Five Steps to Soul Winning!
By Tim Downs
When you make a choice to reach the lost you will find that in most cases you are going to fight some battles! Giving that understanding it is very important that you learn the tools that will keep you from being defeated and having the ability to overcome your enemy.
1.) Prayer: Prayer is the key that opens the door to many portions of a soul winner’s life. First prayer is what you will need when going before the Lord and asking for a stronger passion for lost souls. Prayer will become necessary in staying spiritual during trying times. You will need to pray each day over all of the possible new converts and also the more connected converts. You will need to pray often about your finances, giving and how to be a more cheerful giver. You will need to pray for strength to endure until the end. You will need prayer to give you peace and understanding. You will need prayer to help give guidance to each new convert. Pray that God will deliver you from a spirit of fear!
There are many reasons to spend real time in prayer, let me just pause for a moment and say, prayer needs to be real, we cannot merely drive down the road and say a few words to God and expect it to change lives. We must set aside a prayer time, learn to discipline yourself to pray a minimum of one hour per day of fervent prayer. Now this does not mean you count up all the time you prayed during the day for instance, 3 minutes during over dinner, 5 minutes on the way to work, 10 minutes before bed etc… but this means one hour of real prayer where you dedicated time to spend with God. If you do not know how to pray for an hour, please email me, I will send you a free prayer guide that will help you lengthen your prayer time and allow you to learn how to pray.
2.) Commitment: This will be a very important step. In this fast paced society commitments are very hard to keep. We must make a commitment to God that we will work in the harvest. We will need to sacrifice our time to help others. When things seem to not be going all that well our commitment will be the glue that keeps us in the fields. Many discouraging times will come upon you, however you will experience many joyful days, many awesome things will take place, and you must stay committed to get the total experience! When you began teaching Bible studies or running a van ministry or teaching a class you will not want to miss a day. People will be totally depending on your faithfulness. You cannot allow things to keep you from your commitment to your converts.
3.) Sacrifice: This is where it will get rough for most people. You see soul winning requires so much sacrifice. You will sacrifice time, money, efforts and much more. The sacrifice is the price you will pay. You will find that as you get more involved in out reach, these people need a lot of attention. Most will need financial support, mental support and most of all genuine friendship. You will have to make time to help each person that ask. Many times you will have to lay aside your own pleasures to give full attention to your converts needs. God will always bless your sacrifice, never get and attitude of pity for your self.
4.) Giving: Giving is very important, you will find that the Bible says give and it shall be given unto you. This is one area of soul winning that I must say can make or break you! If you give with joy, God will bless you beyond your wildest imaginations! The Bible says he that gives to the poor shall not lack! There will be many times while you are trying to reach souls that you will come across people that you will have to meet their needs before they will ever open up and trust you or want to listen to what you have to say. Always give with love, never give and expect the person to spend wisely, pay you back or become a financial genius over night. When you give, just remember that God blesses you for your act of kindness, not for what the person does with the money you help them with. As I think back on each person God has allowed me to reach, I cannot at this moment think of one person that I didn’t spend some type of money on. People will know you are sincere if you will do your best to help them.
5.) Contact: As you are reaching people you will find it very important to always have some type of contact information about you and your church. I cannot sleep sometimes when I think of all the people who were hungry for God that I have spoken to and was not prepared to leave them with information on how to reach me of find our church. You will want to always carry some type of information that people will be able to find you once you have spoken to them about God. I always carry Bible studies, flyers and cards! Everywhere you go you should try and talk to new people, and give them information on where they can come and visit your church. You will also want to get as much possible information about the person that you are trying to reach. I try and ask for a name, phone and address. Very seldom has someone refused to give this information. It will prove to be a key to soul winning success when you try to follow up with each person!
Let’s get out in the world and reach every soul we can! The harvest has already been prepared; God is looking for men and women who will recognize the need to reach the lost. Please try and focus this week on these five things!
Bro. Downs is an Apostolic evangelist and often teaches soul winning seminars.
