Equipping - Engage & Activate

Leading up to this point, you have worked in preparation - sanctified yourself, identified a passion, identified a nation, spied them out, pulled down strongholds, and cast out evil spirits as best you can. This may have taken a few days or perhaps many months as it is all done according to God's timing.

Through prayer the Holy Spirit has led you into this group, nation, or tribe and this where you engage directly with the people. Having dealt with evil spiritual forces, the atmosphere with the Holy Spirit present will allow you to speak life into people. But that is not all there is to do.

How do you get someone’s ear, be trusted, and have a positive influence? Not everyone is ready to hear the gospel when you are ready to give it. So, what do we do? That depends on what the entry point into that nation is.

For example, suppose your passion is golf, and you have decided to become a paid-up member of a golf club. Go and play and enjoy. Avoid being too forward and accept invitations to join in activities, social occasions, and any working groups. Your job is to listen, learn and pray. As you begin to embed, you will pick up cues from various conversations but avoid making any pronouncements. The Holy Spirit will give you insight and discernment for what He wants you to do.

In this first phase of perhaps several months to a year, humbly go about building relationships and being visible. Whatever you do, do it well with joy and a smile. Humble and joyful visibility will open many doors for you.

Whichever sphere of influence you go into, remember that you are an ambassador for Jesus, and your covenant with Him is what sets you apart, and what guides your actions and words and by allowing His light to shine through you, your influence will grow.

So how do we build relationships that are meaningful and lead to the more challenging questions that will open the pathways for salvation? The emphasis here is building the relationships. The Holy Spirit will open pathways for that to happen, and your job is to build from that opening.

This is where the rubber meets the road so to speak, and where your heart must be true to God’s will. In the secular world, many build relationships for what they will get from it and use the relationship for their own purpose. You are here to give, and not to get. This is why you must continually look at your motives and cast out any spirit that has attempted you to deceive you.

One question to keep uppermost in you mind is: "What is that person’s favourite topic?" The art of conversation is about allowing them to speak on what they love, and this is why the earlier step 1 of identifying your own passions that may be aligned to theirs make it so much easier to build relationships.

Building relationships requires great communication through life giving words, positive body language, and being present.

Influence comes about through visibility, credibility, joy and humility. Sure, there will be occasions where a person is so broken that by the time you meet them, they are ready to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

For others, it will take time. This is where building a good, trusting and credible relationship is key.

And now we go back to prayer, which in turn invites in the Holy Spirit to do the heavy lifting yet again.  What do we pray for?

• Their salvation.
• Their needs.
• Intercessory prayer casting out evil spirits and strongholds that we discover as the relationship builds.
• Changes of heart
• Changes of thinking

As the relationship grows, there may be opportunities to pray with them over their lives and what they need.

What if there are people we really do not like?

On the Cross Jesus interceded for those who crucified Him, “for they do not know what they do.” This must be the way we consider others. No matter what they are doing or not doing we must see them as not knowing what they are doing and intercede. This opens the way for the Holy Spirit to come in and change the atmosphere.

Let’s take this one more step … we must also forgive them and ask the Lord to bless them abundantly. Ouch … that can seem very hard to do when what we perceive of them is very evil. However, we are not blessing the evil spirits and stronghold(s) influencing them. We are blessing the person (flesh and blood and their own spirit) whom we have no quarrel with.

“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” (Luke 6:27-28)

Why?

You are building a relationship, and it is the opposite of what is expected. It shocks that person and as it says in Proverbs 25: 21-22, it will heap coals of fire on their head. That burning will cause their spirit to be troubled and pave the way for the Holy Spirit to do His work.

Secondly, Jesus will reward us for our faith in Him when we do that. It is not about how we may feel. It is doing what is just. Jesus gave His life so that we can live eternally, even though we did not deserve it.

Does it happen in this neatly ordered manner?

No. Ask the Holy spirit to guide you. A relationship can take time to build and as you discover more about each individual, the Holy Spirit will take you to the next step in the journey of that individual's salvation.

You may be building relationships with several people, and each is different with where they are at, their heart and beliefs, and readiness.

We must realise that we may be one link in God's plan for salvation of that person, and we may not be the one to witness their salvation, but we have worked in this person's life according to God's will.