While looking for a house, my wife and I became instant friends with the realtor. We all enjoyed our time together and met regularly. We even gave her the gospel while we looked at houses. We had purposed at our next meeting to share the gospel with our Bibles in hand. Then we got a phone call from her colleague telling us she had gruesomely committed suicide, leaving behind a husband and beautiful 5-year-old daughter. The news hit us like a ton of bricks. While looking for the right house was important and giving the gospel to her verbally was a start, we miserably failed this lost soul, and there will be no second chance.

Paul asks for prayer “…that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel… that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:19). We might think of an apostle or pastor as always having the boldness to speak to anyone anywhere or anytime. But this passage shows we all lack boldness at times. Like Paul, we should pray for adequate boldness. Then we should pray for several other things. In Colossians 4:3, Paul asks the saints to continue “…praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ….” Sometimes it is appropriate to begin a conversation about eternal matters. But it is wonderful when God so works in the heart of a lost soul that they open the door, allowing you to present God’s plan of salvation. An example would be Lydia, in Acts 16:14, “…whose heart the Lord opened…” when Paul shared the gospel with her. So pray for open doors. Pray that the Lord would powerfully convict, through the Holy Spirit, before and during your time of sharing the gospel. In 2 Thessalonians 3:1, Paul asked for prayer that, when he ministered the Word, “the word of the Lord may have free course.” So it is appropriate for us to pray that the power and effectiveness of God’s Word in the gospel will lodge in the heart unhindered.

Surely there is someone in your path that is lost and headed for eternal punishment. Learn from our mistake. Seize the opportunity now. Don’t delay in sharing the gospel, because they may not have much time left. Pray for prepared hearts, then go share the gospel today.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.