I went out walking this morning to pass out tracts. There was hardly anyone around, but I did get a chance to give out one tract. One person refused, and the other was guarded by a large dog.
The dog's owner was an older woman sitting outside on her step. I tried to approach her to give her a tract. I didn't see the dog sitting beside her at first, but I cheerily said to the woman, "Can I give this to you?" and started to walk towards her. The dog rose up, and she said, "Stay back." I'm no idiot, and I hate big, ugly, pitbull-like dogs, so I said, "Have a nice day," and left.
I thought to myself as I walked, that the dog literally hindered me from witnessing to this woman. She had all her confidence and faith in that animal. He protected her and obeyed her voice. It's one thing when you're older and live alone (I assume she did), so I decided having the dog outside with her was a good thing. But I believe Satan used that dog to keep this dear lady from getting saved. She didn't get up to receive the tract I was offering, but instead she depended on that ferocious animal to keep me away from her. I believe God will hold her accountable for that.
I know I am in a spiritual battle whenever I pass out tracts, and they don't always get received, let alone read and believed. The Devil can't be everywhere at once like God, but I can tell when he's near. He hates me for loving people that he hates and wants to drag to Hell with him. But I know God will have the final victory, and those who refuse salvation by faith alone in Christ will pay for their sins forever in the same lake of fire which Satan is getting thrown into very soon. People may block me, sick dogs on me, yell at me, or try to hit me with their car, but GOD is in charge of all of it. My life is God's. Satan may win this time, but the battle is the Lord's.
I have a saying that once a tract leaves my hands and is received by another's hands, that tract is in God's hands. That's so true, because only God knows the outcome and result of my pitifully few, feeble attempts at winning souls to Christ. He sees me trying, obeying, loving people enough to care about their eternal destiny, and it hurts my heart when they refuse this free love gift of salvation. It always reminds me that Jesus Christ didn't have to leave the glories of Heaven to condescend down in human form and die for the sins of the world. He did it because He LOVED us. So must I show God's love to others by obeying the Great Commission of "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
I NEVER see anyone else passing out tracts. If they do, I miss it, or they're driving to where God leads them. I don't even see Jehovah's Witnesses anymore, and I jokingly think that people are going to think I'm a JW, but I'm alone and walking, and they are always in groups going door to door to sucker others into their damnable cult. All the more reason for me to keep it up, because I'm all alone, yet Jesus is with me, telling me where to go to find someone who needs a tract. He came to seek and to save them that are lost; so must I do as well.
Since I started passing out tracts, I no longer see people as walking dead men. I see them as souls needing salvation, and I have in my pocket the only Way that they can avoid Hell and obtain Heaven. I am thankful for God compelling me to obey His command of reaching the lost. It doesn't matter how many or few tracts that I give out, it's the heart that matters most.
