Can I get a Witness?

I have really been studying the word witness. It terrifies me and excites me at the same time. It makes me uncomfortable because I don't want people to look as some fanatic when I give a witness but it excited me because I have so many blessings to share. Sharing my witness is a balance of what I sharing the gifts God has given me and at the same time listening to others blessings too. What does it means to be in a ministry of witness.? Here is some of what I learned and it applies to all Christians...

1. The Word of God is alive. We Christians are Easter people, we do not worship a dead God but rather a risen Savior. We worship a God who is still working in the world, creating, shaping, and changing people. This realization helped me understand that I am called to bare witness to the Living Word of God. God is working in your life. You come here to worship a living God, who is gives us blessings beyond measure. Sharing your witness is simply telling others what God is doing in your life.
2. Proclamation of the Word means we are called to share the Good News. This is hard for many people because our experiences of Jesus may be intensely personal. Also, in our modern culture we are afraid of offending people. We may be afraid to proclaim our beliefs in the work place for fear of losing our jobs. We are afraid to be excluded from certain cliques. We may just be introverted people who are afraid to talk to strangers. Or, we may believe all of our friends are Christians. But what I realized is this call to proclaim the good news is more simple than I made it out to be, In the our Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul sums up the gospel in his greeting to the Ephesians. He gives thanks for what new gentile Christians have in common in this case with the Jewish Christians. In verse 4 he says every Christian was chosen, in verse 5 we are all destined to be adopted, we are all God’s children, in verse 7 he reminds the Ephesians that God gives his grace to all through the redemption and forgiveness of sin and in verse 11 we all have an inheritance in Jesus Christ. And finally, through our baptism we are all sealed with the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised us we would receive as recorded in Acts chapter one, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Proclaiming the good news than is really stating the facts of what we believe as Christians and what God reveals to us through Scripture, our experience, and our traditions. We are called to bare witness to the Good News, the facts of our Christian beliefs that lead to salvation. If God is working in your life than proclaim and celebrate it! When someone asks you what you are doing this weekend always add, going to Worship! When someone says “You are lucky!” say “I am blessed.” When someone invites you to lunch say, “May I say grace?"
3. The call to witness involves listening to and obeying God’s Spirit. Once we have proclaimed the Good News we must allow the Spirit to use us to tell others our own experience of Jesus Christ. We must learn to listen to people, their stories, their joys and their pain. There are many times in ministry and in life when there are no adequate words to say, when a co-worker is laid off, when a dear friend is diagnosed with cancer, when someone loses a child. These are the times when we must pray for the Spirits words, to come to our aid. We can recall John Wesley, the founder of Methodism’s words, “Offer them Christ.” I often struggle with the Spirit because often it doesn't fit on my to do list. But, I know to truly worship in Spirit and in Truth means I must be willing to allow myself to be a vessel for the Spirit. The fact is we who have been sealed by the Spirit are called to bare Witness to the Truth and let Jesus do the rest.

We must all claim our call to be ministers. No we may not all get up in a pulpit on Sunday, or be on tv, but we all are called to tell people the good things Jesus has done and is doing in our lives. So, what has HE done for you lately?