“For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.” (Acts 28:30-31 NLT)
In my experience one of the key reasons many people are reluctant to share their faith in Christ is a lack of confidence. Why is that? Where do we most commonly look to gain the confidence we think we need? Where is the focus of our concern? What’s often the first question we ask ourselves when thinking about the subject of sharing our faith?
Imagine you’re driving at night in a downpour. The wind is howling and though the wipers are moving as fast as they can, it’s difficult to see anything but the glare of your headlights against the driving rain. You consider pulling over, but it’s all strange territory and you’re not sure if it’s safe to even try. What do you do?
What is your source of confidence in that scenario? Yes, you may pray some variation of “Oh Lord, help me!” But ultimately, where does the proverbial “buck” stop? Who’s holding the steering wheel? Whose feet are operating the brake and accelerator? You, right? The scary scenarios may change, but most often in our minds we’re the one in control, we’re the one who is responsible for the outcome.
While as believers that’s not technically true, it’s typically how we think, and it carries over into how we think about sharing our faith. We’re the “subject” when it comes to sharing our faith, the same as in virtually any other scenario in which we find ourselves.
We hold ourselves responsible for the outcome! What if the person with whom I’m sharing doesn’t believe me? What if I say something wrong? What if I make them mad? What if I forget the Scriptures? What if _________ (and you can fill in the blank)? What’s wrong with this line of thinking? It leaves out the most important piece of the puzzle – Jesus!
Rather than be concerned about how well “we” do, our trepidation would be better handled if we did what only we can do and let the Holy Spirit do what only He can do. On some levels we are the car in the storm, with Jesus at the wheel. We’re never the “subject” when sharing our faith or doing anything else to the glory of God.
Jesus is the subject, we’re simply His instrument in accomplishing HIS purposes. Our job is to be completely surrendered to His authority, under His leadership. We’re the mouthpiece for His words, and the vessel through whom flows His Spirit, to accomplish His assignment.
Effectiveness in being used of God begins every day before the throne of God, yielding our will to His, offering our bodies as living sacrifices to be offered on the altar of His desires. We’re not our own, we’ve been bought with the price of the blood of our precious Savior on the Cross. Our job isn’t to be in our control, but under His.
Our confidence grows out of reverent fear of our holy Father. Solomon said it well in Proverbs 14:26: “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence.” Dr. David Jeremiah explains what that means when he wrote: “Fearing God means living in awe of the Lord Jesus who represents to us the Father and resides within us by His Holy Spirit.” Our confidence isn’t an attitude, it’s a Person; it’s not dependent upon us, but Him.
As Dr. Jeremiah wrote: “The key to confidence is Christ.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 