The Spirit’s Help
When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere (Acts 1:8, NLT).
Dear Friends,
One day over 50 years ago, as a new Christian, I felt strongly impressed to visit a young businessman whom I had met in church a few Sundays before.
I had never witnessed to anyone. I didn’t know how to witness. I was scared to death, but God impressed me again and again that I should contact this person and tell him about Jesus. I was fearful that he would laugh at me, make fun of me, criticize me, walk away or any number of tragic things that could happen to me.
But, miracle of miracles, when I obeyed the Holy Spirit, the young man responded with great enthusiasm, received the Lord Jesus, surrendered his life to Him, and shortly thereafter resigned a very prestigious position as a businessman to go to seminary. He has been a pastor now for over 40 years, training others to touch the lives of many thousands. This miracle of miracles happened because of the Holy Spirit.
A few years later I was speaking to a group of students at Princeton University and was sharing how on one occasion a hundred students came to the Lord. A man came to me and he said, “I don’t believe you. I’ve been a Christian for six months, I witness every day for an hour, I read my Bible for an hour, I pray for an hour, and as I witness other students laugh at me.”
I replied, “Let me ask you some questions. Do you understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit?”
He said, “Who is he?”
I said, “Well, let me share some good news with you.” I went through the little Holy Spirit booklet which I had written. I explained who the Holy Spirit is, why He came, how he could know Him personally. Then we prayed. (You can find the entire Holy Spirit booklet in 80+ languages at http://www.greatcom.org/spirit/languages.html.
Six months later he told me, “I went from that place of prayer with an expectant heart. I prayed, ‘Lord, who is going to be first?'”
Remember, he had never led anyone to the Lord in six months of being a Christian. But the first person he came to was one of those who had laughed at him, but this time he received Christ! He went home ecstatic. He could hardly contain himself and wait until the next day. Again he went witnessing and he led another to Christ, and the next day another, and two days later another.
This dear man ended up going to seminary and later joined our staff. The Holy Spirit makes a powerful difference in our lives and witnessing. Without the Holy Spirit we can’t do anything, but with Him, all things are possible.
Yours for helping to fulfill the Great Commission each year until our Lord returns,
Bill Bright
About the Author
The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world’s population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, “JESUS,” which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Dr. Bright recently co-founded Global Pastors Network to “Touch, Teach and Train” a group of 5 million new house churches around the world 24/7/365 at http://www.globalpastorsnetwork.org.
Copyright (c) 2003, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
