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.

Question 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?
• We should start by answering this question with this thought.

Does it really matter how long it takes?

• The answer to that is both yes and no.
• Yes, it matters if you are going down the wrong road to begin with.
• Illustration: if I gave you directions to Oklahoma City and it took you four years to get there, you know that could be an indication of a problem.
• Like you don’t have a clue where you’re going.
• 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.
• ‘Forever’ trumps a few years or a few decades even.

ILLUSTRATION: George Muller Praying for the Lost
“Muller also endured great patience in prayer as it related to the salvation of many of his friends.  Muller prayed for the salvation of some of his acquaintances for five, ten, and even twenty years before they came to Christ.  Just before Muller died, he told friends that there were some people he had been praying over 60 years for their salvation.  Though they never trusted Christ in his lifetime, Muller died still believing that God would lead them into a relationship with him before they passed away.”[1]

• So, the answer is yes and no to the question ‘Does it really matter how long it takes.’
• 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

• What happens in many cases, across the board, is that we try to ‘do life’ with an incomplete understanding of God’s Word.
• Our thinking consists of a partially ‘correct’ understanding coming from Spirit imparted truth MIXED with an ‘incorrect’ understanding coming from the human thinking.
•  We are trying to ‘cook up our recipe’ for life and our mix is wrong.
• This mixture is what can cause delays.
• Just think about it.
• If God blesses our wrong thinking, what will we do the next time we need an answer to prayer?
• We will do the very same thing that got us the answer the first time.
• Why? Because it worked. So, Why change something that is working?
• This is one reason God will not bless wrong thoughts.
• You have to think His thoughts because they are already blessed.
• 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).
• We should constantly pray for revelation.
• We should continually ask that the ‘eyes of our heart would be enlightened.’
• Because 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.
• Mark it down: it’s much better to be led than to go by your head.
• It is much better to flow than just to go.
• 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.
• Notice, I did not say they won’t work AT ALL.
• I said, NOT AS WELL.
• Many have won people to Jesus without ‘being endued with power from on high’: happens all the time.
• But if one would have aligned themselves with the Word, that is, do things the way God said to do it in the Word, things would work even better.
• When your lined up with God’s Word, things work faster, better, quicker, stronger and more completely.
• Yet with all that being said, there is a very real on-going problem with this thought of ‘getting yourself in line with God’s Word.’
• The problem is very fundamental.
• 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!
• It’s getting in God’s Word PERIOD.
• Let’s talk about what the state of Bible reading is in America.

You Have to Get Into Your Bible First!

The State of Bible Reading In America

• Do you know what is?
• Do you know what the statistics are for those who read the Bible versus those who don’t?
• Have you ever heard of George Barna?
• According to Wikapedia: “George Barna is the founder of the Barna group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/george_barna
• Barna’s Research Group did a ‘State of the Bible Report’ in 2013 and also an updated version in 2014.
• 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.
• That’s a good thing…
• 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’.
• This is a STUPENDOUSLY HUGE problem.
• You cannot add enough adjectives here to describe the enormity of what these statistics mean.
• Understanding what Bible reading accomplishes, gives concrete understanding into the magnitude of this problem.

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 2:1–7 (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.

• This is spiritual reality.
• Light always holds back the darkness.
• The church, the light that shines in the darkness of this world, must be removed via the Rapture first, before ultimate evil can be unleashed.
• Hold this ‘light’ thought and let’s…

Understand What Bible Reading is from the ‘Spiritual Development’ Angle.

• The Bible is spirit food for the spirit of man.
• Meditating on the Word, engaging the Word, and acting on the Word promotes spirit development and growth.
• What happens when these things don’t happen?
• What happens when people are not meditating or engaging the Word?
• 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.
• No light here.
• No, entrance of His Word here.
• No illumination or revelation here.
• Now put these two ‘understandings of what Bible reading is’, together.
• Bible reading produces ‘light and development’ and that combo restrains darkness.
• Let’s repeat this again; lack of Bible Reading is a huge problem.
• I don’t think this is too dramatic to say that this is a bigger problem than the individual sin being committed by a person that makes the local nightly news in your city.
• This is bigger than some congressman that commits adultery or a disgruntled UPS worker that shoots some people.
• Why?
• Because these sins are individual acts of darkness.
• The ‘flesh’ produces, not just individual acts, but an entire plethora of darkness and iniquity.

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.

• I am telling you boldly.
• Light expels darkness PERIOD.
• If believers are not engaged with the light of God’s Word that is serious bad news.

