The Labourers Are Few

MY DAILY COVENANT WITH GOD DEVOTIONAL

Devotion for Thursday April 27, 2017

Topic: The Labourers Are Few

Text: Luke 10:2

Jesus compared the work of evangelism and winning souls for the kingdom of heaven to a harvest—the gathering of new believers into His kingdom (see Jn. 4:35). Before someone can think of harvesting, one must have worked on the field or the farm. Lord Jesus had done all the things necessary for the salvation of humanity. He paid the ultimate price by shedding His blood and dying on the Cross of Calvary. No other work or sacrifice is needed to save man. The only task before us is to share the gospel message. Unfortunately, there are so few workers willing to gather those who desire to hear the gospel in.

God has work enough for everyone but who is actually interested to do the works He has designated for us? We shouldn’t fold our hand and watch other Christians do the work of evangelism and other works in the vineyard of God especially in the areas we are gifted or talented because the harvest is great. Beloved, are you one of the labourers in the vineyard of God? The labourers are few.

I have personally observed that majority in the church who claim they are Christians are never interested in evangelism. The reasons are not far-fetched. They are in the church but have not experienced the touch of God. You can’t experience the touch of God and keep quiet. The case of woman of Samaria (Jn. chapter 4) is a clear example. Again, some who have experienced the touch has lost their first love for God. In simple terms they have backslidden. They are the set of people described in Rev. 2:4 and 3:1. Are you among these people? There are counsels for you in Rev. 2:5 and 3:3.

Food for Thought: Ezekiel 22: 30

Memory verse: Matthew 9:38

Prayer: Lord, I surrender my life to serve as one of the labourers in Jesus name.

The Harvest Truly Is Great

MY DAILY COVENANT WITH GOD DEVOTIONAL

Devotion for Wednesday April 26, 2017

Topic: The Harvest Truly Is Great

Text: Luke 10:2

There is no unemployment in the Christian service as every Christian has a gift and a call to perform. God has enough work for everyone. Don’t just sit back and watch others work; look for ways to help with the harvest. Jesus asserts that the harvest is great and decided to send 35 teams of 2 evangelists each. He urged them to pray to the Lord of harvest to send labourers into His vineyard.

This Luke 10:2 has some lessons for us.

1) The first step towards evangelism is to start praying about it. Jesus teaches us here the imperative of prayer in evangelism. You cannot win a soul you don’t love and have not prayed for. This demands that if you want to win any particular person for Christ, you should start by praying for the person before you go to preach to him or her.

2) It reveals the magnitude of unbelievers around us. Beloved, take a look into your street, your school, the market where you go for shopping, etc, and how many of them are really born again? What of the church where you worship? How many members of the church where you worship live as true Christians outside the church on weekdays? You will find out they are negligible few. This shows that we have enormous work on evangelism facing us.

3) This story reveals that we have few people who are willing to go out on evangelism. In your church, how many people come out for evangelism? Do you go on evangelism as an individual or as a group in your church? God is looking for people who will go out there where sinners are and not people who will wait for sinner to come them. Are you determined to do something for God? Start now.

Action: Today, pray for the unsaved people and pray also that God will raise other concerned disciples to join in reaching out to the unbelievers. Share the gospel message as you go out.

Memory verse: Luke 10 verse 2a

Prayer: Lord God, raise men and women with the burden of evangelism in my church and locality in Jesus name. Amen.

ABOUT FIRST FRUIT HARVEST: Devotion for Sunday September 4, 2016

ABOUT FIRST FRUIT HARVEST: Devotion for Sunday September 4, 2016

Text: Deuteronomy 26:1 – 11    Memory verse: Deuteronomy 26:2

First fruit harvest is an injunction from God who ordered the Israelis to do it and by extension we the new Israel. God gave His people the injunction to present their first fruit of all their produce to Him (Deut. 26:2). From out text, it was obvious that this injunction from God to the Israelis is in order not to forget the source of their blessings. It is a way of showing gratitude to God from who all our blessings comes from. This injunction is from the covenant God made with Israel (Ex. 34:26, 27).

In Deut. 26:2–11 is the instructions on how to carry out our first fruit harvest. We are expected to pick some of all produce of our land, put them in a basket and take them to the church and offer them to the Lord. The Priest will receive them from our hands and bless us. It should not be taken to any other place.

There are lessons for us in this our scriptural reading for today. They are (a) God is the source of all we have and all we are. Our successes are not out of our strength, our business acumen, our intelligence, etc. If it were so, there wouldn’t have been poor people because majority of the poor in our society today labour for almost 24 hour of every day in the week. If not God’s grace and favour, what can we achieve? He blesses our little effort and turns it to become a mighty blessing. Yesterday’s devotion attests to this.  

(b) It is a sign of regard, honour for and obedience to God (Prov. 3:9). When we set aside our first fruit as God demands from us, we are honouring God and He in turn will honour us (1 Sam. 2:30).

(c) It teaches us that we have responsibilities towards God. It makes us responsible to God who made us, gave us those blessings and to the less privileged ones; the strangers, the priests, the widows, etc, that we have around us. It is also a way of sowing seeds for a better and a greater harvest. How are you doing these? Let it be with a cheerful heart and not grudgingly because God loves a cheerful giver. Happy first fruit harvest to those celebrating today!

Food for Thought: Proverbs 3:9

Prayer: My Lord and my Father, may I always honour you with my substances because they all come from you in Jesus name.