Exodus 23:25-26 “And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.”

DAILY READING; • Luke 11:29-54; Genesis 20; Psalm 13

The book, ‘Tortured for Christ’ written by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand is the story of his ordeal in the hands of the communist Romanian government. The book details his months of solitary confinement, years of periodic physical torture, and the mental cruelty he suffered during his years in Communist prisons. His only crime was his fervent belief in Jesus Christ and his public witness concerning His faith.
As part of the underground Church, Pastor Richard and other believers would meet secretly in homes, basements, and in the woods. These faithful Christians persisted in their Christian witness knowing full well the ultimate cost of their actions. Oftentimes, the police would drag them from their homes, throw them into concentration camps, torture, and even kill some of them.
In a section of the book, titled, “We Made a Deal,” Pastor Richard, talked about the ironic joy Christian prisoners experienced when they decided to suffer beatings in order to preach the Gospel. In the prison, it was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners and whoever was caught preaching would receive a severe beating.
Pastor Richard wrote ‘A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal: we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us—so everyone was happy.’
One of the scenes he described that commonly took place, was when the guards would suddenly burst into their prison cells and catch a believer preaching to the other prisoners. They would haul him down the corridor to their ‘beating room.’ After what seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and threw him—bloody and bruised—on the prison floor. Slowly, this brother would pick up his battered body, painfully straightened his clothing and say to the others ‘Now, brethren, where did I leave off when I was interrupted?’ And he would continue his gospel message, as if nothing had happened.
In this Book, Pastor Richard, gave a classic account of the courage, tenacious faith, and unbelievable endurance of these believers in their quest to preach the Gospel to the lost. Pastor Richard, after 14 years of imprisonment was finally released under miraculous circumstances and he would travel around the world preaching the Gospel.

It is truly amazing to see the kind of persecutions believers often face in countries that are hostile to the Gospel.
The harvest of souls is the primary assignment God has given the Church. And likewise, no matter the cost, our focus should be on bringing many souls into God’s Kingdom.
There are multitudes in the valley of decision and it is a divine mandate to every believer to reach these lost souls. Thousands are going to hell fire every day, and we must stand at the crossroad and redirect this traffic. We must aim to populate Heaven and de-populate hell.
If there are believers who are willing to be tortured or even killed, just to preach the Gospel, shouldn’t those of us who live in less restrictive countries be doing more?
The truth is that the very last days are now upon us, the coming of Christ is nearer that ever before. Our focus now should be more on laying up eternal treasures. And in Heaven’s estimate, the value of one soul is worth more than all the wealth of the world put together (Matthew 16:26).

Let us therefore by God’s grace, continually sow the seed of God’s Word into the lives of people wherever we go. As we do, we are preparing the ground for a grand harvest. There is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repents, therefore as we bring souls into God’s kingdom, we are causing a harvest of rejoicing in Heaven. And because what we sow is what we reap, as we give joy to heaven, we also reap a harvest of joy on the earth. And let’s also remember that joy is the sickle for every harvest we need.

God honors those that honor Him and every investment we make towards His Kingdom in terms of time, energy and resources, He gives back to us a hundred-fold more (Luke 18:28-30].
The harvests we need in this season will come to us when we focus on harvest of souls into God’s Kingdom. While on their preaching assignment, the disciples told Jesus that the devils were subject unto them through His Name [Luke 10:17]. In other words, soul wining puts us in dominion over the enemy and over every demonic affliction.
Also when we focus on serving God, He blesses our bread and water, He removes from us barrenness and every form of unfruitfulness and fulfills the number of our days. [Exodus 23:25-26]

Therefore as we seek the harvest of souls into God’s kingdom in this season, surely every other thing shall be added unto us.

PRAYER: Lord, please enable me to focus on the most important harvest of all, which is bringing souls into Your kingdom. Please grant me the grace to preach the Gospel wherever I go, and as I do, I thank You for the speedy release of my own harvests in Jesus’ Name.

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When you obey God’s instruction, you are delivered from destruction. WORDBITE 222