Why Bible Reading Gets Ignored and How to Fix That

• You already know the importance of Bible reading.
• As a current ‘on-fire’ Christian, you have been taught its importance, right?
• Your pastor has informed you.
• Your parents have trained you and raised you up in it, in some cases.
• You carry the Bible to church with you and now you even have it in your phone or tablet.
• You understand its place in your ‘spiritual tool belt’.
• You really don’t need someone to tell you that you should be in your Bible.
• So, why don’t people that own it 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.
• So, the issue of Bible Reading is ‘not’ convincing people of its importance.
• The issue is the management of time and the establishing of right priorities.
• How to fix this particular problem and get it in line will not be covered here.
• But, it will be the subject of a future post.
• Stay tuned.
• So, the more we align with God’s Word the more efficiently things work.

Areas of Alignment: Authority

• How about the area of authority?
• Soul winning authority must be used.
• The Bible principle of authority can impact the realm of soul winning.

• The thread of this is below.
• Let’s do this brief scripture walk.
• First, there are two realms, light and darkness.

Acts 26:18 (KJV)
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

• Second, Jesus gave us authority, over Satan.

Luke 10:19 (KJV)
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

• Third, Satan is over the realm of darkness.

Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

• Fourth, one of the works of Satan is to blind the minds of them that do not believe, or the unsaved.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV)
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

• Let’s gather this up now.
• 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.

ILLUSTRATION: My Dad with stage 4 Cancer.
My Dad was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma when he was 52 years old.
You know that ‘stage four cancer’ means one foot on the banana peel and the other foot in the grave. I wasn’t sure if my Dad knew the Lord. We never had a great relationship. So, I began talking to the Lord about this. My parents lived in another state at the time. I approached the Lord on the basis of the authority that we have because of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection. My conversation had this flavor, “Lord, he does not know you (as far as I knew) and so I refuse to let him die. You said in your Word that we have authority and so in Jesus Name, he will live and not die. He needs every opportunity to know you.”
I only prayed this prayer one time.
But I reminded the Lord of it every time my Dad seemed to be failing.
I kept it before Him in remembrance.

• The end result of all this?
• My dad lived nine years after this.
• We have authority in Jesus Name.
• Here is another illustration along this line.
• In his must read book, The Authority of the Believer, Brother Hagin relates this testimony concerning his older brother Dub. [3]
• I highly recommend this book.
• It will transform your life.

ILLUSTRATION: Kenneth Hagin’s Testimony
“This (the Authority of the Believer) became real to me years ago when I was studying along this line. I couldn’t explain it in my mind, but I knew it in my spirit. I began to understand this authority that we have. While praying for my older brother’s salvation, I heard the Lord, in my spirit, challenge me. He said, “You do something about it.”
I had been praying for my brother’s salvation for many years He was what you would call the ‘black sheep’ of the family. In spite of my prayers, he seemed to get worse instead of better.
I always had prayed, “God save him.” I had even fasted. I was prone to slip back into praying this way, but after the Lord challenged me to do something about it – after He told me that I had authority- I said, “In the name of Jesus, I break the power of the devil over my brother’s life and I claim his salvation.”
I gave the order. I didn’t keep praying about it. When a king gives an order, he knows it is going to be carried out.
The devil tried to tell me my brother would never be saved, but I shut my mind off and started laughing. I said, “I don’t think he is going to be saved- I know it! I took the name of Jesus and I broke your power over him and claimed his deliverance and his salvation.” I went my way whistling. Within ten days, my brother was saved. The word works.”

• Don’t miss these parts when you examine this illustration.
  • He said, …. “Authority became real to me when I studied along this line (in the Bible).”
    • Here again is the importance of reading and being in your Bible.
  • He said… “ I didn’t get it in my mind, I got the revelation, I knew it in my spirit.”
    • Bible truths, like authority, don’t work unless those truths become alive in your spirit.”
  • He said… “The Lord said, ‘You do something about it.’”
    • Most times we are praying and trying to get God to do something about the unsaved people we know.
    • When actually, heaven is waiting on earth to move.

Call to Action:

Lining yourself up with God’s Word in any area is vital to success. It is a good practice to align yourself by asking yourself ‘Where is that in the Bible?’ You will be surprised how sometimes our own human thinking has gotten mixed in with the Bible. This area of soul winning is only one area to monitor.

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.

References
____________

[1] Arthur Tappan Pierson, George Muller of Bristol (Hendrickson Publishers, 2014) pp 302.
[2] George Barna, The State of the Bible: 6 Trends for 2014, April 8, 2014, https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/664-the-state-of-the-bible-6-trends-for-2014#.VCJynRZkJwQ.
[3] The Believers Authority Legacy Edition Expanded with New Material by Kenneth E. Hagin [Faith Library Publications, 2009] (Paperback) 2nd Revised Edition (Faith Library,2009, 9AD) pp 30-31.