The Value of One

The Prayer of Salvation

It’s important as Evangelists to understand basic principles for leading unbelievers to Christ. One of the principles that is important for leading souls effectively to Christ is the prayer of salvation. The Bible teaches us that God commands men everywhere to repent.

Acts 17:30

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

God will not overlook the sins of mankind. God loves us but He hates sin! Therefore the Bible teaches us that God will not allow the innocent to go unpunished.

Numbers 14:18

‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’

Proverbs 28:13

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Here it shows that it’s not just repentance of sin, we must first confess our sins before God.  We must lead people to confess they are sinners and turn from their sin (repentance). Without true repentance we are just having people make a nice prayer, however, Biblically forgiveness of sins begins with confession and repentance. The next thing that is important about the prayer of salvation is leading the person to confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in their hearts that God the Father raised Him from the dead.

Romans 10:9

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

God is the only one who can judge the hearts of men. He knows when someone truly repents of their sins and turns their heart to God. I do believe there are people who receive the Lord on their death bed or in the last moment without praying this prayer of salvation but I believe God in His Sovereignty sees the heart of the person to place their trust in Him wholeheartedly. For example, the Bible shows us that the robber on the cross next to Christ was told by our Lord that because of he placed his faith in Him before his death, he would be with the Lord in Paradise. That goes to show that in certain cases God will save lives out of His Sovereignty because He alone knows the hearts of men. The Bible teaches us that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10:13

for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[a]

However, as a general rule of thumb, one should lead people to confess and repent of sins, confess Jesus as Lord, and believe that God the Father raised Him from the dead. Every other prayer you do within the prayer of salvation is fine as long as the core of salvation is made within the prayer. I have heard people lead an unbeliever to Christ without any confession of sins, or confession Jesus as Lord of their lives. We must lead people to understand that God loves and wants to save their souls from an eternity in hell without Him. God is a Father and He longs to see His creation be restored as His adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus. Therefore, a prayer of salvation for an unbeliever could look something like this:

Father I come before your presence today to confess to you that I am a sinner and I need forgiveness for my sins. I choose to repent (turn away) of all my sins and ask you to forgive me today. I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is my Lord, and I believe that God the Father raised you from the dead. Please cleanse me with your blood, come into my heart and write my name in the Book of Life. I renounce every pact with the devil, sin, my flesh, and my past. I make a pact with Jesus Christ to serve you and live for you all the days of my life. I declare the day I die when I open my eyes I will be in your presence. In Jesus name. Amen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evangelism is connected to Prayer and Intercession

As believers we must understand that Evangelism and Prayer go hand in hand. Prayer is the motor that activates the Supernatural. Without Prayer you will never see greater manifestations during evangelism. There are people who evangelize without a prayer strong prayer life and will definitely see results because the word cannot return void, however, prayer releases greater power during evangelism. I have seen the greatest results of evangelism through strong prayer and intercession.

Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

Act 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

A great Evangelist must have a great prayer. Anybody can preach, but if we want to see a greater impact in this generation we must operate in the supernatural and that requires greater dimensions of prayer. A believer should have a close walk with God so that they can know the heart of God and manifest His heart on the earth. From the moment God saved my soul, I have been a man passionate for prayer and intercession. From days saved God had impressed in my heart to wake up early to seek His presence as a teenager. That hunger for prayer has increased more and more throughout the years and that has been one of the major secrets to our success after the grace of our Lord Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, operated His ministry through a strong prayer life with His Father. If Jesus needed to pray to make impact His generation who are we not to follow in His footsteps. Jesus would stay up all night in prayer, wake up early for prayer, and depart from the crowds to be alone with God. That was the secret of His ministry. He never went out to the streets without being with the Father. He would win the victory before going out to the streets and therefore His impact continues to transform lives.

In the book of Acts, the first demonstration of Supernatural Evangelism was birthed through many days of prayer, intercession, and waiting on God. If you want to be an effective witness of Christ, you must develop a strong prayer life. An evangelist must become a great farmer and a great farmer not only plants seeds but understands that they must effectively plow the grounds for seed to be planted in good soil. Intercession is what plows the grounds of the hearts of men so that when the gospel is preached the seed is planted in fertile grounds. We cannot reach this generation with mechanical techniques, and just words of wisdom; we must have the demonstration of the Spirit. The greater the prayer life the greater the manifestations of the Spirit will follow.

 

 Understand the principle of sowing, watering, and reaping

Often times I will find believers that will ask me how I always remain on fire for God and never stop preaching the gospel. They share their frustrations with not seeing souls get saved, or not seeing the fruit of their labor. I remember when I started evangelizing I was on fire for God and would preach to anybody and everybody. However, I quickly came to understand that not everyone was open to receiving Christ, and others were not ready to receive Christ in that moment. God taught me a long time ago a revelation that I call the principle of sowing, watering, and reaping. As an Evangelist it changed my perspective of evangelism forever. God began to teach me through a scripture in the book of 1 Corinthians concerning the times and seasons for souls to be saved. Lets read what the Apostle Paul shared about this principle.

