I've been talking with people about Jesus for years and I will be the first to admit that there still come moments when I get cold feet and bail. The same will likely happen to you some day.

But why? This is what we're going to talk about today.

In today's blog we're going to go over:

• Intentional Motive: Why we think we want/should share our faith
• Anti-motive: What deflates us during the opportunities to share
• Wall-Bouncer: How to bounce over the walls that sabotage us
  

Intentional Motive: Why We Think We Want/Should Share Our Faith

This one is #Christianity 101: The #Bible tells us so.

I think this initial desire is subtly in the hearts of every believer; the desire for all to come to know God.

It's likely here that #Holy Spirit whispers within  us how much He loves that person standing in front of us and that we should go talk to them.

It does likely come with the package of being an ambassador of Christ.

I don't want to focus too much time on this because if you're on this site than you already likely agree with this stage and have a sensitivity to it already.

You already feel and believe that you are to share your faith with others.

But how come every time you are about to open up with someone or perhaps when you see someone in the store that could use some prayer/encouragement you get cold?

That's what I want to focus on.

Anti-motive: What Deflates Us During The Opportunities To Share

Two stories that tie my point together. Both happened in the same day actually.

1. It was turning towards 4:20pm when it was well past the time for me to go get my wife Sandra from work.

But I still felt like I was able to pinch off a few more works emails before I really had to leave.

I ended up getting to her work late, but with just enough time to take her to her next job.

Afterwards I spent some time with a friend, came home and cleaned, and just around the time I was supposed to leave to get her from her second job I felt like I should have a snack first.

I arrived at her work late...again.

2. During the evening while my wife was at work I was with a friend of mine and we were walking around #ValueVillage when I noticed a girl in a leg cast.

I thought to myself, "Great prayer opportunity" but just kept walking to the shoe section.

The entire time we were in the store I thought about that #girl and of how I had made the decision NOT to talk to her.

We walked out of that store without having talked with her. Nor anyone for that fact.

Explanation of 1 & 2

1. This is a simple case of a miss-prioritization. During the moment I should have acted on the important thing like leaving on time to get my wife, I chose a less important thing like sending emails or eating.

In these cases I chose to believe that what I had in front of me was more important than what I had to do.

This happens to us in evangelism all the time.

We will see a good prayer or sharing opportunity but we will then distract ourselves with something less important that we might have in our hands at the moment.

For example if you're at the mall and you're shopping for something and you see an opportunity to share.

The temptation to focus on the task at hand rather than the ministry opportunity is amplified by our desire to stay within our comfort zone.

We will tell ourselves something like:

• Not now I'm busy
• I have to hurry because I need to be somewhere after this
• There are too many people around; I don't want to embarrass anyone (i.,e myself)

What we are doing here can be one of two or both together of the following:

1. Wanting to stay in the comfort zone
2. Lack of awareness of the importance of someone coming to know #Jesus
3. Both
   

2. With the girl at Value Village, me not talking to her was a case of intention. We must never forget that evangelism and sharing our #faith is always intentional and never happens by accident.

It is always a purposeful and choice directed decision to cross the room and talk to someone.

It's not as if #spiritual conversations "accidentally" happen. On the flip side, we often choose NOT to talk with people when presented the opportunity.

In my mind I assented to telling myself "not this time."

To be an effective evangelist is simply to develop the power of being able to tell yourself "now is the time."

There are probably many other reasons why someone might sabotage themselves from sharing with a stranger; but these two tend to be quite popular ones.

Let's take a look at the tools to get us through these.

Wall-Bouncer: How To Bounce Over The Walls That Sabotage Us

These walls that pop up in our minds stop us from reaching out. But they don't have to.

On the side of any coin exists an equal and opposite side.

The opposite of #1 would simply be the prioritization of what's more important. And it's not impossible to do.

In the example of getting my wife from work all I would have to do is ask myself:

• Are 5 more emails more important than my wife?
• Do I love my wife enough to save her from waiting outside in the cold for 10 min?
• Is cleaning the bathroom more important than being on time for my wife?

The answers are obvious and allow for me to prioritize my wife.

To highlight my ability to be on time (the fact that I am able to prioritize) can be done by replacing the word "wife" with "president" or "boss."

If you were scheduled to pick up the president or your boss, would you be on time?

Chances are yes if you wanted to impress them or keep your job.

Why should it be any different with your wife/husband? You don't live with the president or your boss (except for some special cases).

Wouldn't that make your relationship more important than anything else?

Now let's stick this onto evangelism:

• Is finding the sale at the mall more important than someone's salvation?
• Is getting out of the mall on time more important than potentially thwarting a suicide (in the case of someone needing encouragement)?
• Is Jesus more valuable than your comfort zone?

These questions are not to heap condemnation on anyone, because like I confessed earlier, I miss-prioritize all the time. I still choose the lesser important things frequently.

My point is to unveil a "thought tool" that can help keep the important things on the top of the list.

When you are aware of the priority of something, it gives more weight behind us to act on it.

The opposite of #2 is to make the alternate choice of walking too someone that needs prayer rather than walking away from them.

Again this is a moment where we are likely battling our comfort zone. You can check more on that in the earlier blogs Your Mind And Evangelism and The 5 Second Rule.

Trust me those two blogs above have tremendously powerful tools to help you break out of the comfort zone and into the conquered zone.

It's only there where you will see the greatest miracles and get the greatest stories.

So Where Are You?

What are some things you consistently miss-prioritize and how can/do you get over those walls?