Is Your Family SavedHow to Share Jesus without Being Obnoxious
Larry tells the story of how his brother came to Jesus…
Late in the 90’s, I had a dream. No, it was more like a nightmare! I stood at the Great White Throne judgment seat and dared to look over the abyss. I thought I would see faceless masses of the damned. Instead, I saw faces looking back at me of unsaved family, friends, business associates and even strangers I had met on the street and in stores. I awoke with a start filled with remorse and pain. The looks on the faces of the lost, especially those of my family and friends, filled me with real guilt. I asked the Lord, ‘Why aren’t they saved?’ The Spirit of the Lord responded, ‘Larry, what is it in you that keeps them from being saved?’ ‘Lord, I’m not the problem,’ I protested. Silence! His silence is deafening! I felt completely convicted. What should I stop doing? What must I do to reach those I knew were lost.
The Walls in Me Keeping Them from Seeing Jesus
The Holy Spirit brought my unsaved brother to mind. Earlier in my Christian walk, I had witnessed to and prayed for my brother. But after years of rejection, I became sullen and silent. Essentially, I had given up! God never gives up on us. We should never give up on those who don’t know Jesus. No matter what they say to us or how they treat us, we must always reach out to them. The loving Father never gave up on the prodigal son (Luke 15). The Holy Spirit pointed out walls in me that keep my brother and others from seeing Jesus through me. I wrote down the revelation He gave me. After a few months, I also wrote a book about these insights: Lord I Wish My Family Was Saved (Charisma House). Some of the walls the Holy Spirit revealed in my heart were:
The Wall of Prayerlessness
I had stopped praying for my brother. I decided that my early petitions were enough. But then I remembered Jesus’ parable about the persistent woman who petitioned a judge until she got an answer. She didn’t quit. She persisted. Effective prayer is zealous, persistent, persevering and patient. Are you praying often and consistently for the lost persons you know? The Holy Spirit taught me how to pray and prayed through me when I didn’t know how to pray (read Romans 8). I prayed:
Lord Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to stir up boldness in every Christian that meets my brother. Let it be that everywhere he goes – work, shopping, playing that he will meet Christians who will love him and share the love of Christ with him. Amen
Have you ever felt that stirring of the Holy Spirit in you to witness to a total stranger? Know what that stirring is? It’s the answer to someone’s prayer for that person. Will you respond and obey? Will you witness? Your sharing about Jesus with someone answers the petition of another Christian praying for that person’s salvation!
The Wall of Unbelief
Without faith, miracles are impossible. I had stopped believing that God would or could save my brother. It wasn’t outspoken negativism. Rather, my unbelief was betrayed by my lack of action. Faith without works is dead. I avoided writing or calling my brother. I talked about superficialities when we met at family gatherings. I began to believe the lies of the enemy instead of the promises of God. My focus wasn’t on the possibilities of how God could reach him through me. Rather, I settled complacently into the quagmire of unspoken, unthinking faithlessness.
The Wall of a Critical Spirit
That’s right. I was critical of my brother’s beliefs and lifestyle. Yes, I avoid outspoken criticism fearing I would be judged the way I judged him (Matthew 6). Nonetheless, hidden deep within me was an attitude of criticism that looked down on him and his family for the way they lived and raised their children. Being critical birthed self-righteousness in me and led to the next wall – spiritual arrogance.
The Wall of Spiritual Arrogance
I felt better than my lost brother. I thought I was right and he was wrong. I was saved; he was hopelessly lost. I was in; he was out. The truth was, I was no better than the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes of Jesus’ day. When I did share about Jesus with him and other lost friends, I used religious terms instead of understandable terms. I quoted scriptures from rote instead of being led by the Spirit to share wisely and appropriately from His Word.
The Wall of Condemnation
Finally, I moved from simply being negative to condemning him. Whatever happened to them was what they deserved. The lost were bad people who deserved to be severely punished. I was right where the enemy wanted me - ineffective, prayerless, judgmental, critical, prideful and self-righteous.
Real Witnessing Begins with Personal Repentance!
So I had to repent. I was the problem, not my brother or the other lost people around me. Repentance meant that I not only asked God to forgive my walls and tear them down. It also meant that I had to change. Change always requires effort and commitment. I began to pray. Everywhere I went, I asked people to join me in prayer for my lost family and friends. We prayed out loud and often. I began to sow memorial offerings for my lost brother (Acts 10) in nations. My wife, Judi, and I prayed in agreement. My other saved family joined together in prayer. We began to love and reach out in calls, e-mails and visits. We started believing God for a miracle. Nothing is impossible with God! No person is too far, too evil, too hard, too lost or too hurt to be reached by our loving Father!
