The three guys I was approaching started to yell to some other guys about 20 meters further down the square and walked in their direction. Without hesitation we decided to follow them. After a few seconds I found myself facing six youngsters instead of three to share the gospel with.

Deep down in my spirit I felt this was going to be a lot of fun. Only one minute earlier the Holy Spirit had highlighted those three guys to me. Without hesitation my buddy and I decided to approach them.
So for a split second I felt confused when they walked away right in front of my eyes. But confusion quickly turned into determination when we joined the six of them.

Who Do You Represent?

When I said hi to them, one of them responded somewhat suspiciously and asked what kind of organization I represented.

Well, I could have given him the name of Equipped To Live or the name of the church, or… In the meantime I asked the Holy Spirit for wisdom.

“Well guys,” I said, “I will show you a text on my phone, and by that you will know exactly who I represent.”

The Scripture That Opened the Door

I quickly grabbed my phone and showed the guys a modern translation of Isaiah 53:5.

But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
— NLT

After they read the scripture from my phone, I asked: “Who do you think the writer is talking about in this text?”

One of them answered that it could be about Jesus Christ. And that was exactly the answer I was waiting for.

Open Ears and Hearts

As I shared the gospel, the guys gave me their full attention. It wasn’t hard to sense that the Lord had already done a lot of preparation in their lives for this encounter.

At a certain moment I asked, “Is anything holding you back from starting to follow Jesus Christ?”

Some of them admitted they would like to start following Him. Well, that is the moment you are waiting for as an evangelist, right? We all know what usually comes next—the prayer of salvation.

Not the Usual Next Step

“Guys, it looks like you sincerely want to follow Jesus Christ, but I don’t want you to get caught up in an emotional moment. I want you to think about what you’ve just heard. Please take this gospel booklet and study it at home. Then make up your mind. We are around this area quite often, so feel free to approach us any time you want.”

I could feel the presence of the Lord in our midst, so I asked if one of them was in pain. It turned out that one of them had issues with his neck. We prayed for him, and then it was time to say goodbye.

When they walked away I turned to my buddy.

“That was strange. Normally I would have prayed with them to receive Christ. But the Holy Spirit was leading me to do it differently this time.”

Trusting God’s Ways

As we debriefed, we came to the realization that the Lord might be about to do a deep work in these young men. This was not about a quick prayer to get them “saved.” This was about allowing the Lord to work deeply in their hearts.

So that when they are ready to receive Christ, it will be a decision they make with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

We believe we will meet them again in the near future, and we are looking forward to hearing about their next step in their journey.

SELAH

Living a lifestyle of evangelism requires being tuned in to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. But it requires something more: trusting His leading—even when the next step is different from what you would normally do.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us in ways that surprise us.

How do you recognize His voice, and do you dare to trust Him completely—even when He leads you off the familiar paths you are used to?