“When it comes to leading a woman to Jesus there can be many steps along the way. Make each step prayerful. He is the one from whom they will receive salvation. We have the joy and the privilege of being part of the process, as God’s willing servant, ready to usher His sweet daughter into relationship with Him.”
My husband often says, “Sweetheart, we’re out of bread.” I roll my eyes and laugh, because it seems like we’re always out of bread. I have two options: I can go to the local bakery, buy a loaf of bread and make our sandwiches. This would take a total of maybe 20 minutes. Or I can get out flour, measuring cups, a bread loaf pan and yeast, preheat the oven and make fresh baked bread for our sandwiches. This would take 3 to 4 hours. Both loaves go through the same baking process. They probably have most of the same ingredients. They are probably both delicious, and in the end you would get an awesome sandwich. The difference in the purchased bread is that you had nothing to do with the process. You simply went to the store and bought the bread. For the other, you handled every step. You watched this bread go from a pile of flour and other ingredients to a delicious loaf.
Sometimes we meet women who have been working through the journey of meeting Christ. Maybe someone has already introduced them to Him. They can even recite John 3:16. When you say the name “Jesus,” they know exactly who you are talking about. Maybe they grew up in the church and they’ve been attending services since they were in their sweet little pastel-colored dresses topped off with the matching bow. But they have yet to truly accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. That’s when you come in. The foundation has been laid, the tough conversations have been shared and they are ready to take that step to accept Christ. One night you give a devotional at the women’s prayer meeting about being committed to Christ, and they come to you and say, “Lieutenant, I want to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior.” You try to hold back the fact that you want to jump up and down screaming “Praise God!” You hold her by the hand and say, “You, my dear, have just made the best decision of your life.” You pray with her as Christ’s vessel and lead her to Him.
On other occasions we meet women who have only heard the name of Jesus being used in vain. They have no idea what it means to have a relationship with Christ. Essentially, they are a blank slate, a fresh canvas to which you have the honor of applying the first brush stroke. Maybe it starts with a simple invitation to coffee at your local café. You get to know who they are and where they come from. This might open the door to inviting them to the women’s group. Maybe they gladly accept the invitation, or turn you down because they’ve had a bad experience with the church. That’s okay; you keep meeting with them and get to know their story. You do this in the hope that one day they will come to accept Christ, and maybe you will be the one who is blessed enough to witness it.
When it comes to leading a woman to Jesus there can be many steps along the way, so we need to make sure that the Holy Spirit is guiding those conversations. Make each step prayerful. The hardest part is that we might not get to be the one who enjoys or even witnesses the outcome. Accepting and receiving salvation can be a 10–step process or a 10,000–step process. We just don’t know. What we do know is that God is the One who does the work and not us. He is the one from whom they will receive salvation. We have the joy and the privilege of being part of the process, to be God’s willing and obedient servant, ready to usher His sweet daughter into relationship with Him.
You may be like the baker who goes through the baking process but doesn’t know where their product ends up; or like the consumer who gets to enjoy the fresh baked bread without being part of the initial process. Or you may be like the home baker who not only gets to make the bread but enjoy it too. Whatever the process, our hope and prayers are that these women will come to know Jesus, accept Him and enter into a deep, loving relationship with Him.
