We’ve learned over the past few weeks that people who have disabilities are just like us, designed by God on and for a specific purpose. We’ve also learned how to make friends with someone who has a disability and how to communicate with people who might communicate in a different way than we are used to or comfortable with.
So, now that you’re friends, how do you share Jesus with someone who has a disability? Do they need to know Jesus loves them too? Yes! Everyone needs to know that Jesus loves them. Telling anyone about Jesus is easiest when you already have a relationship with that person. If you want to share your faith with someone and help them know Jesus as their friend, they must first see Jesus in you and the way you act with them before they will listen to what you have to say about Jesus.
In order to have a good relationship with someone, we need to be a good friend. How do you do that? Let’s review what we learned about being a friend to someone who has a disability:
Spend time with them.
Talk with them and listen to what they have to say, and
Love them for who they are.
As your friendship grows, try to think of ways that you can intentionally (that means on purpose) share Jesus with them. Here are some ideas:
DO WHAT JESUS DID
Do you remember the stories of Jesus’ ministry to people when He was here on earth? These stories are written in the Bible – in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If you read the passages carefully, you will find that Jesus didn’t spend time preaching at people, but rather, He spent time with people – serving them, healing the sick, listening to their problems, praying for them, teaching them and sharing God’s words of love. We should follow Jesus’ example and do the same things with our friends to help them know Jesus too.
PRAY FOR THEM
Another way to share your faith is to pray for your friend. Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer for his disciples (that’s you and me if we love Jesus!) and for the people who didn’t understand His words and know Him as their Savior and Friend. Look for times when you can pray with your friend for a specific problem or situation. Ask them if it’s okay that you pray for them. Let them know you are praying for them. This tells them how much you care and that Jesus can help them.
SERVE THEM
You can also share your love for Jesus by serving your friend – like Jesus served people. Look for opportunities to help them out and do something kind for them. This will mean a lot, especially if it’s something that you don’t like to do normally. It’s always easy to do something we like. It’s much harder to give up a day of play to do something helpful for someone else.
TELL THEM
The last thing you can do to share Jesus’ love with your friend is to tell them what God has done for you. Don’t get scared by this. You don’t have to be a pastor or know lots about the Bible. When your friend asks “why?” you are doing something kind for him/her, simply tell them. Let them know how much Jesus loves you – and them – and that you are living the way Jesus wants you to live. That’s what He would do!
If they want to know more about Jesus, you can share John 3:16 with them –
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Tell them what this verse means to you. You might say something like, “God loves each of us – you, me and everyone in the whole world – so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, from heaven to earth just so He could grow up and die to take our punishment for all of the bad things that we have done. You see, because we have done bad things, believing in Jesus is the only way to go to heaven someday.” I also like to use the Gospel Bracelet to share the story of Jesus’ love. That way it doesn’t matter if someone can read, and it helps me remember what to say. If you aren’t familiar with this, a Gospel Bracelet is a bracelet with different color beads. Each bead represents something that helps us tell people about Jesus’ love. Here is what the different color beads on the bracelet mean:
So, now that you’re friends, how do you share Jesus with someone who has a disability? Do they need to know Jesus loves them too? Yes! Everyone needs to know that Jesus loves them. Telling anyone about Jesus is easiest when you already have a relationship with that person. If you want to share your faith with someone and help them know Jesus as their friend, they must first see Jesus in you and the way you act with them before they will listen to what you have to say about Jesus.
In order to have a good relationship with someone, we need to be a good friend. How do you do that? Let’s review what we learned about being a friend to someone who has a disability:
Spend time with them.
Talk with them and listen to what they have to say, and
Love them for who they are.
As your friendship grows, try to think of ways that you can intentionally (that means on purpose) share Jesus with them. Here are some ideas:
DO WHAT JESUS DID
Do you remember the stories of Jesus’ ministry to people when He was here on earth? These stories are written in the Bible – in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If you read the passages carefully, you will find that Jesus didn’t spend time preaching at people, but rather, He spent time with people – serving them, healing the sick, listening to their problems, praying for them, teaching them and sharing God’s words of love. We should follow Jesus’ example and do the same things with our friends to help them know Jesus too.
