—By MariaMaria #166 DO 2792 4/92

1. When you're witnessing to people who speak a different language than you do & you can't communicate very well with them—maybe you only know a few words here or there—the tendency may be to just get into a little bit of small talk. "What's your name? Where do you live? Do you have a wife? Do you have children?" And maybe‚ "Jesus loves you." You might only know a few little phrases, & then you're stuck & you may not be able to go very far in the Spirit with them.

2. The alternative to that would be to always carry a little New Testament in their language with all of the key verses marked that you would want to show them or talk to them about. All you have to do is learn how to say in their language, "Please read this out loud." You point to your first verse & say, "Please read this out loud," & they read it. Then you go to the next verse & say it again‚ "Please read this," & they read it! You can take them through verse after verse after verse that way.

3. The Word is the most powerful thing you can give them! Even if you can't say a thing to them‚ you can show them what God is saying to them in a pure, unadulterated, uncorrupted manner with none of your own words or your own thoughts mixed in. You'll probably be amazed at how the Spirit will work on them, just by reading the Word & having the Lord speak to their hearts. You don't have to say a word! And you don't have to feel bad or feel like, "Oh, I've got to say all my little phrases I know in their language." You may find that you're just distracting & all you end up with is a little small talk, & don't even get down to the basics.

4. But by just giving them the Word, their concentration & attention will be focused on the Word & not you! They'll just be reading one verse after the other of heavy, powerful Word that the Lord said would not return unto Him void, but would accomplish that whereunto He had sent it! (Isa.55:11.)—The powerful Word that He said is "sharper than any two-edged sword," piercing into their hearts & giving them light on their path! (Heb.4:12; Psa.119:105.)—Convicting their hearts, showing them their sins, & showing them the Saviour!

5. Even if you can talk to them fluently‚ it might not be a bad idea to sometimes use that procedure anyway! You might find that just giving them the Word like that will do more to win them than all your fancy explanations & words could ever do! We think it's so important that we have all of our witnessing answers down pat & all of our big explanations, but if we would just let the Lord say it to them, we might find that all our preparations & explanations that we had ready to give them & talk to them about weren't so necessary after all!

6. You could also have the little Salvation Prayer pasted in the back of your New Testament, & after you've gone through all the verses you could say, "Please read this prayer out loud."—And at the end have a little sentence saying, "If you really prayed this & meant it, you're saved!"

7. You can get them saved with the Word‚ even if you hardly know a word of their language! You don't have to! So you shouldn't feel afraid. You shouldn't be ashamed or feel embarrassed or bad that you don't know any of their language. Of course‚ we recommend that you learn some, & it's good to learn some. It makes them feel good that you're trying to learn their language, & when you want to follow up on them later, it's nice to be able to communicate more deeply. So it is an advantage in many ways to be able to speak the local language.

8. But as far as the Lord being able to get through to them‚ He can do it without your knowing a word of their language! So if you haven't learned it yet & you're just starting to learn it, don't be afraid or embarrassed‚ & don't feel inferior! You've got the greatest One in the Universe to speak to them!—The most eloquent, the most expressive, the most discerning, the most beautiful, the most wonderful! Let the Lord speak! He can speak far better than you can any day! If you give them the Lord & what He has to say, you don't have to be embarrassed about anything. Just give'm Jesus! Give'm the Word! Let them read it for themselves! Let the Lord speak to them personally & directly, & you'll be amazed at the power of that Word!

9. —Or if you have a good tract or a Poster that presents it with the Word & Scriptures, you can let them read that. But either way, it's sure a lot better than your just stumbling around with a few phrases & not really making much headway with them, when here at your disposal you have the wonderful, powerful, pure Word that you can give them‚ that there will be no misunderstanding or misinterpretation of. It's right there & they can read it & they can feel it, & they can receive it!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family