Encouragement
“Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.” Luke 15:10
At the time of this writing, I have had the privilege to lead nine people to Christ over the past month, and hopefully planted many seeds or helped several with the reassurance of salvation. Even though all nine have been special with their experiences, number nine was an unexpected, sweet surprise, and proof it is not what we do as Christians, but what God does inside of someone. An amazing experience to just be a part.
In one witnessing event, two thirteen year old girls came to the booth out of curiosity. One appeared Hispanic, so I asked in Spanish, if she spoke Spanish? She said a little, so I continued in English. I began by showing them an optical illusion, which we use to break the ice, to get the person laughing and feel comfortable talking with us. I understand the stresses, the oddities, even the fear from both sides. Neither person knows the other, and when talking about a soul’s eternal destination, it gets pretty personal and solemn fast. All kinds of barriers get built.
As the two ladies finished the three things mankind cannot do, we come to the point of a very serious question. “If by some tragic accident, you left here, and died tonight, and stood before God, would He let you into heaven? Are you 50%, 75%, 100% sure he would let you in?”
Both girls replied, 50%, so I ask a different question. “If you walked up, and I was on the ground dying, I had five minutes to live. I had never heard the Gospel, what would you tell me I needed to do to get to heaven?”
Sometimes the enemy causes us to doubt, but if a person can tell me confidently how to get to heaven, then the approach may change to reassurance. They both reply, “repent, and ask Jesus,… accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.” Depending on how someone answers this question, or how the Spirit leads, I will follow-up, “Would you like to be 100% sure, but not what I say, what God’s word says.” If someone wants to know, we sit them down at a table and open the word of God, and walk them through the path of salvation.
Both girls nodded, but due to their age, I asked if their parents were here, and to make sure it is okay with their parents. As a rule, this is done for ages 12 or under, but I am nervous with young teens. They leave. I see the Hispanic girl talking with her mom. They come back with her mom’s permission, so we sit down at the table. I take a closed Bible, and say “I believe this is God’s word. I believe everything inside is true. Do you know what an acronym is?”
Puzzled, both girls give an extending and questioning “Noooo.”
“An acronym is a word where the letters stand for other words. Have you heard of the SAT test? Standard, Aptitude, Test.” They both understand, so I continue.
“The Bible, in English is an acronym. It stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” The Bible tells us how to get to heaven.
I open up the scriptures, some familiar and comfortable scriptures for them to read themselves. I am impressed about their attentiveness. Some teens don’t focus too well, but these two are courteous, focused and read slowly and intently. At this point, I am trying to take myself out of the picture, and let God speak to their hearts, in his Word and in His Spirit. At the end of each verse, God had instructed me to ask them questions, let them contemplate in their hearts. I learned this lets them tell me what they understood, and I can give further guidance. I have them read the following scriptures. Ro 3:23, Ro 6:23, Rev 21:14, Ps 11:6, Ro 9:8-10, 13, Jn 3:16-17. I pause, and cover up verse 18, asking them to replace the word “He” with their name.
I reemphasize the core of the path to salvation. We are all sinners, because we have sinned, our penalty is death. If we die without Christ, the second penalty is a second death in a lake of fire. Jesus took our sins upon Him, past, present and future. If we believe in Him, accept Him as our Lord and Savior, accept His Gift of Eternal Life, He will save us. I hold a pen in my hand and say, if I give this to you as a gift, how do you get it? “You take it, you accept it.” That is what God is offering to you, a free gift of Jesus Christ.
If God draws them, the Spirit convicts them, they hear the Word and believe it, then it becomes God’s responsibility to save them. My part in this is limited. I am just a physical messenger for God, a medic in a spiritual war, administering the Gospel to the wounded and perishing. The rest happens inside of the person. It is between them and God!
I ask both girls if they had accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They both said , “Yes”. I then asked if they had been baptized, again, they both said, “Yes.” In my short time in doing this, it is not uncommon to see young and maybe old say they are only 50%, for they did something bad. I question, “If Jesus lives inside of you, why would you say only 50%?”
