Daniel Holland is an evangelist with UK mission agency Through Faith Missions. The following is excerpted from his forthcoming book ‘PROPHETIC EVANGELISM- kingdom exploits in the risk zone’
Live in the moment, flow with the Spirit
‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. (Zech 4v 6)
Jesus worked beautifully with what was already happening around Him. He reads any situation masterfully. Today it jars when we try to impose our agenda, without nuance, onto every situation. Jesus doesn’t say, ‘I could do this in my sleep, I’ve dealt with the likes of her (the Samaritan woman) before. Here goes …..’ Jesus doesn’t have an appendix in his training manual for how to witness with immoral women. He flows with the Holy Spirit and so with excellent ‘emotional intelligence’, to use a decidedly modern term.
It’s tempting to turn our ‘successes’ into formulae. It’s the most human thing. But it means our methods crystallise and become less and less effective. There is always movement in the activity of the Holy Spirit, Who is symbolised by wind, water, fire, rain, river, streams etc. None of these forms stay still. Rather, there’s a flow.
This flow can only come out of deep relationship and challenges our human desire for formulae and rituals. We’re rock climbing without safety harnesses! But when we experience it, we wonder why we ever did anything else. It’s like surfing! There is a wave of the Holy Spirit that we can catch which will carry us through triumphantly. Holy Spirit does the work. He sets the direction, we simply jump onto the wave and let Him lead us at His speed and trajectory. Jesus makes it look effortlessly simple, it takes a lot of skill to do that.
Be purposeful without rushing
“you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one’. (Luke 10v 41b-42b)
There’s no sense of Jesus rushing to get to his big right ‘evangelistic’ hook. He lets things unfold organically and the conversation breathe, but never wastes a single word. Being economical with our words is a great skill! When we’re feeling insecure some of us speak fast and fill the space with utter nonsense.
Jesus is not afraid of being misunderstood by the woman, His disciples, or the Samarian villagers. His identity is in His Father. He is not anxious to justify Himself to everyone and therefore He is not hurried. I might think, I’ve got to finish this before the others get back, otherwise there’ll be ruffled feathers and dissension. I know what I’m doing but they’ll never understand. If we are free from the fear of man we will be able to go at the pace of the Holy Spirit and not the dictates of our anxiety.
Resist distractions
‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful’. (Col 3v 15)
I got into a meaningful conversation with a man in Norwich. He was sharing painful things in his life, and I offered to pray in Jesus’ name for healing. He was open to this and was welling up. At this moment his companion who had been shut down until this point suddenly became very animated. He clumsily interrupted our conversation with a completely random train of thought. It was nothing to do with what we had been talking about; so obviously ‘spiritual interference’.
I did pray in my mind to bind up confusion, but I was alone; it would have helped to have someone alongside in support. The confusion was such we never got back to where we were, I did pray briefly but the moment had passed. The enemy loves to throw confusion in, we need to be wise to this. We do not have to go down every conversational blind alley that we are led down. The antidote is to stay in the peace of God, then we can overcome confusion rather than be swept away with it. We get better at this the more practice we have.
An impossible standard
We may never attain to the brilliance of Jesus in prophetic evangelism, but this is no reason to discount ourselves. We must start somewhere! All heaven waits with bated breath for our decision to engage with God, be filled with the Holy Spirit so tell people about Jesus. God will certainly put the resources of heaven at our disposal once we determine to do this. God only asks that we obey the call:
‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship’. (Romans 12v 1)
Daniel Holland is a UK missionary with Through Faith Missions. This is a short extract from his forthcoming book “Prophetic Evangelism”, due to be published in Fall, 2020. He also authored “Through The Tunnel – Free at Last” published by PUSH Publishing. Link here: https://christian-publications-int.com/Through_The_Tunnel.html
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