PRAY FOR THEM
Another way to share your faith is to pray for your friend. Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer for his disciples (that’s you and me if we love Jesus!) and for the people who didn’t understand His words and know Him as their Savior and Friend. Look for times when you can pray with your friend for a specific problem or situation. Ask them if it’s okay that you pray for them. Let them know you are praying for them. This tells them how much you care and that Jesus can help them.
SERVE THEM
You can also share your love for Jesus by serving your friend – like Jesus served people. Look for opportunities to help them out and do something kind for them. This will mean a lot, especially if it’s something that you don’t like to do normally. It’s always easy to do something we like. It’s much harder to give up a day of play to do something helpful for someone else.
TELL THEM
The last thing you can do to share Jesus’ love with your friend is to tell them what God has done for you. Don’t get scared by this. You don’t have to be a pastor or know lots about the Bible. When your friend asks “why?” you are doing something kind for him/her, simply tell them. Let them know how much Jesus loves you – and them – and that you are living the way Jesus wants you to live. That’s what He would do!
If they want to know more about Jesus, you can share John 3:16 with them –
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Tell them what this verse means to you. You might say something like, “God loves each of us – you, me and everyone in the whole world – so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, from heaven to earth just so He could grow up and die to take our punishment for all of the bad things that we have done. You see, because we have done bad things, believing in Jesus is the only way to go to heaven someday.” I also like to use the Gospel Bracelet to share the story of Jesus’ love. That way it doesn’t matter if someone can read, and it helps me remember what to say. If you aren’t familiar with this, a Gospel Bracelet is a bracelet with different color beads. Each bead represents something that helps us tell people about Jesus’ love. Here is what the different color beads on the bracelet mean:
Black/Brown/Navy – The black/brown/navy bead represents sin.
Each of us has done bad things and we call that sin. Because of our sin, God can’t let us into heaven. (Romans 3:23)
Red – The red bead represents the blood of Jesus.
God’s Son, Jesus, came to earth and lived a perfect life (He didn’t have any sin!) and died on a cross. His blood covers our sin to make a way for us to go to heaven. (I John 1:7)
White – The white bead represents a clean heart.
If we believe that we have sinned and that Jesus died so that we could be forgiven of all of our sins, then God washes our dirty/sinful heart and makes it clean. He also comes to live in our heart.
Yellow – The yellow bead represents heaven.
Once we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and come live in our life, God makes a home for us in heaven! Not to move into today, but someday when we die. He will be waiting for us. We use the yellow bead because it reminds us of the streets of gold that God says will be in heaven. (John 14:2)
Green – The green bead represents a person who loves Jesus.
Now that Jesus is part of your life, you need to share His love with others. This is called “growing” as a Christian or believer in Jesus. We chose the green bead because it makes us think about green grass and other things that grow. (II Peter 3:18)
Isn’t that easy? Practice sharing what the different colors mean with your family and friends to make sure you get them all right. You’ll see how easy it can be to share Jesus’ love with all of your friends, including those who have disabilities.
Each of us has done bad things and we call that sin. Because of our sin, God can’t let us into heaven. (Romans 3:23)
Red – The red bead represents the blood of Jesus.
God’s Son, Jesus, came to earth and lived a perfect life (He didn’t have any sin!) and died on a cross. His blood covers our sin to make a way for us to go to heaven. (I John 1:7)
White – The white bead represents a clean heart.
If we believe that we have sinned and that Jesus died so that we could be forgiven of all of our sins, then God washes our dirty/sinful heart and makes it clean. He also comes to live in our heart.
Yellow – The yellow bead represents heaven.
Once we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and come live in our life, God makes a home for us in heaven! Not to move into today, but someday when we die. He will be waiting for us. We use the yellow bead because it reminds us of the streets of gold that God says will be in heaven. (John 14:2)
Green – The green bead represents a person who loves Jesus.
Now that Jesus is part of your life, you need to share His love with others. This is called “growing” as a Christian or believer in Jesus. We chose the green bead because it makes us think about green grass and other things that grow. (II Peter 3:18)
Isn’t that easy? Practice sharing what the different colors mean with your family and friends to make sure you get them all right. You’ll see how easy it can be to share Jesus’ love with all of your friends, including those who have disabilities.
 | Becci Terrill |
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