For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Spring is almost here! Along with it comes spring cleaning.

My home has lots of windows, and some are on the second floor. For now I cannot get to them, so I contacted a window-cleaning service. Two men came to clean the windows. When they entered the house, they looked unsure as to what to expect.

As I showed them around the house, one man, who seemed to be the leader, would respond to my questions. The other man would not speak a word.

I asked if they spoke other languages. The lead man said they spoke Spanish. When I said that I too spoke Spanish, the lead man smiled and said, “Then why are we wasting time?” The three of us laughed. After this they both were relaxed.

As I watched them, they worked with humility and care. They both worked very diligently and did an excellent job!

The man who did not speak much caught my attention. He was timid. He seemed as if he had been through a lot. The whole time I wondered, Will he respond to the Gospel? And the lead man, Will he? How do I start the conversation? What do I say?

They were both outside after they finished. Then the lead man came inside to give me the invoice and receive payment. He was rather hesitant.

As we talked about the service, I said to him, “I would like to ask you a personal question.”

He said, “Go ahead.”

I asked, “Do you know Jesus as your Saviour?”

He thought a moment and said, “Yes, I do.”

I responded, “Since when?”

In a memorized religious tone, he said, “I know that I am a changed man because of Him.” Then he went into a religious talk about his works, trying to be the best that he could be.  He said the he tried to not sin. He chuckled at his attempts.  He shared that his wife is an evangelical and that he is a Catholic, that he joins her at church at times, and that she came to some occasions at his church.  My thought was that his wife must have been praying for years for this man.

I commented, “I know that I cannot be like Him, but that He can change my heart to be like Him, if I am willing to surrender my life to him.”

I then asked him, “If something happens to you, where will you end up?”

He explained, “No one knows that about anyone.” That was my key!

I said, “You and I are going to pray for you to be sure where you will go. And after we pray, no one will be able to take you out of God’s hand, not even you! And when that time comes, in a moment you will be in heaven with God the Father and Jesus, your Saviour.”

He agreed to pray. He received Jesus as his personal and intimate Saviour. He was then still and started crying deeply. I started to cry too. You could sense the depth of this man’s salvation. We stood still as God did the work in his heart. We then spoke of how to start reading the Bible. He took mental notes. Afterward, we took care of the invoice payment.  But, the greatest payment that he had just received was that of Christ on the cross for him!

“Now, where is the other man?” I asked him. He said he was waiting outside. We both walked out there. There was the other man. He was sitting on the ledge and looking at his phone.

I told the lead man, “I am going to talk with him.” He walked ahead of me to give me time to talk.

I said to this man, “I am going to ask you a personal question.”

He timidly said, “Ask me.”

I was surprised at his response. I said, “Do you know Jesus as your personal Saviour?”

He nodded his head and hesitantly said, “Yes.”

I continued, “Have you ever prayed and asked Him to be your Saviour?”

He said, “No.”

I told him, “I am going to pray with you so that you know without any doubt that Jesus is your personal Saviour and you will be in heaven.”

He said, “Okay.”

We prayed. He asked Jesus to be his personal Saviour. After a moment he could not speak. He started crying deeply. I waited. All was silent. Jesus was revealing His deep love for this timid man. I didn’t know what to do. I just stood in front of him.

Finally, I felt the Lord’s release, and we spoke about when and how to start reading the Bible. He reaped the instructions and said that he would.

“Abba, Father, thank You for bringing two lost souls to our place. Lord Jesus, thank You for helping me to tell them about You. It did not seem as if it were going to be easy. I didn’t know how to start the conversation about You. But with the help of Your Holy Spirit, You helped me to talk with them, and You prepared their hearts to listen to what You had to say. Lord, they were in such need of You! They cried! As I watched them work, my heart went out to them. This was Your compassion for them. I humble myself as Your servant. Help me too. I too need more of You, that I may not miss what You have in front of me: You and Your love for souls.”