Toothpick Testing Christianity

I love to bake "goodies" for my family and whenever I try a new recipe I always test the baked squares or cake with a toothpick to see if they are completely baked. A "gooey" toothpick means the cake is underdone and will need at least ten minutes more in the oven. A toothpick with crumbs on it means it's almost done and a clean toothpick means the cake is ready to come out of the oven.

No man can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him. (John 6:44) It is our job to use our little toothpicks to see whether the person is ready to hear about Jesus.

The best way to test to see if they are "baked", or ready to hear the gospel, is to be excited about what God is doing in your life and church and just share it with people you meet. Tell them about the person that got healed or the person that got a prophetic word etc.

Another way to test to see if they are "baked" is to ask questions. You can ask, "I'm curious. Do you ever think about spiritual things?" If they say, "Yes," you can ask another question, "Do you think there's a heaven or hell?" Then ask, Do you think you'll go to heaven?" then, "Why?" This is where you want to listen very closely, because they will give you clues about what they believe or don't believe.

When they are finished telling you why they think they would go to heaven you can ask the most important question, "If you were wrong, would you want to know about it?" You want to be very tactful with this question so they do not get offended with you personally.

If they say, "Yes," you can explain how the Bible has been proven: by history, by the fossil record, by the number of fulfilled prophesies in it and by the discoveries of science.

If they say, "No," at any point in the conversation, say, "All right," or, "Okay" and change the subject. Your work is done. The toothpick test came out "gooey" so they are not ready to hear about the things of God. Let Holy Spirit work on them. (When I get a burden of intercession for someone I have seen them come back to me in days, restless, wanting to know more about Jesus and the Gospel.)

If they seem half interested you can proceed with Holy Spirit's discretion, asking Him what to say to them to help them in their journey. In this case the toothpick has crumbs on it... so they are almost baked or ready to learn about Jesus and what He did for them.

If they are very interested in talking about God and Spiritual things, that means their toothpick has come out clean and we will have an opportunity to share with them and perhaps pray with them. As we pray, remember that we have the Kingdom of God or Heaven inside of us, (Luke 17:21) so let's ask Holy Spirit to touch them with some of that Kingdom. He will take any opportunity we give Him.

P.S. Do not worry if you cannot answer a question about their religion or belief. Just tell them, "I don't know the answer to that question, but I will find out." Then when you get home you can check out www.livingwaters.com and look up the answer. They have the most amazing resources for answering objections and questions about other faiths.
A question you can't answer immediately will give you the opportunity to talk with them again. In the mean time you can be praying that God will soften their hearts towards the Gospel and you can bind the "strong man" blinding them to the Gospel (2Cor 4:4)

That's "toothpick testing" Christianity in a nutshell. It doesn't take a lot of time out of your day. The key is to be available (Rom 12:1) and God will give you opportunities in your daily routine to talk to others.

This works well with acquaintances as you want to test every so often to see how ready they are for more of the Gospel. It's okay to check every so often to see if their "toothpick" comes out clean. As we keep praying for them... they are baking away and soon enough they will be ready to hear the gospel.

Just today, I used a toothpick on a lady I used to work with, that was hostile towards the Gospel. I asked her how her family was doing and she told me about her grandson is in the children's hospital. She gave me his name so I could pray for him. That's a huge softening in her heart! Praise God! I'm claiming miracles for her little guy and when he gets healed I will tell her about the Love of God and go from there.