Dan Holland encourages us to take a leap of faith.

Taking the plunge ….

In these articles (see links below) about prophetic evangelism we’ve reached the cliff edge where we either take the plunge and have a crack at it, or we file it away in a box somewhere where it will gather dust and remain unproven in our lives. Prophetic evangelism was a mildly interesting idea but not something to disturb our lives.

If, as I sincerely hope, you are in the former party, now we grapple with how we go about this. It’a leap for all of us, but we have to activate, or it’s simply head knowledge. Attempting to exercise this gift is as powerful as all the teaching and pre-empting. Like Peter it’s time to step out of the safety and solidity of the boat towards Jesus,

 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Matt 14 v 28-31)

We are doers of the word not merely hearers; hearing and doing should go together. In the light of this series, this is where we go ‘out’:

Here are some very practical examples of how prophetic evangelism might happen. These are not formulae but may well contain similarities to the situations you find yourself in;

Public transport

This is a great environment to invite God into; ‘here I am Lord, if you want me to speak to anyone.’ God takes these invitations very seriously and will gladly funnel people towards you. On a bus or plane we have a captive audience. There’s time to chat and get to know someone; also, to be listening to God on their behalf.

On the half hour journey home; the stranger sitting beside you has confided to you the grisly details of his divorce and the saga of his feuding children (the presence of God in us will often draw out the pain of others). You have a strange impression of your neighbour being in pain, which you feel led to share with him. This leads to praying for healing in his lower back, which you discern is directly linked to the emotional turmoil he is in.

The office lunch break

At work it’s important to remember who is paying us, and forwhat (mostly not as an evangelist). It’s not honouring to proselytiseif it affects our performance at work. However, there’s opportunity over a quick coffee to drop in a nugget from God; ‘You know I’m a Christian; well, God’s shown me that your sister is in hospital and severely ill. You’re so worried you can’t sleep and some of your old symptoms are returning’.

At this point we’re either going to look very stupid, and there’s no getting around this possibility, remember not everyone will tell us if we’re right in what we say. Or preferably we’ve hit the bullseye. Our colleagues’ eyes nearly pop out of her head and her mouth opens and shuts like a goldfish, we’re almost as astonished that we took the risk and it paid off.

‘I haveto work now, but would you like to go for a coffee after work and I’d love to pray for you’. Your colleague grips your hand, ‘we must!’

A family gathering

We find ourselves chatting to a distant cousin whom we’ve never known well. She is not a Christian but seems interested in what we have to say. As we are talking you have a spiritual picture of her training to be a doctor and working with children. You mildly ask if she has ever considered training in medicine; she is speechless. ‘How could you possibly know, I haven’t shared this with anyone. To be honest, I haven’t had the confidence, I’m scared of being told I’m not brainy enough. I’m also shy with people’.

You assure her that God says she is definitely smart enough. In the spiritual picture she was brilliant with children, natural and warm. You ask if you can quietly pray that God will bless her in this new career path! She ecstatically agrees.

I have found no other way to step out in prophetic evangelism than to spend time with God in the private place; and trust him to move through us in the public place. This is a repeated cycle where every workplace, social occasion, sports event and commonplace activity becomes an arena where prophetic evangelism can function. If we are primed and ready to go, when we least expect it one moment can change everything. What an exciting and faith filled way to live!

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (Eph 5v 15-16)

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Daniel Holland is a UK missionary with Through Faith Missions. He wrote “Through The Tunnel – Free at Last” published by PUSH Publishing, as his personal testimony. His second book “Prophetic Evangelism – Kingdom Exploits in the Risk Zone” was published in January 2021, via Christian Publications International: https://christian-publications-int.com/PropheticEvangelism.html

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Previous articles in this series:

In and out of season – Feb 2021 – https://christiancomment.org/2021/02/24/in-and-out-of-season/

Grandeur of the Mountains – Mar 2021 – https://christiancomment.org/2021/03/23/grandeur-of-the-mountains/

What’s All The Fuss? – April 2021 – https://christiancomment.org/2021/04/26/prophetic-evangelism-whats-all-the-fuss/