Witnessing

By: Monique Smith

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”- Matthew 28:19-20

Jesus said it. He meant it.  We are to go and spread the gospel and make disciples of men. Honestly, that verse is a bit daunting, especially if at times you can be shy speaking to random people, like I am.  I have been dealing with the idea of witnessing more for a while now.  Because of my current employment and working in a school system, mentioning God seems to be on a list of “capital offenses”.   People don’t want to bring his name up and you have to be politically correct in places such as this.  I had not came up with an idea aside from the two I had at the beginning of last year: 1. I put two/three Bible verses in my email signature so that all students, staff, and community members who received emails from me, will “have” to see that scripture and get it in their spirit. 2. I purchased mini Bibles and placed them on my bookshelf for interested students. I can’t offer them a Bible but if they ask for one, I am MORE than happy to give them one. I seriously had not had any more bright ideas to share Christ with my students lately so witnessing has been on pause. HOWEVER, thanks be to God, He lead me to this passage of scripture:

Exodus 18:7-11

So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. ⁸ Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them.

⁹ Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.”

Did you all understand that?! Simply by sharing the good news (gospel) about everything the Lord had done for Israel in their escape from Egypt, Jethro, Moses’ unsaved father-in-law, became a believer in the Lord and realized he was greater than any other god.

Witnessing can be as simple as telling someone about how God’s hand was over your situation. Anything that shows the power of God working in your life will work.  I personally feel a lot more comfortable with telling a coworker or a student how God provided for me here or protected me there, verses pulling them to the side and sharing Bible passages.  I feel more comfortable because it seems a lot more politically correct. 

**Disclaimer** Do not get me wrong. There is a time and place to share scripture and to dig into John 3:16 and how sinful we are and how righteous Jesus is. However, the passage in Exodus shows us an example where Moses’ testimony of God’s greatness encouraged someone to commit to Christ. In that situation, Moses could have been “watering” his father in law’s spirit after someone had already planted the seed of knowledge in him or Moses could have planted that seed and God provided the increase on the spot, who knows.  Whatever the case, Jethro became a believer after Moses witnessed to him.

So this post is to encourage all of you to start witnessing more.  Regardless of how you witness, if it is sharing your testimony or blessings with co-workers or acquaintances or sharing the gospel with complete strangers in the community, we have to get out and do it. The world NEEDS us!  So let’s share the gospel today!

Prayer: God thank you for trusting us with your TRUTH!! It is SO important and we are extremely blessed that we have this opportunity! Thank you for seeing us fit enough to embark upon the mission of creating new disciples! God help us be bolder and give us the proper technique to use in our situations! Encourage us as we encourage others in you! We love you so much and strive each and every day to be better! We are working to make our better, the best! Love you, in Jesus name. Amen.