Monday, June 16, 2014

HOW TO MINISTER TO THE LOST


It's very difficult to show love to someone when your eyes are full of contempt for their sinful lifestyle or degenerate condition. We need to look at these people with compassion and the Grace of God before we can minister to them. We can't do that if we are so repulsed by their behavior or lifestyle that we look queasy or disgusted. We need to view the sinners around us as if they were sick and in need of a healer, who is Yahshua. As Yahshua said:

Luke 5:31-32 - “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Yahshua showed me how to apply this Scripture and how to extend God's Grace in my treatment of unrepentant sinners one day in 1991 - when I was making a delivery of a costume that I had made for a dance friend. I was aware that this woman was a Lesbian, but she had always been sweet toward me even though she knew I was a Christian. As a result, I always treated her nicely and without prejudice in return. Oddly, she also was curious about why I had chosen to be a Christian, and we talked occasionally about my faith when we met at dancing events.

Before I went to her apartment to deliver the new costume I had made for Beiruta, I called and was told that her lover was going to be there too, and if that was okay. I said "Sure, no problem." not remembering that her Male-role Lesbian lover despised Christians. So, since Beiruta took no offense at my faith, I made no effort to hide it when I visited them. But, as soon as Beiruta and I started talking about the Gospel (later telling me that she wanted her lover to hear what I had to say about it), her lover tore into me with such vile hatred for Christians and Christianity that it really surprised and upset me, gradually welling up into anger.

After a few minutes of listening to her rant, I was really angry and ready to clobber her in the nose, but I knew that Yahshua would not want me to do so. So I closed my eyes for a minute and silently asked Him to step into the conversation, take away my anger, give me the right words to say, and instill the right attitude in me so that I could minister to and reach the tortured heart of this hardened sinner.

At that moment, as my eyes were still closed, something miraculous happened! I was filled with the Holy Spirit in a way that I never had been before, and I felt a sudden, inexplicable wave of incredible compassion and love for this angry, bitter female who was still screaming vile phrases at me.

My heart almost burst with love and joy, and my entire countenance changed. According to Beiruta in a conversation we had later (in which she apologized for her lover's bad behavior), an uncharacteristic softness came over my face, and my eyes were filled with overwhelming love as I looked at this poor woman who was trying so hard to be masculine. I also began to speak more softly, and I shared some powerful scriptures with these women about Yahshua's love for us, and His forgiveness that came to mind automatically, without my having to think about it.

Amazingly, I talked for about a half hour non stop as Beiruta and her lover quieted down and listened. Then when I had said everything God wanted me to say and I got up to leave, Beiruta looked amazed as her lover came up to me and hugged me. I darn near cried when that happened, and I knew that I had accomplished what God wanted. I made someone who hated God and Christianity feel God's love, which led them to repent and reconsider.

So what you need to do to minister to the lost is ask God how to do so in every new situation! Don't be afraid to call out to God (either out loud or silently, depending on the circumstances) and ask Him to give you the right words and the right attitude to get your point across in the best way possible to potentially save lost souls from Hell. I did this for the first time in 1991 (three years after my adult baptism as a new believer), and I was amazed at how powerfully and quickly God answered my prayer that day. And that is not all! Yahshua promises us in Scrpture that this can happen for all of us if we trust in Him:

Luke 12:11-13 - “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. 12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Since then, keeping this Scripture in mind, I have asked God numerous times to give me the right words to say when ministering to people in my posts or in person, and He has always come through for me, and often within a moment after the request. That is why my essays and comments are so powerfully written most of the time. It is not I alone who write them, but God working through me that does, and it is wonderful beyond imagining to experience this almost everyday! Hallelu-Yah!

~ Helena Lehman of the
Pillar of Enoch Ministry
http://pillar-of-enoch.com


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