How successful are you in God's eyes? Who follows Jesus today because of you? When was the last time you shared your faith? Prayed for a lost person to come to Christ? Invited someone to a worship service or spiritual event? Forwarded a spiritual email? Dropped someone a spiritual note? Made a spiritual phone call? Went on a mission trip? Volunteered in a local mission ministry? When was the last time you sowed the seed of God's love and word?

If you don't, why not? Sometimes we're afraid of being rejected. Or we fear questions we cannot answer. Or we're not sure how to go about it. At its heart, this is a spiritual battle. If Christ is your Lord, Satan has lost your soul. Count on him to do everything he can to keep from losing another soul because of you. Expect a tightening of your throat, a knot in the pit of your stomach. Know that God has not given you a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), but that Satan does. Expect opposition.

How do we counter it?

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can you, except you abide in me" (v. 4). How do we "abide" in him? "If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love" (v. 10).

So start the day in his word and prayer and worship. Stay close to him through the day. Stay surrendered to him as your Lord, and trust that he will give you his power to fulfill his purpose. We cannot give what we do not have. We must be in a strong relationship with Jesus before we can lead anyone else into such a relationship.

And then he gives you his heart for the lost people you know. If you care for someone, you'll risk their rejection for the sake of their eternal salvation. God will give you the compassion, courage, and answers you need to help others follow Jesus.

But only if you are obedient first. Obedience positions you to receive his courage and power. In the moment that you actually begin to write the email or speak the words which will help someone follow Jesus, you find the words to write and say: "Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit" (Mark 13:11). Step onto the bridge you cannot see until you step onto it.

Then souls will spend eternity in heaven because of you. Then your life will glorify God forever: "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit" (v. 8). And you will know his joy: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full" (v. 11). There is no joy on earth like the joy of helping people escape an eternity in hell for an eternity in heaven.

So now the next step is yours. God is challenging you not just to give to missions and pray for missions, but to do missions. Will you make it your goal to reproduce spiritually this year? To bear fruit? To be his disciple? To be a success in God's eyes.

As you decide whether or not to risk it, perhaps these words will help. Occasionally I need to remember this assurance by President Theodore Roosevelt:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

Which soul is yours?