The Hispanic girl responded, “Well, I have done some bad things recently.” I prod the other girl, who mentions something similar. At this point, the message changes to one of assurance. I want to strongly emphasis, “I cannot see inside the heart of someone.” Over and over I have been reminded of this. As I am learning, we are all messes on the inside. We all have our struggles, yet this night, I was to get another amazing lesson.
Enter my message of reassurance. I accidentally go to 1Jn 3:13. “Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” I realize this is in error, (or not), and go to 1 Jn 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.” I feel that God does not want Christians walking around with big question marks over their head concerning their salvation.
A more simple approach comes from a song, “He walks with me, He talks with me, and He tells me I am his own.” I tell them if they are saved, they are sealed, they are written in the palm of God’s hand. Nothing can take them away from God. In looking for the verse in Isaiah (49:16) about being inscribed in the palm of God, I have them read Isaiah 59:1, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
As I conclude the message, I ask if I can pray with them. They agree, so upfront, I tell them what and how I will pray for them, so they are not surprised. " I will ask God to remove any doubt of their salvation. I will pray they let the light of Jesus shine in their lives, leading others to Christ. I will conclude with a generally blessing over their lives." But that’s not all. Earlier that day in prayer, God instructed me to pause at the end of the prayer with others. This would be a time for the person(s) to prayer directly to Him. This is the main purpose, the interaction between God and them!
As I tell the girls the format of the prayer, I tell them I will give a pause of 5, 10 , 30 seconds, of whatever the spirit leads me. This will be a time for them to pray. We take hands forming a prayer circle. Here is the prayer:
“Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for these two young ladies coming to talk with me today. They have doubt about their eternal destination. Lord, I ask that you remove that doubt from them, that they may know they have eternal life, and will spend eternity with you. I ask that they will let their lights shine to their friends, family or others, that their lights will shine, that they will share Jesus with others. Lord, at this moment, I am going to pause and let them pray to you…”
I don’t recall how long the pause was, being myself, I wanted to immediately wrap up the prayer, but I remained paused. As time passed, I felt a need to bless God, but in Hebrew. I caught myself, and said it in English, “Blessed are you Lord, God, King of the Universe. Blessed is your Holy Name. Thank you for everything you have done. In Jesus Name, Amen!”
I recall a song playing over the speakers, but as the prayer ended, the following lyrics caught my attention. "Hallelujah…Amen.” In an odd way it stuck with me. It was an emphasis. (Yes, I am clueless )
At the conclusion of each session, we ask the person(s) to fill out a card. Basic information, name, address, phone, church affiliation. The purpose of the card is for us to send it to a local church in their area who will contact them. If a person has a church, it’s just filed for our records. We ask the person to write what they experienced on the back of the card.
As the Hispanic girl begins to fill out the back, I catch a glimpse at the start of the first sentence. “I got saved.” I drop my head, eyes closed, trying to subdue the desire to burst out in joy. I recalled her reaction after the prayer, it was a joyous expression on her face. I had noticed, but at the time was not sure why. It was pretty obvious now!
I thanked them for stopping by, for listening to me, and if I did not see them again in this life, I would see them in heaven. They left. I waited, then turned the card over to read the remainder. The realization set in, God had prepared me earlier in the day for this moment. Hallelujah! Amen!
I got saved. God told me, “you are saved my child. I love you no matter what.” I also saw an image, but I am not sure what it was. It looked like a book, but I couldn’t really see it.
I believe God gave her a glimpse of the “Book of Life.” I share this with you to be the light for Jesus. I often feel ill-equipped, inadequate, but we have the Hope of Glory living inside of us. It is not so much what we do or say, the person may not even recall or have heard what we said, for they had the voice of God inside them speaking. It is all about God and what His Son did, and what He does inside a person.
Thank you Jesus! That you Jesus for the experience, for the privilege to try and lead someone to you. “Hallelujah. Amen!”
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