Evangelism – Through the Gifts of the Spirit

The article below is one that I wrote a long time ago for the Cross, the publication of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. That’s why it’s aimed at “men” and “brothers.” But it’s no less important for having been written that way. The world wasn’t nearly as messy a place when I wrote this as it is now, so the need for evangelism has only grown, and it breaks my heart that we overlook some of the most powerful tools at our disposal for doing that work. I came across this piece this morning, and I was moved to share it again by way of The Vicar’s Keep. I would love to use the comments section to try to answer the many questions it’s likely to raise. (If that’s too awkward, we could start a FB group, or I could try to add some kind of conversation plugin to this site?)

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Evangelism through the Gifts of the Spirit

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

(1 Corinthians 14:1)

Brothers, what happened to us that we take Paul so seriously, except when he talks about spiritual gifts, most especially prophecy?

There are a lot of reasons I suppose, and a lot more excuses, but I don’t really care about any of them. I’d just like to encourage you to take this one verse of Paul’s seriously. Very seriously.

The men around you are dying to hear from God. They’re dying to know that our God isn’t just cooped up in a book they can’t quite bring themselves to read, that He’s still vocal and active and that He notices them. Really notices them.

That’s what New Testament prophecy does. It demonstrates in a real and concrete way that God is active and cares and that He KNOWS. He really knows what is going on in our lives and it matters to Him.  This is what Paul says about prophecy in a New Testament context, a New Covenant world, “On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”

I know this doesn’t sound a lot like what gets called “prophetic” in our church these days, but that’s because all of our “prophets” are stuck in an Old Testament model. The Holy Spirit rarely works that way any more, but that’s another teaching!

What prophecy does in the modern day is speak to men (and women, and children) about what’s going on in their lives and the call God has on them. God reveals to those who will hear Him the concerns of people around them and then He also reveals His heart for that situation. And sometimes He also calls the person into his or her own future through the working of the one who prophesies.

I am only beginning to be able to move in this gift, and yet God has used me in some interesting and wonderful places. I’m writing this for the Cross only because Bob Dennis asked me to, not to glorify myself. I want to encourage YOU to discover how this can work, how YOU can learn to prophesy into the lives of those around you, or, as happened in this case, into the lives of total strangers.

I was flying to New York from Wilmington, NC, in January of this year. A small commuter jet. One of those with two rows of seats on the right side of the plane and only one row on the left.  Not a long flight, hardly time to get into a book or an audio teaching, so I decided to spend my time in prayer.

I was moved for some reason to pray for the man seated right in front of me on the left side of the plane. I didn’t know him, hadn’t spoken to him, but I had noticed that he and his younger, female traveling companion seemed to be in the film business. She was seated across the aisle from us and they chattered away throughout the flight.

I didn’t know what to pray though, so I began to pray “in the Spirit,” that is, in tongues. Scripture teaches me that when I do not know how to pray, the Spirit will pray in me, in “groans too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26 – a reference to tongues) So that’s how I prayed.  

Then suddenly I was taken with an intense awareness of God’s appreciation of this man, God’s deep affection for him. I heard two two-word phrases, “enormous tenderness” and “enormous courage.” I didn’t know quite what to do with that new knowledge, but at least it gave me something to pray about. I began to bless those qualities in this stranger and to thank God for them.

Then I began to wonder if this were some kind of prophetic word for him. Not being sure, and still being a bit of a chicken when it comes to acting on these things, I basically said in my prayers, “Okay, Papa, if this is something you want me to say to him, then you’ll have to make an opportunity for me to speak to him, because I am NOT going to reach over his seat, tap him on the shoulder, and just tell him what I heard!”

I continued to pray for him as the plane landed. Being such a small jet, the bags were unloaded to the jetway, not to the baggage claim. We had to wait on the jetway, and guess who wound up standing right next to me as we waited.

There were still lots of strangers gathered about, but God had clearly met my “fleece” request (see Gideon and the fleece, Judges 6) so I tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hi, this may sound really strange, but I was praying for you on the plane, and while I was praying, God spoke to me about you. He said that He really treasured these things about you, and said that you have enormous tenderness and enormous courage. I suppose that means He’s planning to make use of those qualities in you in the future…”  

He looked at me rather strangely, and his friend half-smiled and said, “Yeah, that’s a pretty good description of you!”

Then the man said, “That’s really sweet.” (I still smile at that description.) “It’s been a very interesting three months.” 

Knowing an opening when I see one I answered, “Oh? What’s been going on?”

He went on to tell me that three months before he’d been diagnosed with brain tumor. He gave me the initials for it (I’ve forgotten them) and told me that this kind of tumor is uniformly fatal. (I have since looked it up. It is, usually within 12-15 months.)  Immediately I asked if I might pray for him. (I’m also a big believer in healing prayer. I mean a BIG believer.) He smiled and said, “Oh, no. I couldn’t. I’d be.. mortified, to be praying here. In the middle of the airport.” 

I asked if I might pray for him on my own, and got his name (Robert), and we parted. I’ve prayed for him since, of course.

I don’t know if he’ll be healed or not. I sure hope he is. But even if he isn’t, I know this. God used a total stranger to speak to a man who’s going to need enormous courage in the days to come. God used a terrified stranger, someone willing to look totally foolish at LaGuardia airport, to tell him that he is known, he is seen, and that God treasures things about him that the stranger could not possibly have known apart from God’s goodness.

I walked away shaken, but deeply grateful that I had been so used.

Brothers, this gift isn’t just for the few. Paul instructs all of us to desire the spiritual gifts, and especially that we may prophesy. Over each other (I’ll never forget that retreat in Alabama.) over our families and fellow believers, and even over strangers.

God sees. God cares. God knows.  That’s good news. 

That’s evangelism.