DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT - THURSDAY: The Wisdom of Soul Winning

"While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now I'll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight - I'll fight to the very end!" -- William Booth
----------------------------------------------------------
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. -- Prov 11:30

In the conclusion of our study of The Wisdom of Soul Winning… The final words which Jesus spoke, prior to His ascension to Heaven, constitute what we call "The Great Commission", in which He commanded His followers everywhere… Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - - Matthew 28:19.

This command has never been cancelled; every Christian is under Divine orders. We may not all be Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists, or full time Christian workers, but we are all under the Divine Commission to spread the Gospel everywhere.

HOW CAN WE ACQUIRE A PASSION FOR THE LOST?

By living close to Christ and obeying His commands.
If we live close to Christ, spending time with Him every day, seeking His mind on every subject, we will feel His heartbeat and share His concerns. Whenever we are confronted by a fellow human being in need, we don’t need to ask ourselves, "What would Jesus do in this situation?" We should go ahead and do what His Word tells us, for we are His feet and His hands, His servants, in this world. This is why we need to learn and obey the teachings of the Master!

By remembering that people are dying without Christ and without hope.
Each day people in our community are dying without the knowledge of Christ and His redeeming love. Try to live with this in mind when you move amongst people each day, and whenever God prompts you to speak a word to someone, try to make sure that you do not fail Him… The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. – 2 Pet 3:9

One of the saddest experiences I ever had, happened many years ago. I felt on one occasion that God wanted me to speak to a certain man about his soul's welfare and where he would spend eternity. However, I was busy and felt I did not have the time to visit him. I put it off, thinking that I would go tomorrow when I had more time available. I went to his house the following day and discovered that he had died during the night. I have never forgotten the sense of disappointment, which was mine that day.

Remember that we shall all give account to Christ one day.
It is a serious thing to realise that one day we shall give account to Christ of our stewardship in those things, which He has entrusted to us. I do not say this in a heavy legal sense, endeavouring to frighten anyone or force them into otherwise unwilling service.

Rather, I think of it in terms of meeting Jesus one day and in the blazing light of eternity. Then we shall understand so much more clearly than before, just how great a price He paid to redeem people and how unwilling we have frequently been to even share the message of that love. How disappointed we would feel. Possibly a disappointment we may carry for eternity!

"Many do not recognize the fact as they ought, that Satan has got men fast asleep in sin and that it is his great device to keep them so. He does not care what we do if he can do that. We may sing songs about the sweet by and by, preach sermons and say prayers until doomsday, and he will never concern himself about us, if we don't wake anybody up. But if we awake the sleeping sinner he will gnash on us with his teeth. This is our work - to wake people up." - - Catherine Booth

Think of the Joy we will experience for faithful service to Christ.
What joy and sublime satisfaction will be ours when we stand before Christ and in His presence recognise others whom we have had the joy of leading to Him. How greatly our joy will be multiplied by those who may approach us and say… "You told me of Christ's love, had you not done so, I might not be here." Remember… “…and he who wins souls is wise.”

Our eternal reward will be at least four fold.

• The joy of being with Christ forever
• The blessing of hearing Him say… "Well done, faithful servant."
• The thrill of seeing souls whom we have won to Christ
• Receiving the Soul Winners Crown of Joy. (1 Thess. 2:19.)

Loving Father, I desire so much to be a soul winner for you, help me by the power of the Holy Spirit, to put these principles of soul winning into action, so that I may see souls brought into your Kingdom. In Jesus wonderful name! Amen!