FAQ 122
Courage to Stand Alone
NCW 12, September-October 1994
Q. I find it really hard to witness of the Gospel because I am alone (there are no other Church members here). What should I do? Can you offer some advice?
There is only one thing to do: surrender your life to Jesus Christ 100%, without reservation, and ask Him to send you the Holy Spirit. And if you would like an example, then may I recommend Daniel in the Old Testament?
It was a morally dark night in Babylon. Darker than your workplace, or school, or community. King Belshazzar had willfully blasphemed God by desecrating the sacred goblets looted from the temple in Jerusalem. Now Babylon and Belshazzar were about to face God's judgment.
Yet in the midst of this gross darkness shone the light of a single witness: the prophet Daniel. Because of his reputation as a man with "the Spirit of the Holy God" (Dan.5:11), Daniel was summoned to interpret the mystifying message on the wall.
Daniel could have softened God's warning to give it a meaning the king and his court would rather hear. He could have omitted the part about judgment and death. But instead of muddling the message to please the king, Daniel remained true to God. Standing alone before Belshazzar and his drunken court, he boldly spoke the whole truth.
It took enormous courage for Daniel to do that, but the threat from an earthly king was nothing compared to his allegiance to the King of Heaven. Daniel feared Belshazzar so little because he feared God so much.
When we share Daniel's heavenly perspective, we find that God gives us the courage to stand alone too. The poet Gustafson wrote:
In need of strength, we melt into the crowd
And find that strength grows more elusive still.
Our courage gone, we call upon the Lord,
And find our strength renewed to do His will.
Being alone is a wonderful opportunity to measure your spirituality because it allows so much temptation. It gives you a wonderful chance to draw close to God too. If you are alone in the Gospel, through choice or uncontrollable circumstance, do not be discouraged. Why not emulate Daniel? He made it a habit to pray to the Lord on his knees three times a day in front of his living room window. He did not hide his devotion to the Lord. Neither should you.
We recommend all our people pray three times a day -- not just at mealtimes, but in specially set apart moments for nothing else but God. (Mealtime prayer is not, in our opinion, an ideal time for this kind of prayer because people are waiting to eat and are not prepared to offer long periods of time to prayer). Don't let your "busy schedule" prevent you from praying, and certainly don't make excuses not to pray because you have children to take care of. Make time for prayer, and the Lord will bless you.
Study the scriptures daily, pray three times a day, and keep the Lord Jesus in the centre of your heart always. Honour the Sabbath day -- don't compromise it, because to compromise it you compromise your Lord. Go to a Church if there is one nearby, and fellowship with other Christians. It is hard being alone because you have got to be really self-disciplined; if you don't, you'll end up compromising more and more until you lose your faith altogether. And that I would not wish on anyone.
If there are any unrepented sins, deal with them quickly. When you're on your own, without pastoral counsel, you soon become your own moral guide unless you are really immersed in the scriptures and prayer, and you will mislead yourself.
Study, pray, repent, commit....and then witness. God will not leave you alone for long if you really desire to share the Gospel. Let the Holy Spirit lead. God bless you!
This page was created on 24 April 1998
Last updated on 24 April 1998
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