Tell me this one thing: How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Did you receive the Spirit by following the law? No, you received the Spirit because you heard the Good News and believed it.

Galatians 3:2 (NCV)

I once heard a powerful story that changed the way I think about sharing the Gospel of Jesus. It was about a man (I’ll call him Tom) who was working late one night in his office. Only Tom, his boss, and the night custodians were left in the building at that late hour. In the middle of his work, Tom suddenly felt a great urgency to go share the Gospel with his boss. He argued with God for a minute or two. After all, he’d already had several conversations with his boss about Jesus and faith, none of which were well-received. But God persisted, and Tom obediently knocked on his boss’s open door. Though he was silently praying that this time the message of salvation would be the one that would get his boss’s attention, it was received like all the others. His boss became angry and told Tom he had no interest in that nonsense and to stop bothering him about it. Nevertheless, Tom invited him to church, left him with the details for Sunday’s service, and told his boss that he hoped to see him there. 
A few days later, Tom and his family attended church just like any other Sunday. Though he knew it was a long shot, Tom looked hopefully for his boss’s face in the congregation. He never found him. Following the service, a man that looked vaguely familiar came up to Tom with tears in his eyes. He told Tom that he was there because of him, and that he had accepted Jesus just a few days earlier. You see, he was a custodian who had been cleaning the office that night, and he was in Tom’s boss’s office when he heard the greatest message of hope he had ever heard. He introduced Tom to his wife and several children, all beaming with joy and gratitude because their entire family had been saved. 

It’s no small thing when you follow the Holy Spirit’s lead. When you move in obedience, great things happen. They may not happen exactly the way you expect, but that never means that God isn’t working through your obedience. All it takes to be saved is a word from God, received in faith. God does the preparing; you do the obeying! Because of Tom’s obedience, an entire family will spend eternity with Jesus. And not just Tom’s family, but their extended family, their neighbors, friends, coworkers, and countless others will be impacted by Christ’s love through them. When one person comes to Christ, there is a ripple effect that reaches far beyond what you can see. Tom’s obedience influenced heaven. Will yours? You are loved!