God prepared my heart, God created the opportunity, God opened the way…

1. My experience

 

God prepared my heart….

 After Dave Geisler’s first training session on 6^th April, I was encouraged to make intentional effort to bring people one step closer to the Good News. So I made a prayer to God as I intentionally targeted my family members – they are my parents, my siblings & their spouses as well as my nieces.

 

God created the opportunity….

Sunday evening is set aside for family time where all of us gather at my parents’ place and have dinner together.  That particular Sunday evening when I went home from YM, I saw my brother & his wife already there.

 

While sitting around at the dinning table to munch some snacks, my sister-in-law came up to me and started to share something rather personal. Basically it was about child bearing. (She & my brother were married for 7 years already and still have no children although they would like to have.) 

 

God opened the way….

As we were chatting, she shared how she felt about disappointments they both face again and again regarding child-bearing. I then took that opportunity to bring in the message of God in our conversation. I mentioned about God being the Creator & Giver of life. Helped her to recognize that life is a gift of which only the Great Creator can give. Although I assured her that I am praying for them to have a child, we need to acknowledge God has the prerogative to determine His gift.  I also shared about examples of women in the Bible who were barren and how God chose to open their wombs later.

 

About 3 weeks ago, I received a sms from her (my sister-in-law) regarding a disappointing news. Somewhat I sensed her heartfelt pain & disappointment so I replied asking if I could call her on the phone. She replied to call her at her house phone number and so I did. After listening to her sharing, I asked if I could pray for her. With her acknowledgement, I took that opportunity to pray for her over the phone. (This was the first time I ever prayed for and with her.) I knew she felt awkward yet comforted.

 

I thank God for opening the door to give me courage & opportunity to share more about Him to my sister-in-law. I could see her response of being comforted & serious thought about the Great Creator God whom I worship and serve. And I am thankful for the opportunity to bring her one step closer to the Lord.J

 

 2. Lesson learnt

It is important that we share with biblical understanding of who our God is and with conviction; people can sense & appreciate our God as well as the faith we proclaim.

 

Learn to empathize with others & recognize our helplessness, yet direct them to our loving & almighty God.

 

3. Encouragement

God does open doors when we truly seek Him; therefore, dare to look out for opportunities where He would answer our prayers.

 

 

Sharing by Annie Lee

God answers prayer, God is constantly at work, God knows our heart!

1. My experience

 

God Answers Prayer….

During one Thursday evening prayer meeting, I was sharing with a group of sisters about praying for opportunity to share the Gospel to my mum’s siblings (particularly her eldest sister and second younger brother).

 

Interestingly, the next morning while I was at home with Bruno because my mum had to go for her medical check-up, I received a call from this second uncle (that is my mum’s second brother!). Since my mum was not in, he chatted with me and so I took the opportunity to share the Gospel with him and challenged him for a response.

 

 God Is Constantly At Work….

 

Although I have not met this uncle for more than 4 years, we were very friendly with each other. Since he already knew that I am a Christian, it was rather easy and straight forward for us to talk about spiritual issues.

 

Actually, some years ago I ever gave him a bi-lingual Bible to read. And according to him, he has been reading it. In our conversation, he assured that he reads and has been thinking about what he read. He also reads other religions literatures. Then he told me that his son got him a cross and placed it next to a Buddha statue in his house. His son beliefs in Buddhism and knows that my uncle “likes Christianity” and so got him the cross. When I heard that, I took the opportunity to ask him if its’ true that he beliefs in Christianity & why so? Well, he could not quite explain the reason but somehow finds Christianity more logical & acceptable. He said his son told him these 2 religions are actually the same. But I told him it is not true. Somehow he recognize that too.

 

Then I told him frankly that my heart’s desire is to see my parents & relatives like himself to believe and acknowledge Jesus personally. And ironically, he “encouraged & assured” me that I should believe that my household will be saved because God has first touched my life and it will influence them somewhat. I was surprised he could say such things and I trust he truly has read the Bible and maybe quoted this from the bible! Nevertheless, I challenged him that it is still a personal decision every one has to account to the Lord and respond to Him. He understood that too!

