“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24, KJV)
I am at the grocery store doing my weekly shopping. The cashier is an international woman whose nametag reads, “Miriam.” Her name gives me an opportunity to tell her about the Bible because the name Miriam is in it. I then ask her if she knows about Jesus. She says, “I have a friend who is a Christian. She keeps telling me about the Bible and Christianity.”
My thought is, “Great! There is a seed here for Jesus.” I ask her if she would like to believe in Jesus as her personal Savior. She responds that she would. I ask her if she would like to pray that very moment. She agrees. She prays with me, believes, and invites Jesus Christ into her life to be her Savior.
She cannot thank me enough as she exclaims, “This day is a special day!”
I say, “It is. Today you have much to celebrate!” I then ask her where she is from.
She responds, “Afghanistan.”
My thought is, “Had I known that in the beginning, I might have been hesitant to be so bold.” I make sure she has a Bible and explain where to start reading. I tell her that now she can tell her Christian friend that her prayers have been answered.
She joyfully says, “YES, I can!” We both smile and know that Jesus is in her heart now. She knows it!
I then go to the second grocery store on my list. The cashier is an international man whose nametag reads, “Javier.” I address him and ask him where he is from. He says he is from El Salvador. I tell him, “Well then, you must have heard about Jesus.” He begins to talk to me about his country. I ask him again, “Have you heard about Jesus?”
He says, “Ahhh …” and with question and doubt, “He’s the Savior?”
I look right into his eyes and say, “Yes, He is! Would you like to know Him?” He looks straight into my eyes and says that he would. I ask him if he has ever prayed to ask Jesus to be his personal Savior.
After thinking a moment, he says, “I pray every day.”
I encourage him, “That is a good thing to do, and now you must know the One to whom you should be praying.” He looks intensely at me. I ask him if he would like to pray right then. He says that he would. We pray and he believes and receives the Savior whom he has heard about as his personal Savior, then gives a huge smile, and thanks me over and over again.
I make sure he has a Bible and give him a DVD on Jesus. We look at each other as I am leaving. We know that Jesus has now made him His, no question, no doubt!
“Abba Father, I could go from one store to the other just to see if there are others that You know are ready for salvation in Your Son, that they may be with You and Him in eternity. Jesus, it is not easy to talk about You. I take the opportunity to tell about You, not knowing what is going to happen. You are faithful, Lord, to reap Your own. Your passion for souls fills my very being. I cannot contain Your love for souls! Holy Spirit, help me to continue to talk about Jesus even though most of the time I do not know if the person to whom I am talking about Him will believe in Him.”