“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Rev. 22:17).

“Christians and non-Christians have something in common,” writes Rebecca Pippert. “We’re both uptight about evangelism.” Why is it so nerve-racking for many believers to share their faith? And is there some truth we’re missing from Scripture that could free us up? We carry the weight of our duty to bring the gospel to our neighbors and loved ones. But sometimes we take more than our responsibility. We can take ownership of our part, God’s part, and the part of the person we’re trying to reach. We have a role, but we can’t do it all.

Do Your Job, No More, No Less

Paul said that he planted the gospel seed and Apollos watered it, but “God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6-7).

Learn to lean on God’s mighty work since he’s the majority partner in this project of kingdom expansion.

A while back, we had a power outage at the house and had to use one of those hand-cranked flashlights. I can generate a little light that way, but I don’t have the strength to power our house. And in evangelism, we have to plug into a power source beyond our cleverness and skill in convincing people to change their lives.

Learn to lean on God’s mighty work since he’s the majority partner in this project of kingdom expansion. Grow your confidence in the saving power he packed into the gospel (Rom. 1:16). Act in simple faith and watch God work!

Trusting God to do his work frees and inspires us to work with him!

A Reasonable Portion

Sometimes, I hear prayers for “a reasonable portion of health.” And I know what they mean: “Let’s not get greedy; we just want to ask for a little bit from God.” But we serve a big God who can do more than we ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). Jesus encourages us to see God as the doer of impossible deeds (Matt. 19:20). The Bible loves to use words like “fullness,” “abundance,” and “overflowing” (e.g., John 1:16; 10:10; Rom. 15:13,29). God offers an unreasonable portion of blessings upon us and our work in his service. Praying small and holding onto our reservations about God’s grace is like catching rain in a thimble. The blessings pour like a storm, so why should we prefer to accept a thimbleful?

Pray for opportunities and wisdom in your conversations (Col. 4:3-6). Pray for fruitfulness as you abide in him, since “apart from” Jesus “you can do nothing” (John 15:5). God’s living and active Word — “the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17) — pierces and lays the heart bare (Heb. 4:12-13). God’s Spirit convicts (John 16:8) and brings new life (John 3:5). So don’t try to do God’s job! Anytime we feel we’ve failed because someone didn’t get converted when we invited or taught them, we have looked beyond our job and edged our way into God’s part of the process.