*** The Diary of Brainwashed ***

[votivesoul]

Brainwashed,

In that meeting you described, do you know whether or not all those in attendance had already evangelized their friends and family and neighbors, and found them to be unwilling to receive the Gospel, and so, were making a petition to the Father to lead them to people who would be willing to receive the Gospel?

[votivesoul]

The story of how Lydia came to the Lord is pertinent to this thread.

1.) Paul and Silas didn't just randomly witness to people. They went to a specific place where it was common knowledge that prayer meetings were held.

2.) When they arrived, they realized through the Spirit that evangelizing those present was the right thing to do.

3.) They knew this because the text shows us that the Lord had specifically opened Lydia's heart to receive the Gospel.

4.) All of this was evidenced by her receiving the preaching and testimony of the men of God and being immersed by them accordingly.

A lot of people perform what I call "machine gun" evangelism. They just shoot the Word out in every direction hoping something might stick, and then quote the "Your Word won't return void" verse in Isaiah as justification for it all, while assuming everyone they've offended just doesn't have a love of the truth.

Jesus is our role model, and He never went anywhere but specifically according to the will of the Father. With Christ, everything was God's timing and purpose. He went to the Samaritan Well at just the right time on just the right day, so the woman God knew was going to be there, would be there.

Building an intimacy with the Lord, such that He leads you directly to the Well of Souls for a draught, takes time, patience, much love, and willingness to submit, repent as needed, and reject any idea of how to evangelize that doesn't come from above, but rather, is rooted in man-made efforts and programs. This is how the Anointed One operated, and it's the way we should, too.