CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 867

“Reach and Preach”

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… (Matthew 28:19)

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All born-again Christians have been commissioned to reach the lost for Christ. While we are not all called to preach at evangelistic crusades, we are however called to live an evangelistic lifestyle.

Every day we cross paths with people who need salvation – people who need Jesus. They are in need of truth and have been exposed to those who professing Christianity with their words, live out an opposite lifestyle example. Consequently, many of these people have been ‘turned off’ to the Gospel message by their encounters with the hypocritical religious among us.

We must reach people first before we can preach to them the truth of God’s Word. We reach people through a personal relationship whether it is in the work or family context or in the context of our neighborhoods, the local health club, or community sports and other recreation activities. It has been said that people don’t care what you know until they know that you care. Some important points to consider are:

We have to be less concerned with our story and more concerned with listening and empathizing with their story. Through active listening we come to understand their precise area of need to which we can speak the healing balm of God’s Word when the time comes.

God will bring people across our path that we may not like. On more than one occasion I have had to repent of my critical attitude toward some people that the Lord eventually brought across my path ready to receive the truth of the Gospel. We need to see all people we encounter through His eyes of love.

It may take years of a casual relationship before God opens the door of their heart to receive the truth of His Word.

Throughout your relationship your actions and reactions to day-to-day life circumstances are testifying to the integrity of the truth of God’s Word. Your lifestyle is preaching the Gospel when your lifestyle practices the presence of Jesus in your heart.

We must be ready to speak the Truth of the Word of God when the time comes. (1 Peter 3:15) If we are immersed in the same secular worldview as those we are trying to reach we will not be able to effectively speak with an understanding of the application of a Biblical worldview to everyday life circumstances. (2 Timothy 3:16) If we are serious about our commission of God we will invest time in the reading and study and application of God’s Word.

We must be standing on the solid rock of the Living Word of God in order to reach out and grasp the hand of those who are mired in the quicksand of the world. In addition, the integrity of the evidence of the power of Christ in us through our pre-established relationship allows those who are perishing in the quicksand to trust in the truth of God’s Word and to reach out and grasp our hand when it is offered.

May the Holy Spirit quicken your heart to reach the lost for Christ. May you have a hunger for more of His Word – to understand it and apply it. May you see all people through Jesus’ eyes of love and may your lifestyle preach the truth and integrity of the Gospel.