Witnessing for Jesus with fear and trembling

Julie

On occasion I have stopped by the Kingdom Hall in my town to lay hands on the door and pray for the Witnesses. It had been a while though.

Every other Thursday I drive past the Kingdom Hall when I clean house, but for some reason I had this client down in my datebook for Tuesday. I honestly couldn’t remember why I switched days as I had nothing on my calendar that conflicted with keeping my regular cleaning day, but since I had her down for Tuesday, I thought I’d better not change it.

As I was driving, my favorite tune, “How He loves us” by the David Crowder Band played in the background as I prayed and I got the idea that today I should pray in the parking lot at the Hall. The first time I did that a few years ago I was terrified, but knowing it was Tuesday morning I was confident no one would be there. I was relaxed as I approached the Kingdom Hall. However, my heart started racing as I saw about 7 or 8 cars in their parking lot with Jehovah’s Witnesses walking to them!

They must be going out in service…. on Tuesday? They don’t do that on Tuesdays here. It was 9:20 am… so I did the bold thing and …. drove right past them quietly complaining to God that this wasn’t what I had in mind!!! But…. I kept praying, “What should I do Lord? What should I do?” and I was reminded that He pressed me to share John 12:32 at the District Convention.

So I pulled over (out of sight from the Jehovah’s Witnesses at this point) and stuck a piece of paper in my little cleaning bin Bible to mark John 12:32 and immediately started making excuses to God that it was too small of print and therefore grabbed another Bible from my truck to compare fonts sizes. Oh brother, I knew I was just stalling now. Sigh.

So I tried to obey and drove to the Hall trembling. As I did, God spoke to my heart and laid Paul’s words on me, “I did not come to you with eloquence of speech but in the power of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). What do I trust? The working of the Holy Spirit or my own polished words? So, I rolled my truck up to the entrance of the lot just as they were all in their cars leaving.

As one van was pulling out, we both rolled down our windows to talk. I didn’t recognize this older man…. a visiting circuit overseer perhaps? But the brother next to him was one of my former elders and I very calmly and casually said hello to him by name. I could also see heads in the back seat but was not able to recognize who they were.

And there I was having to say something. “Hi. Going out in service today? I’m on my way to work and wanted to share a verse that perhaps you could highlight with our neighbors today. It’s JOHN 12:32.” I said that very clearly and intentionally so that they would remember to look it up later and stick in their minds. Then I paraphrased it without having to read it in either Bible. “Jesus said if he was lifted up HE’D draw men to Himself, so I hope as you talk to our neighbors, you lift up Jesus and give Him a chance to draw men to Himself”

Then I asked, “Have you ever thought of using that verse before?” And my old elder muttered, “We use a lot of verses” and I validated him saying “Good, God’s word is truth after all. I hope you all have a great day, thanks for talking with me!” and they pulled off.

I couldn’t believe how calm and sincere I was. Praise God! I didn’t even plan it. It just happened as I was driving to work. I even followed their van to the highway praying behind them the whole way. Then a funny thing happened …. I showed up at the house to clean and the door was locked! So I entered in through the garage and no check was on the table. Uh-oh…. she wasn’t expecting me on Tuesday anyway.

Keep yourself in God’s love, Julie

 

Author: Julie

As a convert to Jehovah’s Witnesses, Julie believed she had found “the Truth,” but when she was “disfellowshipped” for “apostasy” when she questioned the organization's policies and refused to trust the organization over Jesus as her ONLY mediator, Julie left to find true freedom serving the REAL Jehovah God in joy and truth! Call Julie at 719-355-7164 ext 113