BE A FAITHFUL WITNESS!   DO 2896 5/92
--Whether You See Results or Not!        Maria #208
--Encouragement for Our Teens and All!--By Maria

         1. Some days you teens who are out witnessing are not only not going to win any souls, you're not even going to find any receptive people. This, of course, can be very discouraging, especially if you're a new witnesser. On one hand, the Lord may just be testing your faith, and on the other, the Devil could be trying to completely discourage you from witnessing.
         2. The Lord may be testing you to see if you'll keep going and obeying regardless of the results, just because He said to do it! He didn't say do it if it's fruitful or do it if you win souls, He just said do it! He said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). He didn't say that you're going to have a salvation for everybody you preach the Gospel to.--In fact, what He indicated in the Parable of the Sower is that you probably won't have very many (Mat.13:3-23).
         3. You need to obey the Lord even when the Devil is trying to discourage you from going out and telling you it's not necessary because, "Nobody really wants the Lord anyway, so why should you go out and look for sheepy people when you can't find any? You're just wasting your time!" The Devil is trying to get you to give up in despair. But you need to remember that the Lord has commanded you to go out, regardless of whether you see any fruit or win any souls or not!
         4. Does a gardener or farmer give up in despair because he doesn't see any results for a long time after he plants the seeds? No! He has to take it by faith that after a while those little seeds are going to sprout and are going to grow into plants, and finally he is going to reap the harvest.
         5. There are a lot of jobs in the world where people work without seeing any results for a long, long time, like physical therapists working with the handicapped, or scientists looking for remedies for diseases. So certainly you can go out for a day or two, or even a week, without finding any receptive people or without winning any souls, just in obedience to the Lord! That's your job, to preach the Gospel! You might as well get used to the fact that "strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it!" (Mat. 7:14). "For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat" (Mat.7:13). So you just have to realize that when you go witnessing you are going to get a lot of rejections. The Lord knew that, but He still said to go and give out His message!
         6. He wants us to do as He did, "To seek and save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10). You need to seek out His sheep, but you're not going to know who is sheepy and who isn't unless you give them a chance to hear the message. So don't be discouraged if many reject it; just keep at it. Pretty soon, when the Devil sees that he can't get you to give up, he'll give up! And then you'll have a wonderful victory and you'll see some real fruit from your labors in the way of receptive people or people who really go all the way and receive the Lord and the Holy Spirit--and even people who will be interested in going on further for the Lord.
         7. You need to keep in mind that some of the great missionaries like Hudson Taylor and Adoniram Judson and scores of others labored for literally years before they won their first soul! They went to pagan lands where bringing Jesus to the people was considered anathema*, it was an intrusion; where they considered Him a foreign God who was there to bring evil instead of good, disturbing their customs and uprooting their ways of doing things. *(something utterly detested or condemned)
         8. Those dear missionaries went through all kinds of terrible hardships and persecution and illnesses, and even deaths of their family and loved ones. They went through disappointments; people whom they thought they had won turned on them and betrayed them. People spat in their faces and rejected them year after year! And some of them did not win a single soul for years! So when you get discouraged because you haven't won a soul in a day or two or three, or even a week, just think about those dear men and women of God who labored for years and years before they ever made any progress as far as winning even one soul to the Lord.
         9. The Lord is trying to teach you faith, that even though you don't see the results right away, in some way you're getting results. He's promised that His Word will not return unto Him void, it will accomplish His purpose! (Isa.55:11). You will not see some of the results until you get to Heaven because you don't always know the results of the seeds you plant in someone's heart, how or when they will take root. Perhaps the person you have witnessed to will eventually find the Lord due to something that you said, or your witness will have worked in their heart to cause them to be more open and receptive when some other Christian witnesses to them.
         10. We can't always expect to be the sowers and the reapers, because the Lord said that some sow and some water, but God gives the increase. (See 1Cor.3:6.) Sometimes we enter into other men's labors and sometimes others enter into ours.
         11. A person's salvation is the result of many things and many ways the Lord has already worked in their life. We may just be one in a succession of people who have tried to get through to them. We have a small part in their salvation, along with others who have also had a part in preparing the person by perhaps being a sample of love and concern, by sharing the Word personally, or giving him a tract, or poster, or preaching on a Christian TV program that he has watched. All these are things the Lord may have used. So we can't take the glory and say we were the ones who did it!
         12. So there's really no more glory for us in actually praying a salvation prayer with a person than there is in preaching the Word to him and having him go off without receiving Jesus right then and there. Of course, it makes us feel especially good when we know someone has securely gotten into the Kingdom, but as far as receiving any more glory for actually praying with someone to receive the Lord than just preaching the Gospel to them without them receiving the Lord, there is no more credit to you in one case than the other! It's your job to do whatever you can for them, and the Lord will reward you for your faithfulness, whether it is just giving them the Word or whether it's praying with them to receive the Lord. You don't get more credit for one than the other. You just get credit for your faithfulness in obeying and doing what you can for the Lord.

It's the Holy Spirit That Does the Winning!

         13. And don't think that just because someone is a better talker or preacher than you are, more fluent or more expressive, that there's going to be more credit given to him than to you, who perhaps are halting in your speech and are not able to express yourself very clearly. His great speaking ability is not going to win more souls than you win. If you see him win more salvations than you, it is not because he is more fluent or more expressive, it's just because he was the one the Lord chose to meet those souls who were ready to receive the Lord that day. Maybe he met them instead of you because he was praying harder or needed the encouragement of seeing a soul saved more than you did, or maybe he had a testimony or a story that the Lord wanted to use to speak to that person, or any of a variety of reasons.
         14. You might say, "Well, if the Lord wanted to use a story or testimony he had, then that's the same principle as using his fluent speech or his personality, isn't it?" No, because if the person being witnessed to is a receptive and hungry soul ready to receive the Lord, they can receive the Lord without having heard that particular testimony or story, and the Holy Spirit will work in their heart regardless; but it's just that that particular testimony or story might be a real encouragement to them later on when they reflect back on that wonderful day when they received Jesus, and maybe they can use that in turn with others. It's the Spirit of the Lord that does the winning; it's not because somebody is more expressive, fluent, talkative and charming than you!
         15. Maybe the Lord wanted your more fluent brother or sister to witness to that particular person because they needed to see a Christian who was articulate and expressive and could debate with them. On the other hand, someone else might need to see a sample of someone who can't speak well, who stammers and stumbles, so they will appreciate that witnesser's determination and conviction and dedication--that even though they knew they were incapable in themselves, they loved others so much that they were willing to witness no matter how poorly they thought they were doing.
         16. Get it through your head that it doesn't have anything to do with how fluent you are or how eloquent and expressive you are! It's the Spirit that is going to do the work in their hearts! It only has to do with your obedience and your faithfulness to do all that you can--your obedience, your faithfulness, your sincerity, your broken heart for the sheep to do all you can to try to win them to the Lord! It doesn't have anything to do with what you can't do! You just do what you can do by obeying and going out witnessing, and the Holy Spirit will do the rest! It's the Holy Spirit that wins souls! It does not matter how you speak; all that matters is that you do speak!--And that you are obedient and you're faithful and you want to see these people saved. Praise the Lord!


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family