As we get to know people, moving up conversational gears happens naturally. When you meet someone for the first time, your conversation typically revolves around what you have in common. The place at which you are in attendance, or maybe the organization that you are involved with, the job, the school, the project, etc. As you see this person regularly, you get to know them. You talk about your personal lives. You ask them non intimidating questions about their family, or pets, or other interests. And once we have a personal relationship with someone, when they know that we are a safe person and that we genuinely care, we can ask them spiritual questions.

 This often happens as we get to know them personally; we can talk about how we managed through a crisis or a particularly difficult time by talking about how it was through prayer and God’s strength that we got through. We can ask if they have ever experienced anything like that.

We don’t have to go overboard with starting “Jesus conversations”. These conversations really do happen naturally. However, we do have to be intentional. And we can’t chicken out when that moment occurs. And guess what, you can still do this even if you feel uncomfortable having “spiritual conversations”.  It’s ok. Read the latter half of the New Testament, even Paul had some anxiety about sharing spiritual truths.

I invite you to pray about this. Ask God to bring about the people that you are to speak with. And ask God for strength and courage in the moment. We have the Holy Spirt to guide and direct us. Rely on that power!

So, my question for you is, who are you having conversations with? And how can you move it up a gear? What is your next step?

Consider these words from 2 Corinthians 5:11-21:

Because we stand in awe of the one true Lord, we make it our aim to convince all people of the truth of the gospel; God sees who we really are, and I hope in some way that you’ll look deeply into your consciences to see us as well. But we hope you understand that we are not trying to prove ourselves to you or pull together a résumé that will impress you. We are simply hoping that you will find a sense of joy in connecting with us. And when you are approached by others (who may value appearances more than the heart) asking questions about us, you will be able to offer an answer for them. If we seem out of control or act like fanatics, it is for God. But if we act in a coherent and reasonable way, it is for you. You see, the controlling force in our lives is the love of the Anointed One. And our confession is this: One died for all; therefore, all have died. He died for us so that we will all live, not for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose from the dead. Because of all that God has done, we now have a new perspective. We used to show regard for people based on worldly standards and interests. No longer. We used to think of the Anointed the same way. No longer. Therefore, if anyone is united with the Anointed One, that person is a new creation. The old life is gone—and see—a new life has begun! All of this is a gift from our Creator God, who has pursued us and brought us into a restored and healthy relationship with Him through the Anointed. And He has given us the same mission, the ministry of reconciliation, to bring others back to Him. It is central to our good news that God was in the Anointed making things right between Himself and the world. This means He does not hold their sins against them. But it also means He charges us to proclaim the message that heals and restores our broken relationships with God and each other.

 So we are now representatives of the Anointed One, the Liberating King; God has given us a charge to carry through our lives—urging all people on behalf of the Anointed to become reconciled to the Creator God. He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God