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Serapha

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JesusFreak91 said:
Why do lots of people act all shy and "hidden" when it comes to discussing Jesus with non-christians? It happens to me all the time.I think it might be because I think they wont exept my conversation.Do you know what I mean?:sorry:
Hi there!

:wave:

A lot of times, the person doesn't feel that they are well-prepared enough to hold their own in religious conversations. Sometimes, the personality of the other person will make you feel too intimidated to witness Christianity to them.



It happens to me all the time.

Well, you just need to practice with a friend until you feel comfortable talking to anyone about the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.


*smile* all the time, and you won't have to bring up the subject, people will ask you why you smile all the time... then you have the opportunity to tell them how good God is and how He changed your life.


~serapha~
 
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Athanasian Creed

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Some times too the person witnessing realizes the importance and responsibility of telling others about Jesus and doesn't want to say the wrong thing !! Sometimes i think the only time a person will hear the Gospel is from me and that, at times, gets the old heart racing. :eek:

That's why God's Word tells us to "pray without ceasing" and to always be ready to "give an account" as to what we believe AND why ! ;)

Still, there is no greater "high" then one you receive when you tell others about Jesus. :bow:


Ray :wave:
 
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Greetings and Blessing be upon you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.



Serapha said:
A lot of times, the person doesn't feel that they are well-prepared enough to hold their own in religious conversations. Sometimes, the personality of the other person will make you feel too intimidated to witness Christianity to them.
This about sums up most of the situations when people get cold feet talking about God and the salvation of Christ.

Do we really think we can handle it? Are we up this? Am I going to make a fool of myself?

These questions race though our mind and sometimes force us to submit to silence. But make no mistake JesusFreak91, sometimes silence is more powerful then any words that can be said.

God Bless.

Vigil.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” (1 Peter 5:8)
 
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mshupe1959

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One reason might be that we are afraid of rejection. Have you ever been afraid to talk to a girl because you were afraid she might laugh at you or make fun of you? It is kind of the same way. We are, all of us afraid of rejection of any kind. Believe it or not, that is a pride problem.. It is our pride that gets hurt when "we" are rejected. It is sometimes hard to realize though that when we speak the gospel, it is Jesus and the gospel that is being rejected and not us. Also keep in mind that when we do as we're told in the great commission, we are in good company. That was not a request, it was a command by Jesus as He ascended. When you leave the house for the day to go to school, usually the last thing your parents say is the thing they want you to remember the most. I think it was the same thing when Jesus ascended. It was the last thing He told us to remember. It must have been pretty important..
Last thing..Should we have more fear of man, or God. Eternity is a much longer time than our time on earth
 
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TheMainException

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Satan does that to us...it's something scary because we have to say something that we believe in. It's close to our heart. We are afraid that they will shove it in our face, hate us, curse us, or spread rumors about us. We are afraid because we have not completely focused our attention on Christ the way we were meant to. We need to come to a point where what others think doesn't matter one bit. It's a hard place to get to...so keep working at it!
 
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Faith In God

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JesusFreak91 said:
Why do lots of people act all shy and "hidden" when it comes to discussing Jesus with non-christians? It happens to me all the time.I think it might be because I think they wont exept my conversation.Do you know what I mean?:sorry:
:) they fear man more than God. Be bold and remember that you don't live for this world, but for God and His kingdom.
 
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Sharky

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I've witnessed to a few people and it's interestnig you know.

I know how they feel, i'm not claiming to know it all but my guess is that people don't like absolutes. If they hear about God or stuff like that, usually they get nervous.

Personally my way around that (if yuo are preaching the Gospel) is to sorta say it in a way taht you are friendly to them. But also, with a sense of urgency. They usually respond to friendliness.
 
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carine

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Yes I know what you mean. For me I dont like rejection I think prayer is the answer ie to pray for those people before speaking to them . Rejection is tough isnt it and some people can act real hateful towards christians. But we live for God and not for people so sometimes we have to share the gospel wether we like it or not as we are all told in Gods word to share the gospel message.But God understands our shyness and awkwardness at times.
 
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Endure2

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its because boldness is something we have to grow into as christians, and some of us need more work in that area.

when we are about to step out and declare the truth of the word of God, satan immediately begins to speak and tell you youll be refused, laughed at, shunned, shown to be foolish, hell call you foolish, he immediately begins to oppress you in your spirit. and most people yield to him there.
if you are close to God, you can even feel it pressing against you.

we all have to go through a spiritual process of ridding ourselves of caring about peoples opinions of us, God puts us through this process if we are close to him and hearing his spirit speak.

in the book of acts, the disciples had to pray that they might have boldness to preach the word, and the place was shaken, but they had to pray.

THE ISSUE, IS NOT ABOUT YOUR SELF ESTEEM, IS NOT ABOUT YOU UNDERSTANDING YOU HAVE NO REASON TO BE EMMBARASSED, IS NOT ABOUT YOU OVERCOMING YOUR FEAR WITH MENTAL EFFORT AND STRATEGY. ITS NOTHING YOU CAN DO.

THE ISSUE IS YOU GOING TO PRAYER, AND ASKING THE LORD TO GIVE YOU BOLDNESS, AND WHEN THE LORD TELLS YOU TO DO SOMETHING YIELD TO HIM AND DOIT. BOLDNESS IN THE LORD, LIKE SALVATION, ONLY COMES FROM THE FATHER.

ask the Lord to give you the grace to have the boldness to say all that he wants you to say and do all that he wants you to do.

ALL THROUGH HISTORY AND THE BIBLE, PEOPLE HAVE HAD SECRET, POWERFUL EXPERIENCES WITH GOD, AND LEFT THAT PLACE, BOLD AND FILLED WITH POWER TO DO WONDERS. ITS SUPPOSED TO BE THE SAME TODAY.
we arent supposed to be putting our confidence in counselers and such that teach us how to have confidence in ourselves. it isnt about ourselves.

when you come up on a spiritual issue or power, having confidence in yourself is not enough.
 
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whatseekye

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Athanasian Creed said:
Some times too the person witnessing realizes the importance and responsibility of telling others about Jesus and doesn't want to say the wrong thing !! Sometimes i think the only time a person will hear the Gospel is from me and that, at times, gets the old heart racing. :eek:
Hi Ray,

This is exactly why I fear witnessing, although I do witness at every opportunity. Recently I was explaining the resurrection of Christ to a nonbeliever, and I caught myself using the word "supposedly". It haunted me for days. UGH... :o
 
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IDS

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satan gives every unbeliever a book of trick questions and christian horror stories. We all have heard them. Rather than try to answer a question that cannot be answered or try to explain the why of some christian horror story stick with what you do know. We do not have to have an answer for every question.


A great help for me is these three words...."I don't know." Followed with something like....."but this I do know..."


As for looking foolish...I can do that. I remember years ago when I was in sin a christian walked up to me and tried to share. I laughed at him, cursed him, humiliated him. He failed miserably. He walked away defeated. But something within me craved what he had. He never knew. Sometimes our "failures" accomplish what GOD desires we just never know.


A person's salvation, being born again, is very similiar to giving birth. When it is time it is time. It does not speed up things if we try to push the baby out before it is ready or jump up and down on a mother's stomach. When a person is ready sometimes a person can get saved despite our best efforts. :)


After coming out of a heavy drug background I wanted my best friend to get saved. Went over to his house. Everyone was sitting around smoking dope. I sat and visited and tried to talk about Jesus. With absolutely no results. One guy did pick up my bible and began reading Genesis 1. But no one got saved.


A few days later I dropped by the house. Everyone was talking about how Wesley "freaked-out". Later that night after I had visited he called his brother to come get him. At his brother's house he got saved and flushed all his drugs down the toilet. These people just could not understand. Wesley was the guy who had picked up my bible and was reading Genesis 1.


So basically what happened was I witnessed to one person and the "wrong" person got saved. :)


JesusFreak91, I rejoice over the news of your friend's salvation (implied) and baptism.


Witnessing is like planting seeds.


The Lord gave unto me a sack of seeds to sow
The Lord said plant them everywhere and I will make them grow


So day and night I planted I planted everywhere
Some received His word with joy others did not care





I plant a seed and then it is GOD's responsiblity to make it grow. My job is to plant seeds.


Planting seeds is not hard. Just make a small hole, drop a seed in, cover it up.


Witnessing is not hard. Just find a small opening, drop a word in, cover with prayer.


I believe another key to witnessing is to not speak. Listen. Listen to what a person says. Do not "wait for them to shut-up so I can witness." Far too often we try to bring a person to where we want them to be so we can witness to them instead of meeting a person where they are and witnessing to them in their setting.


Love.


L etting

O thers

V alue

E motions


Jesus was a friend of sinners. Why? He didn't judge them. And they heard Him gladly. We do not have to agree with a person's lifestyle or life choices to love them. A sinner will be more open with a friend than a judge.


Well. I suppose I have rambled enough.


Final thoughts.....


GOD is well able to use the little I have if I will.


Witnessing is not about my ability but GOD's.


Witnessing is 90% listening 10% speaking.


The life we live speaks far louder than our words.


A branch on a fruit tree never stresses over fruit. It simply is connected to the tree and fruit comes.


Jesus is the Vine, we are the branches. Our focus should be on abiding in Him.


Picture a dark wildnerness. People are lost. They need to be found.


Picture someone afloat in the middle of the ocean. If they are not saved they will perish.


Remember one time you were on the other side of the witness.


.....peace.....
 
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white dove

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JesusFreak91 said:
Why do lots of people act all shy and "hidden" when it comes to discussing Jesus with non-christians? It happens to me all the time.I think it might be because I think they wont exept my conversation.Do you know what I mean?:sorry:
I admit, I used to kinda hide from sharing w/ others about God, but over the years (ESPECIALLY after I first became saved ~i.e. when my zeal for God was just out-the-door-headed-west-I'm-going-to-disneyland), it's become alot easier to, not only to share my faith with others but also to get a healthy dialogue going w/ ppl. I tend to open up to ppl & get them to open up to me about where they are in life and how God (if they believe in God) helps them in life, what their view is of God, etc. It's not really hard to get ppl to talk about themselves, as ppl normally like to talk about themselves. I'd say, don't worry about what others may think of you, but rather be concerned about what God thinks of you (in that, when you are faced with Him on the day of judgement, He does not ask why you didn't share your faith with others who did not know Him as you did). God did not give us a spirit of fear but one of power. :prayer: I feel that sharing our faith with others is alot more natural than alot of ppl think...when ppl ask the reason for our faith, we can answer them with love, truth and wisdom ~which all comes from the Lord.
 
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