerful. It can be just like memorizing a memory verse and then speaking that out. After all, if you are saying the Gospel, there is power within that. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.