The Hard Stuff

"I've been working on the railroad, all the live long day. "

Remember that song?

Well, I've not been working on the railroad ...but I've been working.  Which is why I have not had a chance to update this blog as much.   I hope to remedy that now. :)

This morning I read  in the gospel of John  "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. "  John 14:12

Oswald Chambers says "Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer IS the greater work...Prayer is the battle' it is a matter of indifference where you are.  Whichever way God engineers circumstances, the duty is to pray.  Never allow the thought--'I am of no use where I am;'  because you certainly can be of no use where you are not.  Wherever God has dumped you down in circumstances pray...You labour at prayer and results happen all the time from His standpoint.  What an astonishment it will be to find, when the veil is lifted, the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you had been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ."

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.  Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;  pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Matthew 9:35-38

The laborers are us, Christian brothers and sisters, wherever God has placed us.  No need to complain of where we are because where we are is a ripe field.  We should be "bringing in the sheaves", reaping the harvest of souls for the Lord.  Not daydreaming of where we could be....Oh, I wish I could be a full-time  minister so I could be winning souls to the Lord!  Well, the Lord has placed you where you are...look around you ...I am sure there are people you can minister to  right where you are.
Oh, I wish I could be a full-time music missionary so I could be winning souls to the Lord!  Well, sing at your workplace of the glory of the Lord, of all He has done.  The music will be heard.

Just this week at my workplace I was leaving at the end of the day and passed by the restroom where someone was doing their job and cleaning the restroom.  Coming from that "lowly" place was the most beautiful of songs.   A beautiful whistler...whistling "It Is Well With My Soul" .  My heart thrilled at the beauty and the timing of that praise!!   Someone cleaning toilets and praising the Lord...and the sound resounded throughout the work place and I am sure impacted more than just me.

The Gospel needs to be heard in the fields...in the fields...not in the storehouses where all of the souls have already been reaped for the Lord and are bundled up tight.
The fields are where we are needed, brothers and sisters...where you are right now.  What is so hard about it?  Is it more difficult because we need the covering of a "title"...preacher, minister, missionary...before we feel comfortable talking to others about Jesus Christ?  Then we need to examine our hearts.
      In the Scripture above, we are to be the laborers...but part of that labor it also to PRAY that the Lord will send forth the laborers.  Pray is part of the labor.  Pray, pray, pray!!!!!!  And when God tells you  "Go!"...go where you normally go and tell of His mercies and His love and His grace.