“I don’t believe in the supernatural, nor do I believe in miracles!” This statement came from a self-proclaimed “pragmatist.” Upon hearing this, one might assume this person is either an atheist or an agnostic. Yet, you may be surprised this viewpoint was espoused by a Jewish man who believed in God!

In this conversation, he also added he didn’t believe in a physical Messiah of any kind. In fact, he stated that God was “unknowable.” Do I need to tell you what he thought of Jesus, His miracles, His resurrection, His deity? This man was not impressed.

How do you even begin engaging someone who has erected such fortresses of unbelief?

As we continue learning lessons from Paul, this lesson highlights a critical element in the evangelistic endeavor—we are in a spiritual war!

As we ponder this reality in light of our individual witness, we then need to ask the question, “How then are we to fight the battle as soldiers in the Lord’s army?”

Paul offers insight in his second letter to the Corinthian church:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Initially, we understand that since the war is spiritual, we need spiritual resources to fight. Therefore, it is the Lord who must bestow these resources on us, and God is faithful!

Remember, “We are not sufficient of ourselves, rather our sufficiency comes from God, who has made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:5–6). 

One of the reasons we are sufficient for all the things He’s called us to is that “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8), including the work of evangelism.

Yes, His grace is sufficient!

What specific weapons does God provide His witnesses?

The Sword of the Spirit

In Ephesians 6, the Apostle Paul described the spiritual war that the devil and his minions wage against us. In verses 10–18, Paul described the whole armor of God we are to put on in this fight. In verse 17, he noted the only offensive component of the armor: the “sword of the Spirit,” the Word of God.

In our day of media abundance and technological tools, how we share can be varied: Facebook and other social media, email, books, tracts, personal notes, through audio and video recordings, and links. In addition to these means of communicating God’s Word, we can also share His Word in a traditional fashion, person to person. There is no end to the available delivery systems. The goal is to share the Word of God and let it do what it does—accomplish His will.

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Jesus said in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” The truth of God’s word is a most powerful weapon. 

Andrei Sakharov was a Russian nuclear physicist, anti-Soviet dissident, and human rights activist. He became renowned as the designer of the Soviet Union’s “Third Idea,” a code name for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. 

Late in his life, the man who gave the Soviet Union the bomb stated, “The most powerful weapon in the world is the truth.” [http://blogs.lt.vt.edu/malw14/2015/11/16/andrei-sakharov/ OR Time Magazine, Feb. 21, 1977.] 

Sow the seed of truth, God’s Word, the most powerful weapon in the world, entrusting the results to God.

Prayer

Prayer acknowledges our dependence upon the Lord to guide us, to move in the hearts of those we desire to reach, and to work in and through the circumstances of life wherever the evangelistic process occurs. 

We need to bathe everything in prayer, including our evangelistic effort. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, the apostle wrote: “Pray without ceasing.” Of what was he speaking? Perhaps the ambiguity speaks of an overarching theme to always be in a spirit of prayer. 

I again recommend a great website filled with biblical prayers called kingdompraying.com. Dr. Kevin Meador, who developed the website, has done a great service for the church in providing prayers for various areas, including prayers for the lost, prayers for open doors, and more. 

Prayer is an essential weapon of our warfare, and one that makes Satan shudder. Ralph Herring states, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees, why not make him tremble? Why not storm the very gates of hell? Nothing could please God more. In the conflict that is upon us, certainly we can ill afford to neglect one weapon Satan does not have in his arsenal and the one he fears most—prayer.” [Alvin Reid, Introduction To Evangelism, (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 1998), 140.]

How was it possible that I, who for the first 23 years of life took the Lord’s name in vain when I uttered the words “Jesus Christ,” now call Him “Messiah,” “Savior,” “Lord,” and “God?” In part, I am confident there were God’s people praying that He would do a mighty work in my life, and He heard those prayers. For that, I’m grateful!

The Holy Spirit

Personal evangelism should be done in and through the power of God, at least evangelism that is fruitful and glorifies God. In the book of Zechariah, Zerubbabel was encouraged to complete the Temple rebuilding project after the Lord brought the Jewish people back to Jerusalem in 538 BC. God spoke about this effort by saying it would be completed, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). 

More directly, Jesus in John 15:5, said, “Without me you can do nothing.” When applied to evangelism, our personal witness needs to be both Spirit-led and Spirit-empowered. 

“Evangelism without the Holy Spirit is like a body without a soul,” Delos Miles said. 

God the Holy Spirit indwells each believer. He is the one who empowers us to witness. Just before the risen Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave this promise to the disciples in Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 

The Spirit helps us know what to say and the boldness to say it.

“For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Luke 12:12).

“‘Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.’ And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:29-31).

It is the Holy Spirit who destroys the fortresses of unbelief and opens the eyes of the blind – through the Word of God, through prayer, and through our witness!

May we each go forth into the fray armed with the our divinely bestowed weapons that are mighty in witnessing, to the end that many in our sphere of influence would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Amen.