The more we align with God’s Word the more efficiently things work. They do not work as well the less you are in line with His Word. The church would get better results, you as an individual believer would get better results, the more you line up with God’s plan, God’s thoughts, and God’s ways. God’s way is the leadership of the Spirit in one’s life. The more you flow with the Holy Spirit, the less you try to do things on your own, the more efficiently things work. But there is a problem that has developed in America that is blocking the flow.

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Question Three: Why Does Winning People to Jesus Sometimes Take So Long?

• Does this frustrate you?
• Aren’t there some people that you want saved right now, maybe like yesterday?

Does it really matter how long it takes?

• The answer to that is both yes and no.
• The children of Israel took 40 years to make a 3 day trip. You know there was a problem there.
• But the answer is also no.
• No, it doesn’t matter how long it takes in the light of eternity.
• Here is some other things that you should know about this question of ‘why does it take so long?’

The More We Align with God’s Word the More Efficiently Things Work

• They do not work as well, the less you are in line with His Word.
• The church would get better results, you as an individual believer would get better results, the more you line up with God’s plan, God’s thoughts, and God’s ways.
• God’s way is the leadership of the Spirit in one’s life.
• The more you flow with the Holy Spirit, the less you try to do things on your own, the more efficient things work.
• What happens in many cases, across the board, is that we try to ‘do life’ with an incomplete understanding of God’s Word.
• Our constant cry unto God then, should be to get our thinking straight.
• We should be continually praying the Ephesian prayers (Eph. 1:15-23 and 3:14-19).
• When enlightenment comes to your heart, your head will automatically think different.
• This is what the Bible calls renewing the mind.
• Renewing the mind, does not take place in your head first.
• It takes place in your heart and then your head follows.
• Here is an example of mixture, the combining of human thinking with Bible truth.
• The Bible says, “Go into all the world” doesn’t it?

Mark 16:15 (KJV)
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

• The Bible also says that, if you are going to go, you shouldn’t go empty handed.
• Jesus told the disciples to wait at Jerusalem until they were endured with power.

Luke 24:49 (KJV)
49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

• So in this case, when you substitute ‘going’ for ‘waiting’, that is mixture.
• If you are going to witness without ‘witnessing power’ that is mixture and it causes things to not work as well.
• It is not just ‘getting yourself in line with God’s Word’ that seems to be the challenge.
• It is getting in God’s Word at all!

The State of Bible Reading In America

• According to George Barna’s, “State of the Bible: 6 Trends for 2014” report, the statistics are staggering. [2]
• Almost every household has a Bible, 88% according to the report with an average ownership of 4.7 bibles per household.
• But, only 37% read their Bibles at least once a week!
• The number drops to 19% for people who read it four times per week.
• So, ownership is strong but readership is, basically, ‘down the tubes’.

First, understand what Bible Reading is from the ‘light’ angle.

• The Bible states that the entrance of His Word gives light.

Psalm 119:130 (KJV)
130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; It giveth understanding unto the simple.

• Thessalonians also teaches us that the antichrist cannot come on the scene in full force while the church is in place.

2 Thessalonians 2:1, 3, 6-7 (ESV)
1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him,… 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,… 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

• Light always holds back the darkness.

Secondly understand what Bible Reading is from the ‘Spiritual Development’ Angle.

• The Bible is spirit food for the spirit of man.
• If you are not reading the Bible, then you are not building yourself up.
• And if you are not building yourself up, if you are not feeding your spirit, then the absence of that causes your ‘flesh’ to rise and gain prominence in your life.
• What is the flesh tied to? Is it not the works of darkness?

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (KJV)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

• Here is a picture, in these verses, of men who are operating in darkness.
• Bible reading produces ‘light and development’ and that combo restrains darkness.

Galatians 5:19–21 (KJV)
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Not feeding on God’s Word allows all these works to become prominent in a person’s life.The flesh becoming prominent in your life influences the lives of people you should potentially be impacting with light and truth.

Why Bible Reading Gets Ignored and How to Fix That

• So, why don’t people that own the Bible read it? Why is Bible Reading declining?
• The answer is NOT because people do not love the Lord!

According to the Barna’s report, the number one reason (40%) that people give for not reading the Bible is ‘distraction and busyness’.

• In fact 62% say that they wish they read the Scriptures more – they just don’t know how to carve out the time.
• The issue is the management of time and the establishing of right priorities.

What areas of the Word can we align ourselves in?

• How about the area of authority?

Soul Winning Authority Must Be Used

• The Bible principle of authority can impact the realm of soul winning.

• If one of Satan’s works is to blind the unbelieving mind, if this is one of the realms of his control, and we have authority over the works of darkness, then you can take your God given authority and bind the enemies influence in the lives of the unsaved.
• What does exercising authority do exactly?
• It allows people who are lost to see Jesus clearly.
• It allows the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to shine unto them.
• Now when you couple the exercising of our God given authority with Jesus teaching on praying for the lost, which we already covered in Matthew 9:38, you have a wonderfully potent mixture.
• You have faith.
• You have prayer.
• And, you have authority.
• You have a dynamically potent trio.

Call to Action

• So, here are the three questions to ask Jesus about lost people in review again.
  • Question One: Am I Looking at Lost People the Right Way?
  • Question Two: Can I Really Be a Soul-Winner?
  • Question Three: Why Does Winning People to Jesus Take So Long?

Now that the questions have been asked and the answers are in, are you going to rise up and win the people in your world to Jesus?

Episode Resources

You can find a more full treatment of the information on this subject by clicking on the link below.

1. Alignment: A Key to Fruitful Soul Winning [Post]

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Question: What kind of adjustments have you recently made to align yourself with God’s Word in this area of winning people to Jesus? We would love to hear your input? Please leave a comment in the comments section below.