From the moment I was saved, I have had a burning passion in my heart to reach the lost. The funny thing is, I wouldn’t consider myself an evangelist. Some may make the argument that we are all called to be evangelists, in accordance with the Great Commission in Matthew 28. I whole-heartedly agree! Evangelism may look different to each of us, though. We may not all be called to stand on a street corner proclaiming the gospel to strangers, or hold crusades and tent revivals, but we are all called to be proclaimers of the good news in some form.
I used to beat myself up, because I could never force myself to preach at people about how their sins are leading them on a path to hell, and only Jesus can save them from it. I would hear hard messages about how if we don’t save our loved ones and friends, who will? They will go to hell, and it will be our complacency that sent them there. It would make me feel so convicted that I was not doing my part. It made me miserable. I used to think that I needed to pray for more boldness, and to just step out in faith and do it. After all, they wouldn’t be rejecting me, they would be rejecting God. I felt that if I could just share the message, I would have fulfilled my responsibility to the gospel.
One of the hardest things I discovered, is that you can’t preach a gospel about saving people from their sins, if they don’t believe they sin. Suddenly, my evangelism efforts seemed pointless. Convincing people that they are sinners didn’t feel like good news to me. As I began to encounter God’s love more and more in my personal worship times, I began to dream about sharing that news with people- the news that God loves them, unconditionally, no strings attached, whether they receive Him or not. I began to see that a gospel that scares people into salvation causes new believers to start their Christian walk with an unhealthy paradigm of God. So, how was I going to put this new revelation into action?
My strongest gift is the prophetic. I used it often in my church to give encouraging words to other believers. It was satisfying for a time, but as I began to study the prophetic in scripture, I began to feel restless. I felt that the whole point of spiritual gifts is to build up the body and equip the saints, as well as to reach the lost. I had been building up the body, but not reaching the lost. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul talks about the prophetic being for the unbeliever. He said that when an unbeliever hears a word of prophecy, the secrets of his heart will be laid bare, and he will proclaim that God is among us. It started a hunger in me to use this gift to reach the lost.
In 2008, I decided to step out. I set up a booth at a local health and wellness fair, and offered ‘free spiritual readings’, and dream interpretation. (If this makes your skin crawl because it reminds you of psychics, just remember that people outside the church don’t speak ‘christianeze’. They have no paradigm for ‘prophetic words’/’prophecy’, or if they do it has to do with predictions about the end of the world. Most people do have a paradigm for the supernatural, and we need to meet them where they are at.) I have had a booth at the local health and wellness fair for that past four years, and it has continued to grow. We usually have the busiest booth at the fair, and two prophetic teams giving readings at once.
Early on, the Lord taught me that it is important to work as a team with other believers, and that He really isn’t interested in numbers. Some may view success at this sort of outreach by numbers of people who receive Christ as their savior. I now view success by how people were impacted by the love of God. When people encounter the love of God, they are changed forever, and it is an encounter they will never forget. We have people that have come to our booth every year, because they remember their first encounter, and are hungry for more. If people are truly searching, they will find Jesus. It is the most satisfying work I have done in the Kingdom, because it is such a joy to be able to reveal God and His heart of love to people who never knew He loves them. His love is so amazing, He will love us even if we never love Him in return. He will keep pursuing and loving us, even if we reject Him over and over again. He will never give up, and He will keep offering the gift again and again. That’s what prophetic evangelism is all about- giving people a taste of God’s love, stirring a hunger in them for more.
I am always in awe of how merciful and kind Jesus is. Through the prophetic, He lays the secrets of someone’s heart bare, but it is usually a secret desire or longing that He wants to fulfill. He reveals their destiny. He never exposes people in a shameful way, but His love covers a multitude of sins. Sometimes we have people sit in our booth long after they have received their ‘reading’, because they feel so at peace. If God is love, it is no surprise to me that this is one of the ways He has chosen to reach people- by revealing His love.
