Were you paid today?

[A devotional by Charles Spurgeon]

“Call thy labourers, and give them their hire.”

- Matthew 20:8 So when evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the laborers and pay them their wage, beginning from the last to the first.

As each day goes by and I once again reach out to some one for Jesus I find myself saying again, thank You Lord for the blessings you have given me this day. In the Book of Matthew 9:37 Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. I truly thank the Father above that I am honored to be a laborer for Him. As I read Charles Spurgeon's devotional from this evening he explains as only he can of what joy and happiness doing the Lord's work. Do I have a clear conscience? Praise God yes! What a great reward there is for me as I pray for individuals who long to know Jesus.

[God is a good paymaster; he pays his servants while at work as well as when they have done it; and one of his payments is this: an easy conscience. If you have spoken faithfully of Jesus to one person, when you go to bed at night you feel happy in thinking, “I have this day discharged my conscience of that man’s blood.” There is a great comfort in doing something for Jesus. Oh, what a happiness to place jewels in his crown, and give him to see of the travail of his soul! There is also very great reward in watching the first buddings of conviction in a soul! To say of that girl in the class, “She is tender of heart, I do hope that there is the Lord’s work within.” To go home and pray over that boy, who said something in the afternoon which made you think he must know more of divine truth than you had feared! Oh, the joy of hope!]

Now as I was reading this last part of the devotional my mind thought back almost five years ago when I was asked by a woman to pray for this other woman on the other side of the room. She told me, "I think she is ready to know Jesus!" We went over to the woman and knelt down by her and after talking with her for a little while she said the sinners prayer and accepted Jesus in her heart. My friends that was truly the happiest day of my life! As soon as I got back home I called a friend to explain how awesome an experience it was. Though I never seen that woman again after that, I know one day Jesus will introduce us again.

[But as for the joy of success! it is unspeakable. This joy, overwhelming as it is, is a hungry thing-you pine for more of it. To be a soul-winner is the happiest thing in the world. With every soul you bring to Christ, you get a new heaven upon earth. But who can conceive the bliss which awaits us above! Oh, how sweet is that sentence, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” Do you know what the joy of Christ is over a saved sinner? This is the very joy which we are to possess in heaven. Yes, when he mounts the throne, you shall mount with him. When the heavens ring with “Well done, well done,” you shall partake in the reward; you have toiled with him, you have suffered with him, you shall now reign with him; you have sown with him, you shall reap with him; your face was covered with sweat like his, and your soul was grieved for the sins of men as his soul was, now shall your face be bright with heaven’s splendour as is his countenance, and now shall your soul be filled with beatific joys even as his soul is.]

I definitely pine for more of Him!!!

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott