"How do you do it? Where do you find the time? What does your husband think of your mission trips? You think it's safe to take your kids out street witnessing?"
Since our involvement with biblical evangelism I have heard these questions time and time again. So I want to take some time to address these questions and I hope that as a result of all this I can encourage other Moms who are struggling to find the balance between motherhood, raising the children, homeschooling and the Great Commission.
1. How Do You Do It?
First off, I don't "do" it, but the Holy Spirit enables me to be a witness. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 Notice in this verse who enables us to be witnesses. The Holy Spirit! Of course I can't do it. My flesh struggles with it all the time. I struggle with not wanting to go out to witness and also mostly struggle with fear. But...What is this fear really? A fear of man? Fear of their opinion of me? Why do I witness? For His glory alone! If I am not out there for His glory then I am better off staying home. What a privilege it is to be a witness for our Savior! I see every witnessing opportunity as a time that is spent glorifying His precious name. And of course, the person I am speaking with hears the wonderful, beautiful message of the Cross by which they can be saved! He is glorified in this!
Through the godly teachings of Way of the Master Ministries our family has been equipped to be a witness and preach the biblical Gospel to the lost anytime, anywhere. If you have never heard of Way of the Master I would highly recommend you to get acquainted with them. But as with anything else in our lives, whether it's motherhood, raising children, how to homeschool and being a witness, it's much better to be equipped and ready and we can learn from others. As Ephesians 4:11-12 says, "It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ". Way of the Master has done this for us in the area of evangelism. I love how they put it, "Arm any soldier with a feather duster and push him into the heat of modern warfare, and he's not going to be very courageous. However, if you give him state-of-the art weapons and teach him how to use them, those weapons will give him courage!""Hell's Best Kept Secret" will put a state-of-the-art weapon into your hands. It will give you courage. Simply go to Hell's Best Kept Secret" or watch the video if you prefer.
2. Where Do You Find The Time?
I always like to say that what we do is called "lifestyle evangelism". What I mean by this is simply we see everyday as an opportunity to be a witness, whether it's our postman, UPS dude, Fed EX dude, the lady at the cash register, the Walmart greeter, grocery store cart boy, the baggers, our neighbors, gas stations and more! I don't have to "find" the time to witness, but the witnessing always is in front of us. Have tracts ready so that you can hand them to the cash register person, or the bag boy. Say hello to the person pumping gas next to your car and hand them a Million Dollar Bill and tell them their car looks like a million bucks! My twins LOVE handing out tracts to people. If I don't have one ready at the grocery store they are digging through my purse for my wallet to get that Million Dollar Bill ready!
I tell my kids, "Let's go to the grocery store to hand out some tracts and while we are there we'll grab some groceries" You don't always have to engage people one on one to say you have witnessed to someone. Many people have been saved simply through a sound, biblical Gospel tract.
The great 19th century preacher Charles Spurgon said:
"I well remember distributing them in a town in England where tracts had never been distributed before, and going from house to house, and telling in humble language the things of the kingdom of God. I might have done nothing, if I had not been encouraged by finding myself able to do something ... [Tracts are] adapted to those persons who have but little power and little ability, but nevertheless, wish to do something for Christ. They have not the tongue of the eloquent, but they may have the hand of the diligent. They cannot stand and preach, but they can stand and distribute here and there these silent preachers ... They may buy their thousand tracts, and these they can distribute broadcast.
"I look upon the giving away of a religious tract as only the first step for action not to be compared with many another deed done for Christ; but were it not for the first step we might never reach to the second, but that first attained, we are encouraged to take another, and so at the last ... There is a real service of Christ in the distribution of the gospel in its printed form, a service the result of which heaven alone shall disclose, and the judgment day alone discover. How many thousands have been carried to heaven instrumentally upon the wings of these tracts, none can tell ...
"Let each one of us, if we have done nothing for Christ, begin to do something now. The distribution of tracts is the first thing."
What an awesome way for us mothers to show our children how to be a simple witness through the use of Gospel tracts! So get those Gospel tracts ready and start handing them out together as a family! The most important aspect of using tracts is to be sure the message is Biblically sound. Does it open up with the Law (Ten Commandments) and warn of judgment day and hell? Does it preach the cross, the resurrection, repentance, and faith? Is Jesus presented as the answer to life's problems (the popular "happy gospel") or as the Savior from sin (true, Biblical Gospel)? A tract with a Biblically sound message does not guarantee that every tract from the same source is also sound. Be discerning and examine every tract prayerfully before using them! (http://www.gospelreport.org/tracts.htm)
For good, sound, biblical Gospel tracts please visit Living Waters or Custom tract Source.
So, as you can see, it's not about "finding the time" to be a witness, but changing your perspective of your time. Is our time here on this earth only to live life, clean the house, laundry, homeschool, paying the bills, etc? I don't think that for a minute! Who says we can't do it all? We can! Because He enables us to be a witness! Before anyone shoots me for saying we can do it all, I want to encourage you to really sit back and look at your priorities. Do you have time to watch tv? Movies? Be on a computer? Go to the beach? Go on a field trip? Be on the phone? Read a book? If you said yea, of course, Then you have time to be a witness for Christ! What's your priority? Or WHO is your priority?
To be continued.......feel free to comment!
To see recent evangelism pics of our family visit our Photo Album
