Jerry Wiles on Timing, Common Ground, and Fruitfulness in Witness

Those who abide in Christ will produce much fruit

After more than a decade of cultivating a relationship with one of our neighbors, I finally got around to having a conversation with him about spiritual matters. I’ve been thinking, “why didn’t I do this sooner?” It’s so easy to get into a perpetual cultivation strategy and procrastinate about addressing spiritual issues. Sometimes the timing is just not right, but when we pray and trust the Holy Spirit’s leadership, the time will come. When we pray and trust Him, He often gives us unique and creative ways of witness and ministry.

Stories of Healing and Deliverance

These neighbors, who migrated from a Persian Gulf country, recently received a diagnosis that the wife had terminal cancer. When my wife and I learned of the cancer, we started praying for them. Shortly afterwards, I took the opportunity to pray with the husband. He was very open as I shared with him the power of praying in Jesus’ Name. I asked him if there were any of his family members who were followers of Jesus. He said, “No they are all Muslim.” Then I was able to share how many people throughout the Middle East and North Africa were experiencing healing, deliverance, and salvation through a relationship with Jesus of Nazareth. The door was then opened to share about what the Quran says about Isa Al-Misah and about the Injil. Of course, that led to sharing more about what the Injil says about Isa. Finding common ground is so important to gaining trust and building relationships.

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God at work in Difficult Times

So often it’s the difficult times or crisis situations that provide the most fruitful witness and ministry opportunities. However, we don’t have to wait until bad things happen to find common ground and bring Jesus into our conversations. The Lord is faithful to do so as we pray and trust Him for wisdom and direction. If we consistently sow the Seed of His Word and share our God stories and testimonies, we can have confidence that occasionally we’ll connect with fertile soil. It’s really about the spontaneous outworking of the indwelling Christ.

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SOURCE: Assist News Service, Jerry Wiles