A big part of our ministry is witnessing to non-believers. This daily devotional reviews what witnessing is and isn’t and steps to witnessing.
Devotions in the Self-Discipline Review series
All year, we’ve been looking at self-discipline. We looked at self-discipline as the operational plan for self-control because it talked about improvement.
We are reviewing everything and hopefully putting all of the building blocks together. What I am doing is going through all of the devotions for the year and pulling out the nuggets.
I am formatting this as a glossary page. If I already have one, I will combine them later.
Disciples want to witness to non-believers because they are currently going to suffer the consequences of sin, which are spiritual death and separation from God (The Ministry of Reconciliation).
We should not only hope that people go from election to being one of the Elect. But we should also witness to others as God directs to help that become a reality. It is our mission to actively witness to a lost and dying world (Is Election Really Merciful?; Getting Along with Others).
We have to watch for opportunities to witnessing. Sometimes, we have to really pay attention, or we will miss opportunities (Watching while Praying).
God expects us to plan our ministry for Him. Yes, some opportunities for witnessing are going to drop into our laps. But we have to be ready for them (Putting Feet to the Plan of Salvation).
When we witness, we need to be prepared to explain what we believe and why we believe it. We have to be secure enough to convince someone to accept our beliefs (Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?; Who Is the Antichrist?).
What Is Witnessing?
Witnessing means we tell non-believers that Jesus can be their personal Savior, even though that may be considered our perspectives and opinions.
We need to witness so that others come to know Jesus as their personal Savior too. God’s priority will always be His kingdom and our spiritual condition. It will always be about restoring the relationship with us and growing us to where we need to be — righteous (How Are Disciples Merciful?).
We are all witnesses/teachers to those with whom we come in contact. We are witnesses without uttering a single word (Who Was Balaam?).
We are witnessing as people see us living our lives. Nonbelievers observe not only disciples’ actions but also their attitudes and motives to make sure we are real. Our lifestyles are also a witness (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level; Honoring the Lord through Worship).
We need to witness through words, too; but worldview people have to see how we are different. Words aren’t going to mean anything if our actions are consistent (What Is Chastity to a Disciple of Christ?).
Each of us have words we can use to witness — whether we speak or write. We have Scriptures, and we have our own experiences (The Gift of the Holy Spirit).
We are to witness, worship, show love, have mercy, and imitate. Oh, yeah. Those things don’t always come naturally to some of us (What Was Jesus’ Mission (Part 2)).
Disciples are expected to witness to non-believers to get them to change. Yep, we have to have contact with them in order to build the relationships needed to proclaim the gospel and make them disciples (Watch the Company We Keep).
God wants us to show those we witness to that He can alleviate their bitterness and grief (Spiritual Wisdom Leads Us to be Sensible People).
It is all about our individual relationships with God. As we navigate the Sanctification Road, we grow as we witness to others. It helps us solidify our beliefs (Why God Calls Us to Give Up Everything?).
See Also
What Witnessing Isn’t
Expecting — and trying to force others — to believe as we do is being censorious. Our witnessing to them is not forcing them to accept Jesus as their personal Savior (Are Disciples to be Docile?).
We are also witnesses to God’s saving grace. I hear you. You are asking, if we don’t have privy to God’s mind, how can we be witnesses? Well, the Holy Spirit does speak to us to convict us, doesn’t He? We do have before and after pictures, right? Remember, once we have been given salvation, we are given regeneration. We are witnesses to that (The Witness of the Spirits).
Oh, how many times have we kept our mouths shut when we have had an opportunity to witness for our Savior? Especially if we had to contradict someone! We are more afraid of getting rejected than believing we could possibly make a difference in someone’s life (A Sincere Acceptance of Salvation).
We don’t honor God in worship when we keep our worship to ourselves. We must use that worship to witness to others (Honoring the Lord through Worship).
Unfortunately, we may start to compromise our beliefs when we try to please people. Yes, we do want to build relationships with worldview people so that we can witness to them. No, we cannot change God’s laws and commandments to make them more palatable to worldview people (The Rewards of Faithfulness).
It is important that those we are witnessing to understand that, if we get caught in the sin trap, it will lead to torment — eternal torment. We’ve got to take the narrow gate instead (Watch the Company We Keep).
We are all doing the same work — witnessing — but in different ways. I may witness through my songs and these words. You may have someone over to your house. The message is still the same — ABCD. We can only accomplish the work that God has given us to do. He has equipped us only with the skills we need (Are Spiritual Gifts Different?).
Each disciple has been assigned a job to do — someone to whom they should witness. I am firmly convinced that God has at least one person that we must witness to in our lives. If we do not do our jobs, the body does not grow as it should (Are Spiritual Gifts Different?; Being Content in Our Work).
However, when we are witnessing to someone, they are seeing us as a church official (Expectations of a Steward).
