How do you know?

God can always use what you say when you witness as long as you don't force yourself on someone. So I would say that if you think you need to witness to someone again, I think that is from the Lord. Giving the gospel is biblical and what we should do -- so that is never from Satan, imo.


The trial and temptation part:
A trial or testing will cause you to look to God and bring you closer to God.

Temptation is to draw you toward sin and away from the Lord.

I don't think we can always tell if we are being tested, but temptation and being tested by the Lord are very different.

 

Satan would not prompt you to share the gospel with anyone. The leading you feel is undoubtedly from the Holy Spirit.

Do not be overly concerned with the other person's response to you. If you go in the power of the Holy Spirit, He will do the talking for you. If the person to whom you are witnessing gets upset, more than likely it is because they are under conviction. You will have planted a seed regardless of the outcome.

I'd much rather have them get upset at me now than to point a finger at me when they stand before God and say that I didn't tell them about the Lord when I had the answer all along.

 

I agree totally with Pastor Bob.

Remember, as a Christian, our job is to plant the seeds. Many, many Christians today speak of times in their past when they were hostile to the message of Christ, and to the messanger, who later "recalled" that message in times of great stress and accepted Christ as savior.

 

The purpose of a trial/test is to strengthen us. Just as a weightlifter keeps using more and more weight (something to strain against) to build muscle, God uses more and more trials to build our spiritual muscles.

This is how we learn patience:

Jam 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

This is how we gain wisdom:

Jam 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
(He is not giving it to you as a gift, he is seeing to it that you get it and you get it by the things which you experience.)

This is also why we can count it all joy, why we can consider ourselves blessed because we can know we are in training by the Master Himself. The training is not always fun but it is ALWAYS fruitful unless we quit the training.

Temptation (Evil): The solicitation to fulfill a God given desire in a God forbidden manner.

Temptation(Good): The solicitation to fulfill a God given desire in a God approved manner.

The entire book of James is a terrific study on how to become a mature Christian through the things which we experience. This is the ONLY way that God uses to bring about a rescue of the soul (mind/psyche) from the ravages of the curse.

I am NOT saying this is how He saves us for heaven but how He "saves" our mind to be conformed to the mind of Christ as much as is possible in this life.

If we just sit back and wait for the Lord to just bestow this maturity on us we will have a long wait for He says:

Jam 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

 

If I were in your shoes I would have to ask my self in what way am I trying to approach this person.

1. Does this person know your a friend?
2. Does this person know you accept them for who they are.
3. Are you living the life God wants you to in front of this person?
4. Do you really care about that person getting saved?
If you said yes to these I would say okay.

5. Are you going to that person because they are not living the way you do?
6. Are you making attempts to correct that person everytime they do something sinful?

If you just find the need to correct all the time and your way is better than theirs I would back off it is probably satan

If your really trying to be a friend and are willing to spend time with that person as a friend then I would say its from God.