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one:and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
– 1 Corinthians 3:6-8

Notice that the Apostle mentions that he planted, Apollos watered, but God is the one who gives the increase. God began to teach me that the Apostle Paul here represented the believers who planted the seed of the gospel for the first time, Apollos represented believers who watered seeds that were already planted by other family, Friends, or preachers.

There will be times that we preach the gospel to somebody but they will refuse to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Does that mean that we were unsuccessful? Ofcoure not! There will be people that you will preach to that you will plant the seed and immediately it will get watered and grow unto salvation. However, there will be people that you will plant the seed of the gospel and though they reject it in the moment, the Lord will be working in their hearts till the time is right for them. Others will evangelize and help water a seed that someone else planted years ago and will reap the soul in that moment. Notice that its God that brings the increase, in other words, God is the one that convicts and leads that person to repentance. Paul goes on to say that both the one who sows and the one who waters are one. Both the one who planted the seed and the one who waters the seed will both be rewarded. This means that when you preach the góspel you will never fail!

Its impossible to fail in evangelism because when you witness you are either planting a seed, watering a seed, or reaping a seed unto eternal life. The góspel can never return void, sooner or later it will germinate unto eternal life. Some may never receive Christ but they will not have any excuse before heaven because you presented the góspel to them and they rejected the eternal seed.

Overcoming the Greatest Obstacle for Supernatural Evangelism

One of the biggest problems I run across training believers in Supernatural Evangelism around the world is the fear of rejection. We as human by nature want to be liked, loved, and accepted. However, in the Kingdom of God, Jesus made it very clear that we would not be popular to everyone the moment we decide to follow after Christ. In fact, Jesus stated that if they hated Him, they will also hate us.

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. – John 15:18 – 20

Jesus made it clear that as believers we were not going to be loved by everyone. Jesus is the greatest revolutionary leader of all time. There will be people that love Him and people that hate Him, and believers must understand that in the moment you decide to follow after Jesus; His enemies will become your enemies and His friends will become your friends. We must have a warrior mentality to become effective believers for Christ because the enemy will always be after our faith, and this world will persecute those who follow after Christ. You have to make a decision in your mind that you are not going to be ashamed of your Jesus and you’re not going to fear the rejection of mankind because you will NEVER please everybody. The Apostle Paul made it clear that we are not to be ashamed of the gospel.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. – Rom 1:16 

Jesus taught His disciples not to be ashamed of Him, in fact, He said if we were ashamed of

Him, He would be ashamed of us before the Father.

For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy. – Luke 9:26 

Overcoming fear of rejection is one of the biggest steps Christians around the world need to make to become effective witnesses for Christ. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be fear at times or a feeling a rejection from people but it means we are willing to pay the price of being rejected at times for the privilege of serving our Lord.

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. – Matthew 10:14

We have to remember that people are not rejecting us, they are rejecting the One who sent us to share His message of eternal life. We have to have the mindset that we are like a mailman who delivers the message and it’s up to people to choose Jesus. When people reject the message, we shake off the dust of rejection and we go on to the next soul willing to hear the good news. There’s always somebody hungry out there for the glorious gospel of Christ. You will see that if you persevere and don’t allow the rejection of certain people to discourage you, you will reap the joy of seeing countless lives transformed by the power of God.

They rejected Jesus, people will reject you as well.

Rejection in evangelism is not failure

The Eternal Mission and Vision of Jesus Christ

Traveling for almost 15 years has given me the opportunity to see a lot of Gods people around the world. I have noticed a common issue wherever I go and that is a lack of passion for souls to be won to Christ. I have discovered that there are a couple of basic reasons why the Body of Christ does not win souls at large. One of the reasons why souls are not being won is because not everyone is willing to pay the price to obey the call of God to fulfill the Eternal Mission of Jesus Christ. Some are not willing to pay the price while others think that this call is not for them it’s only for Evangelists. However, Jesus made it clear that the call to fulfill the Eternal Mission of Christ is for every believer. In Mark 16:15, Jesus called all of His followers to preach or proclaim the gospel to the entire world. Every believer is called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost. It doesn’t matter if you are a professional, businessman, athlete, or stay at home mom; we are all called to share the gospel with souls. Jesus promised that when we preach His gospel supernatural manifestations would follow.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

– Mark 16:15-17

In Acts Chapter 1, Jesus taught us that we are all called to be His witnesses on the earth. In Mark 16, He shared that we are called to proclaim His gospel, In Acts Chapter 1, He teaches us we are all called to share our testimony with the world.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

– Acts 1:8

In Matthew Chapter 28, Jesus also gives us a commandment as His people to not only win souls for Him but to also make disciples. He has called us all to preach, witness, and make disciples around the world.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

– Mat 28:18-20

Here in Matthew 28:20, Jesus instructs His disciples that we are to teach new souls to observe everything that He had commanded His disciples. Some believers believe that evangelism and loving souls is an option, however, Jesus clearly taught us that the Eternal Mission is not an option, its a commandment. I pray that a passion for souls will awaken in the Body of Christ in these last days like never before to prepare for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.