I also began to receive prophetic words from others about my family being saved. I knew God was changing me. Though I didn’t see any change in my brother, I started calling things that were not as though they were. I stopped calling him ‘my lost brother’ and began calling him, ‘my seeking brother.’ One pastor in
Canada spoke out a word of knowledge in a worship service to me, ‘The Lord will save your brother through heart problems.’ A surprising heart problem would develop!
A Divine Appointment
In November of 2003, Judi and I received an invitation to lead a Valentine’s Day marriage retreat for about twenty couples. The retreat involved a ten-hour travel day from Orlando to Denver to
Portland, Oregon and then back again. My immediate response was to recommend leaders we knew who lived out west instead of us traveling across country for a small event. However, as I prepared to decline the invitation, the Holy Spirit stopped me. He said that we must go because we would experience a ‘divine appointment’ there. I told Judi. She agreed that we had to obey the Spirit and so we planned the trip. So in February, 2004, we traveled across America to lead a small retreat in the mountains of
Washington
State . It was a great retreat. Marriages were strengthened and divorces cancelled. However, nothing qualified in our minds as a ‘divine appointment.’
Upon returning on a Sunday evening, we flew from Portland, Oregon to
Denver, Colorado where we had a 90 minute layover. While in the
Denver airport waiting for our next flight, I turned on my cell phone to check messages. We had turned our phones off during the event to avoid any interruptions. One message flashed on my voice mail. I listened to the message with stunned surprise. My brother had called me that morning. He was weeping and sounded very desperate. He said, ‘Larry, my heart is broken. I must talk to you immediately.” His words were barely audible through his sobs. I immediately called the number he left in the voice mail. He answered and restated his need to talk with me and then asked through his sobs, ‘Where in the world are you?’ I paused. Suddenly I knew what the ‘divine appointment’ was. My brother lived in
Denver ! The Holy Spirit had orchestrated a complicated flight and travel schedule so that I would physically be in the right place and at the right time to meet face to face with my brother. I told him, ‘I’m here in the
Denver airport. Let’s meet. I want to talk with you!’
He laughed and cried all in the same breath. We arranged to meet in the morning. Unknown to me, he had been dating a Christian friend who decided to end their relationship because their spiritual lives were not in agreement. She followed Christ. His spirituality focused on New Age stuff. Their crumbling relationship was his ‘heart problem.’ I stayed in
Denver and missed my flight. Judi continued back to our home and prayed intensely. The next morning, I met with my brother and his friend for a few hours. We sat on the floor and wept, hugged and met Jesus! My brother was saved. A few months later, I had the privilege of baptizing my brother in the
Atlantic Ocean during an Easter Sunday morning sunrise and then officiated his wedding to his wife and Christian partner for life.
Don’t Overlook the Walls in Them
Remember there are walls that those seeking God have built between themselves and the Lord. They are walls of sin, guilt, shame, intellectual rationalism and hurt. Those walls may keep them from receiving the gospel from you. But their walls cannot stop you from loving them, treating them with dignity, compassion and understanding, and praying for them. We know that it’s God’s will that all be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). That includes irritating, angry, hurt, stubborn and even hateful family members. Our response to them has been determined by God’s mandate for us to forgive, love and show compassion to pre-believers including family. Recently my brother, his wife and I shared a wonderful time of prayer and worship together. He’s not only my natural brother but he’s also my brother in the Lord. How good God is!
Now is the Day of Salvation – the Bible declares that the time of salvation is now! It’s never too soon or too late for God to save and redeem our household. Household salvation came to the Philippian jailor’s home and to Cornelius’ and
Lydia ’s household as well. God wants you to pray, believe, love, reach out and be humble. When was the last time you asked an unsaved family member, ‘How may I serve you?’ Or, “how may I pray for you?’ I’ll never forget Bria, my interpreter in
Belgrade, Yugoslavia . During one meeting when I was preaching on family salvation, Bria broke down and wept, unable to continue interpreting for me. When I asked him what was wrong, he confessed that he hated his father. His atheist, military, communist father would curse at and beat him every time he went to church. That very day, Bria had bruises all over his arms from being beaten before he came to the service to interpret for me.
“It wasn’t as bad today,” he related. “My father is sick with influenza and he was too weak to hurt me badly when he hit me.” I encouraged Bria to return home that night and ask his father, “Can I pray for you to get well?” Bria thought I was crazy but he did what I asked. The next morning he came to our service smiling broadly. “What happened with your father?” I eagerly asked. “He let me pray for him and lay my hands on his shoulder as I prayed. This morning my father awoke completely well. He told me that he was sorry for beating me for worshipping my God and wouldn’t ever hit me again.” Bria shared as he wept for joy. Are you willing to do whatever it takes, whatever God requires, and to reach out in love, prayer and faith for your lost loved ones and friends? Will you begin right now? God wants you to be a willing instrument in His hands for the salvation of your whole household.
Extract from 2=1's Legacy Magazine
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