For thought and meditation

[rl69]

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.—Isaiah 55:11 (http://harvest.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4f108f827aed8d503b5fca9fa&id=564652ff35&e=3dd732485b)I once read that Elvis Presley wore a cross, a Star of David, and other religious medallions around his neck. When someone asked him why he wore all of them, he replied, “Don’t want to miss out on Heaven ’cause of some technicality.”

That was King Nebuchadnezzar. He acknowledged the existence of God. But whenever he was in trouble, he also called out to the sorcerers, astrologers, and magicians. He wanted to have all his bases covered. I think Nebuchadnezzar represents the mindset of many Americans today. They believe everything. And that is the problem.

As the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar once was the most powerful person on earth. He had everything a person could possibly want to be happy. He had seen God at work, and he had been exposed to the truth of God’s Word. Nebuchadnezzar knew what was right. He simply had not acted on it.

Yet one night, something as simple as a dream penetrated this king’s heart and mind. The prophet Daniel, who had been carried away captive to Babylon in his youth, had been faithfully sowing his seeds over the years. But year after year went by, and Nebuchadnezzar persisted in his unbelief. But it wasn’t all in vain.

Maybe you have been talking to someone for years. You have been praying for them. You have been trying to reach them. You’re saying, “This isn’t working. They never will come around.”

It isn’t over till it’s over. I have heard so many stories of people who attended a Harvest Crusade and made a commitment to Christ a day, a week, or a month later. A seed was sown, and that seed broke ground later.

Remember, the harvest is not at the end of a church service; it’s at the end of the age.

[square butte]

Amen to this - and God bless the persistence of this message and his word until the end of time

[USMC87]

If God calls you will come, Some profess only with the mouth or considered lip service. God calls who He will and is sovereign in doing so. We sow and God gives the increase.

[Blackwater]

What a great post! We seem to have come to expect instant gratification, or we figure our efforts have been in vain. But nothing could be further from the truth! We plant seeds in our gardens and fields, and then have to wait for them to grow, so we can harvest them. Witnessing is very much like that, too. We should never expect instant results. To do so is really rather outlandish. After all, it took all of US much learning before we could come to the point where WE could understand and be prepared to receive the Light of God. How could we expect others to make that great leap instantly, when it took us much longer than we like to think about? We tend to only remember that one moment when it was as if a portal opened, and we could "see" the Light. We forget all the preparations we went through, all the many hours we spent in Sunday School and Church, all the reading we did in the Bible, and everything else it took for US to get to apoint where we could see the clear and simple Truth. To expect those we witness to to be transformed in an instant is ..... well, let's just say it's pretty willful and contrived, and based mostly if not wholly in our OWN wants, rather than in logic and reason.

So keep sowing those seeds. These type seeds have no set time schedule within which they'll come to bear fruit. And sometimes, just as with real seeds sown in a garden, some seeds will fall among the rocks and unfertile ground, and be lost. But waste is part of ANY earthly process. It's a basic tenet of machinery than one of them achieves 100% efficiency. So it is also with witnessing.

And the most wondrous and often surprising part of witnessing is who it is who responds to it, too! Often, the people we least expect to respond, are the ones who respond most! We can't fool ourselves into thinking that we can predict who'll respond, and who won't. Our instructions were to cast our bread whenever and wherever, and to whoever will receive it, and let the people themselves and God work out whether they'll respond or not. One of the greatest surprises in my life has been to see some guys on probation or parole, respond to the simplest reasoning in witnessing to them. And usually, they didn't even realize they'd been witnessed to. One became a preacher, and from what I hear, a pretty good one! He certainly knows whereof he speaks, when he talks about "the other side!"

So NEVER, NEVER, NEVER fail to witness, no matter HOW little faith you have that it'll do any good. Always give yourself a chance to be surprised. It's very humbling to find you were wrong in thinking someone wouldn't or couldn't come to God. Remember the two thieves on the cross with Christ. One was saved, and one was lost. Dealing with folks by witnessing, over time, will almost surely reveal that many you'd think ought to respond well, just won't, and many you think won't, will. Stay humble. We don't know NEARLY as much as Christ did, and HE told us to witness whenever, wherever, and to whomever, we had an opportunity to.

Getting out of the mindset that we can predict the results of our efforts is NOT easy. But like every other bit of advice and instruction Christ gave us, it'll prove edifying and humbling if we'll just "follow the book," and do what we were instructed so wisely to do. And it'll make US better Christians and people, just to realize our limitations, and find that we really DON'T know quite as much as we like to think we do.