 

Anyway, we ended the more than an hour phone conversation with me urging my uncle to seriously consider the Gospel message and wish that he will make a decision for Christ soon. And he ended with an assurance that he knows my sincere heartfelt prayers for him.J

  

God Knows Our Hearts…

 After hanging up the phone, I thank God for the answered prayer that I had the opportunity to talk with my uncle about the Gospel again. I also prayed for God’s continual working in his heart to convict him.

 

And I was encouraged to know that although Bruno felt it was a very long phone conversation I had and somewhat neglected him, he knew I was discussing the gospel with my uncle and so did not interrupt us. Instead, he asked if my uncle actually believe the Gospel. So we both agree that we need to be constantly praying for our loved ones who are non-Christians.

 

 

2. Lesson learnt

When we are serious about sharing the Gospel and prepared to do so, God will open the door and so we should be alert to it.

 

 3. Encouragement

When we walk consistently in our belief/faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and able to share with conviction, people can sense our sincerity.

 

 

Sharing by Annie Lee

Some Sow…Some Water…Some Reap…

3 weeks ago, Uncle Linus (Ian’s father) spoke to me after morning worship about Ian’s friend who was quite close to the family. He seemed very open to the gospel & they needed confirmation on his belief. I was excited to hear of the good work that the Lord is doing through the family & I agreed to meet up with the boy.

Auntie Karen (Ian’s mother) said that she would fix up an appointment to meet up with Wee Kiat at her place on one of the week days. Eventually, the date fixed was on a Thursday, 3rd July. I was excited yet also a bit apprehensive as I really did not know what to expect. I went to the Lord in prayer & asked Him for wisdom & guidance on how to handle this situation.

I arrived at Ian’s house around 5pm and was told that Wee Kiat was delayed in school & is on the way over. I had a good chat with Auntie Karen to know more about the background. I was glad to know that ian has been doing a great job in lending Wee Kiat books as well as “wetting his appetite” on things of God. Wee Kiat was also given a bible by Auntie Karen! Wee Kiat has been reading the bible regularly.

When Wee Kiat finally arrived at Ian’s house, ….

the closer i walk with God, the more …

 
I am having an MSN conversation with a street E contact, and she is taking forever to reply me. Please pray for her, apparently, her biggest concern is about going to church. For me, my evangelism experience has always been such: The closer I walk with God, the more intense my efforts become and the more opportunities seem to miriculously present itself. Frankly speaking, I have not always been so enthusiastic about evangelism. When E-com issued target cards in the past years (i.e when I was SEC 4), I would rely on my strength to share the gospel. The implied  minimum goal was 1 gospel shared per 2 months. This got me very stressed and at the end of the month, I would just pick up the phone and call a friend and recite the 4SL to the phone. Having done this, a big burden would be taken off my chest. I would feel overjoyed at having done my part of the great commission. So great was the relief that I did not stop to reflect that I was not sharing the gospel out of love. This was very evident in that I let my friend go back to another’s friend Catholic church upon his PRC-ing. (I know realize that we are to make disciples, NOT converts). I was sharing it for a very selfish reason, for that matter I just thought to myself that my life was mine to live and my mouth was mine to close for the rest of the 2 months. I think God has grown me somewhat in the past few years and my perspective on evangelism has matured a little with more delving into God’s word. The more I read the Bible, the more I come to realize that this was an area I definitely need to work on. God has been very merciful, and in the past month alone he has moved my heart and directed my steps towards PE, street-E , and TE (taxi-evangelism) haha. You can ask me for details.

claire.

I wasnt serious enough, didnt pray enough, wasnt intentional enough.

okay…

I admit I am quite a slacker when it comes to evangelism.
The thought of my friends going to hell seems quite distant
And besides.. many of them are staunch buddhists
FINE! I know that was just stupid excuses.

I took one step further last year by inviting some of my friends to church.
I dont know …. the gospel was shared to them.. but they dont really seem to remember it and yes they just took it as some extra knowledge.

YEs, I do stumble as human many times… being a good testimony was somewhat a struggle for me many times. well, my friends still think i am a really good girl… but