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i) A passion for the lost - Harvest Daily Devotional

ii) The prayer of Agur, the son of Jakeh (4/5) - C.E. Wigg

A passion for the lost

Harvest Daily Devotional

"My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed-cut off from Christ!-if that would save them." (Romans 9:2-3)

The apostle Paul had something essential for effective evangelism: a God-given burden for those who did not know Jesus Christ. In his case, the burden was for his own people, the Jews. He cared. It burned inside him.

General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, once said that his desire, had it been possible, would be to dangle his evangelism trainees over hell for 24 hours. That way, they could see the reality that awaits those who do not know Jesus Christ.

That wouldn't have been necessary for Paul, who spoke of his love and burning passion for unbelievers. I think it is there for us in Scripture so that we don't become so obsessed with our own struggles and spiritual growth that we forget about people who need to know Christ. I think Paul makes an amazing statement in Romans 9 when he says, in essence, "If it were possible, I would give up my hope of eternal life so that others who do not know could come to faith." That's a pretty dramatic statement.

As believers, you and I have a responsibility to those outside the church-those outside the faith. If God's love is really working in our lives, it should motivate us to do something for Him. Do you have a God-given burden for those who do not know Jesus Christ? If you don't, do you want one? If you pray that God will give you this burden, then be careful. The results could be life-changing. You just may be surprised at how quickly He answers you.

The prayer of Agur, the son of Jakeh (4/5)

Proverbs Chapter 30:7-9

His word is pure: We can trust that word with absolute confidence. He is our shield and protector as we put our trust in Him. His word is pure and will never deceive or misguide us. It alone must be the final arbiter to every dispute, the sure and only guide to faith and practice. Let us beware of adding to it, lest we come under His rebuke, and be found to be liars. One shudders when one thinks of the many true believers that have believed Satan’s lie, and have accepted and practiced that which is not only not in God’s word, but is contrary to it.

Two things I ask of Thee: Now we come to the prayer of Agur itself, and it is very brief and direct. This prayer is in accord with the instructions given by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2. But there is weight and pith in these requests. He pleads “Deny them not to me before I die”. That is it was his heart’s desire that they might be fulfilled in him right here and now. Too often we put things off until after we die. We know that we will be both perfect and absolutely holy then; we will be like Christ, for we will see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2. But it is the desire of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us that we might be conformed to the image of Christ now. Then we might ask, what are these two things.

1). Remove far from me vanity and lies. He did not wish to be a hypocrite neither he did he wish to be occupied with the vain things connected with this world and its system. It would do us good to read the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes, where the constant refrain is “vanity of vanities, all is vanity and pursuit of the wind”. These things are so attractive to the flesh, but they have no substance, they do not last. “The world passes away and the lust thereof.” 1 John 2:17.

Lies are not only words of untruthfulness, but even this should be the desire of our hearts, to always speak the truth. It is normal to expect that people should be able to confidently rely of what we say. It should always be the truth. Lies can also be seen in the way that we live. Not only what we say, but also how we live. There is so much hypocrisy about today, people saying things that are not true. They say one thing, and live another. Let us also pray this prayer constantly! [To be concluded]

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