Francis of Assisi and Watchman Nee

              I think one of my main hesitations with evangelism is not wanting to awkwardly introduce the topic of Jesus in conversation.  It seems silly to me sometimes if it’s not natural, like I’m trying too hard or something, which is probably annoying to the person with which I am talking.  And I don’t want to seem annoying or bothersome; I want them to know that I love them.  I understand, though, that there is a balance there between being passive or aggressive.

                Within the past few weeks I have shared the gospel with a few girls on campus who I already had relationships with and they knew that I loved them.  I found it easier to be more on the aggressive side with them.  They knew I was doing it in love. Plus, that kind of talk is sort of expected in the environment of a Christian university.

                I want to be better about sharing the gospel with members of my community, though – outside the context of my Christian university.  I felt challenged by Francis’ immediate obedience.  I always have an urgent, burning desire to go share the love of Christ that I know!  But my words are “I want to go,” not “Let’s go!” like Francis.  I think this is mostly because I don’t even know where to start.  Francis of Assisi trusted the Lord so well – he knew he just needed to go.

                I was very encouraged by Watchman Nee’s writings.  So many of the things he wrote about I feel like the Lord has revealed to me in certain ways, just not in so many words.  I have a beginning foundation to these concepts Watchman Nee talked about, and he explained them in a way that helped me understand them better and make more sense of the things the Lord has already shown me.  Something huge was this idea of simply “meeting God,” and initially coming before the Lord with an honest heart.  God has been weighing this heavily on my heart in recent weeks and the significance of this action.  Watchman Nee helped me see ways in which I can share that with other people.