Unhurried. This is a statement that eluded me for such a long time. Hurrying to the next activity, hurrying to do more, achieve more, and become more. Yet in rushing from activity to activity and accomplishment to accomplishment, my spiritual life was diminishing rather than growing.
The Kingdom way is totally opposite. The Lord says, “Be Still.” When we stop and put everything aside, and become still before Him, we come to know Him. We grow in His likeness and share His heart. Rather than accomplishing more to please Him, we can simply enjoy His company.
The geeky bible commentary and exegesis side of me: To “know” the Lord in the Bible is the Greek word ginóskó, Strongs #1097, and it means to know someone’s heart, character, mind and plans. It is like spouses know each other versus knowing about someone.
It says in James 2:19 that even demons knew about [had head knowledge instead of a deep understanding of] Jesus. When we are busy and rushing around feeling pressed or pressured to get more done for the kingdom, we lack in this deep knowing Him. Even doing good things for the Kingdom does not bear the fruit in our lives if it does not come from a place of communion and rest.
Instead, we quickly grow weary in doing well. We know of Him but do not know Him deeply and intimately. Jesus says in Matthew 7:23 to certain ones that claimed to follow Him and be his disciples that He then later said He never knew (ginóskó) them. This is because they were performing works in His name but did not have a deep trust and understanding of Him.
To know someone is to have a deep and intimate relationship with them that is based upon love, trust and understanding of each other. Paul says in Philippians 3:8, “ I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
Just as a loving couple have a deep trust for each other because they know each other so well, it is as we spend time with the Lord and be with Him that we grow in trust and understanding of Him. We come to know His deep love for us and His power to sustain us. We become unmovable and unshakable in Him as we grow to know Him from spending time in His presence.
David Wilkerson, the founder of Teen Challenge, writes about David’s prayer in Psalm 62:5-7, “David says, ‘Wait on God only. Expect help from no other source. He alone must be your source, your only home and defense. Only He can supply you with the strength to keep going until your answer comes.’ When you become wholly dependent on the Lord alone—when you stop looking for man to help you and trust God to supernaturally meet you—nothing will be able to shake you. “ [1]
We were created for intimacy with God. We are responding to His promptings when we pursue knowing Him. David cried out in Psalm 27:8, “When thou sadist, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, They face, Lord will I seek.”
To know and understand someone also means that you would walk with them and, therefore, be in alignment, union or agreement with them. Amos 3:3 asks, “How can two walk together unless they know each other?” Our works are meant to flow out of our relationship and knowing Him. We put our hands to what our heart prompts from a place of being in relationship with Him and rooted in His love. Whenever our works are outside of this love relationship, they end up being striving and performance so they lack His anointing (blessing).
In a place of continually communing with the Lord and making Him the center of our lives, James reminds us that faith without works is dead. To know Jesus is to eventually follow Jesus and be with Him wherever He calls us to go. We can only truly know Him if we align our lives with Him and become more and more like Him.
So, what works does He call us to do? Works here means a deed or accomplishing something that carries out an inner desire or purpose. The greater work that Jesus did when He was on earth was to sacrifice His life so that we would have forgiveness of sins leading to our salvation and new life.
Jesus taught the people in the synagogue and He performed signs, wonders and miracles, but it was all focused around people entering into and then walking out the Kingdom of God in their lives. To the disciples, Jesus proclaimed to come follow Him so/and that He would make them fishers of men.
When Jesus sent out the disciples in sets of two, He told them to preach the gospel and take nothing with them. Ultimately, while they were equipped with His authority to perform miracles, heal, and deliver people from demons, their purpose was to share the good news and draw others into the Kingdom. Their main purpose was the salvation of souls.
As Jesus sent them out, He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:2)
And when they return, In Luke 10:19-20, Jesus confirms the authority He has given them and tells them, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
While it was amazing that they experienced powerful miracles as they were sent out, this was not what they were to rejoice in. They were to rejoice in salvation. This was their ultimate goal— to see people come into the Kingdom.
Jesus proclaims that the harvest is ready but the laborers are too few. What He asks His disciples to pray for was not for more signs and wonders or for greater faith and more established disciples, what He asks them to pray for was the Father to send laborers into the field.
Paul, who wrote the most books in the Bible, clearly shared this same ultimate passion. He says in Romans 10:1 about his fellow Israelites, “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” His ultimate passion and purpose was that others would know Christ and come into salvation.
So was this specific calling to be fishers of men only for a few Apostles that were specially chosen and had these gifts?
In Matthew 11:18-19, Jesus tells the people that “wisdom is vindicated by her actions.” He then begins to denounce whole cities for failing to repent and receive salvation. He noted that if the signs and wonders were done in Tyre and Sidon that they would have repented quickly.
And Daniel 12:3 tells us that this wisdom is the salvation of souls. He says about the end times, “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
And Proverbs is just straight forward about it; Proverbs 11:30 says, “He who wins souls is wise.”
Knowing Jesus is our ultimate goal but to know Him we also need to follow Him and to follow Him means that we are leading others to Christ. The sanctification of our souls brings us out to the harvest as our ultimate goal becomes the salvation of souls.
Charles Finney, a great revivalist, notes that revival will always lead to the salvation of souls. He also writes, “The wise and successful laborer in winning souls cannot ordinarily be indifferent and careless in the matter and manner of proclaiming saving truth to his hearers. He may not reasonably expect the divine blessing to crown his labors with great success, unless he aims definitely to awaken the careless, convict the sinful, and direct them in the shortest way to Christ, for salvation.” [2]
I sometimes hear of a church being called “dead.” What this means is that they have become stagnant. To be stagnant means that they have lost sight of their first love and their primary goal – salvation of souls. While important, their goal is not only to help with the sanctification process by giving a good message. Their goal needs to be sanctification for the purpose of leading others to know Christ. This is why Finney is, in essence, proclaiming that a lack or revival fire is evidenced in a lack of salvations.
“We give You our life, we give You our hands, we give You our voice, Lord have Your way” sings in the background.
While this is not new information to many, and I have basically heard this over and over, I don’t think that it has ever sank in as much as right now in my life. I am feeling taken back and convicted at the moment of opportunities I have missed to lead other’s to Christ because of being too busy, inconvenienced or fearful of their reaction because they appeared busy.
To be in “ministry” to any extent, means that we are leading others to Christ. I teach accounting related courses at a Christian University and often speak of the profession with Christ at the center as ministry. However, our work in the Kingdom, no matter how small our role, is that others may know Him. If we are not leading others to know Christ, we are not performing any kind of ministry.
Being inactive on leading others to the Lord is what is meant by being a “lazy servant” versus a “good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:14-30). It is not necessarily someone who is inactive and sleeping physically, but it is someone who is not sharing the gospel with others and answering this call in their lives. They are ignoring investing their talents into what is most important because they are fearful, worried, overly busy or distracted. The only way we can see multiplication of what we invest (our talents) is when it leads to others coming to know Him.
Father, forgive me and help me please. Let us not miss an opportunity but be like the mad sweeper who searched every area of her home for a single coin. Let everything that we do ultimately be about others coming to know You. Help us to invest our talents well and be wise servants.
- Wilkerson, David. God is Faithful. Chosen Books, Bloomington, MN. World Challenge, Inc. 2012
- Finney, Charles. Wisdom in Winning Souls. Located at: Wisdom In Winning Souls – Charles G. Finney | HopeFaithPrayer. Last Accessed 7/12/2021.