Not every non-believer is open to the saving grace of our Father. They may not yet have accepted that they are spiritually dead (How Is Sobriety a Balanced Life?).
Once we become believers, that is when Satan starts tempting us. He didn’t have to before because he already had us. But now, we are a child of God. He has to do all he can to wreck our witness and turn us from God (What Is Sin?).
See Also
Steps to Witnessing
Goodness is a good virtue to have when we are witnessing. It not only might open some doors to facilitate the witnessing, but it also shows who God is (Goodness as a Virtue).
We have to show kindness and compassion as we witness to others (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
We have to love them enough to witness to them. We have to love them enough to withstand the rejection (What Would Non-Believers Do If They Knew Jesus Were Coming Tomorrow?).
We can work on our relationship with God. We can work on our obedience. We can work on our witness (Godliness as a Virtue).
We are supposed to judge. Let’s start with the outward appearances. Looks may be deceiving. What if outward appearances were more than just what we look like? What if it is how we live our lives? Have you ever known someone to put on an act when they were around certain people? What if this means we are not supposed to judge surface, but we are supposed to judge deep down? We are not to pass judgment on people, but we are supposed to determine if they are following God’s laws and commandments. No, no one is going to be 100% perfect. We have to determine if we need to witness to them (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
We need to follow and obey the Scriptures. We need to use them to witness to others (Fulling Scriptures).
We have to believe the witnesses’ testimonies in the Scriptures. In other words, they have to be credible (The Witness of the Spirits).
When we witness to others, we need to approach each individually. Everyone has different experiences, thoughts, and values. We need to take that into consideration as we choose how to talk with them. We have to show Jesus to them personally (Salvation from the Cross; Living in God’s Truth).
The great part of witnessing is we don’t have to do it on our own. The Holy Spirit will be there with us, providing His testimony and helping us with ours (The Witness of the Spirits).
There are three important aspects to securing spiritual freedom – aspects we as disciples are to use in witnessing to others. They are healing for the brokenhearted, liberty for the captives, and freedom for the prisoners (Spiritual Freedom).
Witnessing begins at home with our family. They see us studying God’s Word. Not just reading – studying. They see us praying. They see our faithful attendance. They see how we treat others – as Jesus would (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level).
We have to make sure those we are witnessing to know that we must be sincere when approaching God for salvation. They must acknowledge that they are spiritually dead and will remain that way without Christ’s sacrifice and God’s forgiveness (A Sincere Acceptance of Salvation).
When someone we are witnessing to is concerned about death, immediate access to Jesus upon death should be comforting (A Sincere Acceptance of Salvation).
Hopefully, now we will be more open to building real relationships with others. Our witness will benefit (Receiving the Kingdom).
God wants His church to be unified and at peace. He is the God of peace, isn’t He? If we aren’t at peace, what kind of witness are we giving? (Focus on Love, Not Evil).
We like to think of witnessing as a team effort. That can give us more confidence to do the witnessing. Generally, we think of the team as one who plants the seed, one who waters, and one who harvests. The planter would have the hardest part, especially if the person had no prior knowledge of God’s love for them (The Hardest Part of Witnessing).
Those we are witnessing to want to know what a God has done lately. What has He done in our lives on a certain topic? (The Council Has Spoken).
David being a warrior and his blatant sins testify God doesn’t give up on us. We have to have our priorities right, though. Those we are witnessing to may have trouble wrapping their heads around that. They may not know David and his circumstances but may substitute someone they know in that role (But the Man after God’s Own Heart Was a Warrior).
How do we witness to a person believing they have fire insurance? How do we convince them it isn’t about fire insurance — it is about life insurance? (Acting Free).
When we are witnessing, we need to listen carefully to everything that person is saying. We have to determine what s/he believes, so we can share that which will help promote understanding and acceptance (The Fruits of Discerning the Voice of God).
Our instructions have to be done in a gentle manner. We cannot alienate those to whom we are witnessing (Living in God’s Truth).
We aren’t supposed to keep our worship to ourselves. We are to witness to the lost (How Else Do We Worship God?).
Life isn’t always going to wait until we get our Easter bonnet on before it drops witnessing opportunities on our doorsteps. Jesus’ was right there at the bloody cross (Salvation from the Cross).
See Also
We witness – then the choice is theirs. We’ve done what God has called us to do — shared with them. The rest is up to Him (Salvation from the Cross).
Those we are witnessing to have to accept that Jesus was God as well as Man; Jesus came down to earth solely to shed His blood to pay for our sins; by His blood being shed, our sins are forgiven when we ABCD; and this is the only way for us to gain access to God the Father (Jn. 14: 6). It is an all-or-nothing deal. We have to accept God His way.
Those we are witnessing to have to flat out say the words. Believing in our hearts is important. But we have to tell others to show it is real (A Sincere Acceptance of Salvation).
Father. We love You and want to share You with others. Provide us opportunities — and courage — to witness. Amen.
What do you think?
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