Lifestyle of Evangelism: Contagious Joy of Knowing God

When Jesus walked on the earth, He never had to advertise Himself. He never had to spend much time recruiting. Even when He did recruit, He would walk up to someone and say, “Follow me,” and they would leave everything immediately and follow Him.

Jesus was contagious. Everyone he came into contact with was never the same afterward. They would either be on one side of the fence or the other. When He came into a place, lines were drawn, decisions were made, and miracles happened. He never had to promote Himself. His life and works promoted themselves.

Jesus was one of the most joyful people who ever walked the planet. His joy, life, and vigor were attractive. For those who were hungry, they were drawn to Him like moths to a flame. For those who were broken, they reached out to Him in desperation. Anyone who heard of Him had to ponder where He was from and whose power He moved in.

Jesus promised that after He left the earth, He would not leave His followers as orphans, but He would send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who would teach them all things and bring to remembrance all the things that He taught.

Now, believers have Jesus living on the inside of them through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the same joyful, vivacious, alive, vibrant Jesus who walked the planet, shook the atmosphere, and shifted lives of thousands. Jesus now lives inside His sons and daughters who are meant to be salt and light to the world.

Knowing Jesus cannot be a stagnant concept. We are either moving forward or we are moving backward. However, Jesus promised that we have no idea what God has in store for believers, but those things have been revealed by the Spirit (I Cor. 2:7-10).

There is an absolute joy and pleasure involved in knowing God. It is available for us at any time. Psalm 16 says that at His right hand are pleasures ever more, and Ephesians 2 says that we are seated with Him in heavenly places. The pleasures at the throne of God are available for believers to walk in now.

There is such a rampant case of depression across the entire globe—and it is as alive in the church as in the secular world. There are many reasons for this, but I would say the top two reasons are: lack of righteous lifestyle, and lack of experiencing God’s love (which is due to a need for inner healing).

Most believers are just as depressed as the world—and more than that, they are DEPRESSING. Why would the lost want to join something that seems just as depressing as what they already have?

However, we must learn how to experience God and have that overwhelming joy bubble out of us so that we can learn to rightly express who God is to a lost and dying world. We have that same joyful, vibrant Jesus living in us. When we walk around, people should come up to us and ask about Jesus. Our lives should actually be attractive to the lost. Jesus was so contagious and what He had was so alive that the fish jumped into the boat without Him even making an effort.

This is available for us as believers. We must realize the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and that joy is available to heal our hearts—then to be released to everyone around us. Knowing God is contagious, and there is a joy that no one can take away from us when we live in His presence. Jesus is waiting to break out of the inside of us and impact the world around us.

Lord, awaken a hunger for your Church to live and move like You!