Once you’ve given your life to Christ, one of the most exciting things that you can do is to share your faith with other people. However, it’s also one of the most daunting, intimidating tasks that any believer can tackle.
Whether you’re new to your faith or you’ve been a disciple of Christ for years, it’s important to understand some of the best ways to effectively share your faith with others. After all, it just might change their lives, and yours.
Whether you’ve been serving Christ for decades or you recently made Him the Lord of your life, one of the most powerful, humbling, exciting things that you can do is to share your faith with someone else. If you’ve ever been in a romantic relationship, you already understand how exciting it can be to talk about the joy that stems from that relationship with others.
In the same vein, when you are focused on your relationship with Christ, sharing the good news of the love that a relationship with Him brings is an exhilarating experience.
One of the things that every believer has in common is the desire to fully embrace God’s purpose for their lives. However, it’s often easy to overlook the fact that God’s purposes for the lives of His people are multifaceted.
Yes, God has a unique purpose for you. There are things that He wants you to do that were put into motion at the moment that He created you. However, there are also universal purposes that God has for all his people. One such example is found near the end of Saint Matthew’s Gospel.
Matthew 28:19-20 (TPT)
Now wherever you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age.
In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul provides a list of different purposes that God has for His people. However, in the verses that we just read in Matthew’s Gospel, Christ gave some very general instructions that apply to every believer. Just before He returned to the Father in Heaven, Christ told His disciples, and in turn, told us that we should go into all the nations and make disciples.
How do you make disciples? By sharing your own faith with other people. Christ’s plan for your life is very unique. There are gifts, attributes, and traits that He has given you that will allow you to fulfill those purposes.
However, there are also things that He wants you and every other believer to do. Primarily, that universal purpose involves sharing your faith. If you’re nervous about how to go about doing that effectively, be sure to consider these tips.
Identifying Your Real Enemy
Ephesians 6:12 (TPT)
Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage.
We live in a society that pushes division. Not only are people divided across racial, socioeconomic, and political lines, we are generally taught that if anyone disagrees with us about any topic, that we should do everything we can to distance ourselves from that individual.
People often become enemies with other people simply because they don’t see eye to eye on something as mundane as what political candidate they support. With that sort of division running so rampant, it’s easy to start treating unbelievers as the enemy.
However, that’s an unhealthy approach to sharing your faith. When you’re trying to evangelize another individual, you can’t go at them with a “Me vs. You” mindset. You’re not trying to defeat the person you’re sharing your faith with. Instead, you’re trying to live your life in a way that causes them to want to give their lives to the same Christ who you have believed in.
Paul made it very clear to the Ephesian Church who the real enemy was. Isn’t it remarkable that thousands of years later, we’re still fighting the same enemy? When you’re sharing your faith, remember, you’re not at war with the unbeliever.
You’re not at war with the person who is questioning their faith. You’re not even at war with the atheist who declares that there is no God at all. Instead, Christians are at war with the powers of Satan and the darkness that he has brought into this world. That’s the enemy.
What’s Your “Why?”
Don’t share your faith from a combative place. Instead, share it from a place of love.
John 5:30 (ESV)
I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgement is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
It’s easy to just read these words and assume that they’re the words of a believer in Christ. However, they go far beyond that. Instead, these are the words that Christ said to His disciples early on during His public ministry. When you understand that Christ said that His primary purpose was to fulfill the will of God, it becomes evident that we need to walk in the same purpose.
Christ was 100% human while also being 100% divine. No, we don’t have that sort of benefit. We are most definitely 100% human. With that comes a trepidation when it comes to sharing our faith.
How will the person respond? Am I even good enough to share the Gospel with another individual? What if the person who I’m trying to evangelize gets mad? Our 100% human nature often causes us to focus more on these questions than the source of our courage.
Take solace in one fact: you can’t do it. That may fly in the face of everything that our “self-help” methodology teaches us, but it’s true. You can’t do it, at least not on your own. Christ said that He could do nothing on His own, and if He couldn’t, we most certainly can’t.
However, when you find your motivation in God’s will, you can operate with the same kind of authority that Christ did. What is your “why?” If it’s fulfilling your God-given purpose, you’re on the right track to effectively sharing your faith.
Know Before You Go
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Finally, if you have any chance of effectively sharing your faith with unbelievers, it’s vital that you truly understand what you believe and why you believe it. The people who you’re evangelizing are going to ask questions. After all, it’s difficult to understand how much misinformation the person you’re witnessing to may have heard over the years.
This doesn’t mean that you have to memorize the entire Bible before you start on your mission to share your faith with others. However, it does mean that you should commit yourself to regular Bible study every day. Understanding the basics is wonderful. Spend some time learning the Romans Road to Salvation. But don’t stop there.
Instead, spend time immersing yourself in the truths of Scripture so you can answer any of the questions that people are going to ask.
You have hope inside you. However, you have to be able to defend that hope. That is only made possible by reading and studying the Bible for yourself.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I know that sharing my faith with the unbelievers around me is a cornerstone principle of my purpose. Help me to be better at it. Show me opportunities to share my faith. Help me to acknowledge the doors that You have opened before me.
Then, give me the courage necessary to walk through those doors with the Good News of Your love. In Christ’s name, Amen.