Witnessing
One Sows and Another Reaps
 or those of you who are not afraid to be
used by the Lord to witness to others to try and get them
saved - there is a phenomenon that you will find occurring
over and over again in this part of your walk with Him.
Unless you understand exactly is occurring when this
phenomenon does occur, you may find yourself starting to
get frustrated, and you may start to think that maybe
there is something wrong with your efforts in being able
to effectively witness to others.
Here is what you will find occurring.
You may have been witnessing to a friend numerous times over a
period of a few months. The Holy Spirit has been perfectly
leading you as to exactly what to say to that person, when to
say it and how to say it. You have been planting good seeds
inside of this person for the Holy Spirit to work with over the
last several months.
You are just waiting for this person to finally see the
truth of the gospel so you can lead them into the sinners
prayer to get them saved. And then all of sudden it happens.
Some other Christian comes along, witnesses to your friend one
or two times, and then they are the one to get this person
saved.
You have been the one who has been witnessing to this person
over all of these months, and then all of sudden someone else
comes along and steals the fruit of all your labor with this
person. You then start to question your own ability to be able
to effectively witness to anyone since you could not get them
saved and pulled in. You were fishing for God. You had the hook
in their backs - but you just could not get them pulled in to
accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
If and when this should ever happen to you, the first thing
you have to realize is that you may have been doing absolutely
nothing wrong and possibly everything right. What was occurring
in the spiritual realm is that you were "sowing
seeds" inside of this person for the Lord to be able
to use to draw that person slowly in.
When you initially start sowing seeds inside of a person, at
first it looks like nothing is really happening. When a farmer
plants seeds underneath the ground to produce a certain type of
crop he is going after, he too sees nothing happening as he is
looking at the ground. However, all of the actual growth is
occurring underneath the ground where you cannot see it. And
then after a certain amount of time, the crop finally starts to
break through the surface of the ground to emerge where
everyone can now see it.
The exact same thing occurs in the spiritual realm when you
start witnessing to other people. Some people only have to hear
the message of the gospel one or two times and they are willing
to come right in. Others are not as quick to respond. They have
to be "worked." They have to be properly
"played" - just like a fisherman has to play a
bigger fish to get them pulled in after he initially hooks
them.
What God will do with this type of person is to start
sending in other Christians to start to witness to this person.
He may just send in one or two over a period of several months
or possibly more depending on how He wants to work this person.
What is occurring over this period of time when one or more
Christians are starting to witness to this person is that
"seeds" are being planted in what is called a
time of "sowing" by the Bible.
If you have been witnessing to your friend over a period of
several months, but still have not been able to get them saved
- you have been in a "sowing mode" with them.
Just like it takes a certain amount of time for natural seeds
to produce the crop for which they are intended for once those
seeds have been planted into the ground - it may take one or
more Christians a certain amount of time before all of that
sowing starts to get that person close to getting saved.
But once all of this witnessing starts to really sway this
person - then he or she is considered "ripe"
for the taking, and then the next Christian who moves in for
the witnessing may be the one who will actually get this person
saved by having this person say the sinner's prayer.
When this happens, the Bible calls this the
"reaping" period. You may have been the one
"sowing" the initial seeds into this person
for the Lord to work with over all of those months - but then
another Christian comes in and he will be the one to
"reap" the benefit of all of your sowing, and
he will be the one to get that person to say the sinner's
prayer to get them saved.
If this should ever happen to you, don't get mad, frustrated
or upset with either yourself or with God. This is one of the
"ways" that God will "work"
someone who is not saved and He is making a move on them to get
them saved. What I have found out from personal experience with
the Lord on some of these harder cases is that He will move in
what I call "waves."
God will use other Christians to try and reach this person
over a certain period of time, and He'll send those other
Christians in "waves" to witness to that
person so as not to overwhelm this person with too much at one
time. These people need some time to think about and digest
what they are being given. The Holy Spirit will also be working
with this person with the seeds that you have been planting
into this person over all of those months.
However, sooner or later this person will have to make a
final decision as to whether or not they will accept Jesus and
His message of eternal salvation. The Bible says that the Holy
Spirit will not strive with a man forever. Once this person is
ready to make a decision to accept Jesus - then the next
Christian that is sent in there will be the one to
"reap" what has been "sown"
over all those preceding months with all of the witnessing
either you or anyone else may have been doing with this
person.
What you have to really realize, if this should ever happen
to you, is that all of that "sowing" that you
had been doing over all of those previous months was just as
important, if not even more important, than the Christian who
finally gets in there to get this person saved on the day that
this will actually occur.
In God's eyes, all of the sowing that you did for the months
preceding his conversion was just as important as the one who
eventually ends us up getting this person saved as a result of
all the hard work that you did in those preceding months. This
is why all of the time that you have spent witnessing to this
person has not been wasted.
This is why it is so important for each and
every Christian to be open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit
leading them as to who they should witness to, exactly what
they are to say to that person, and when and how to say
it.
You never know when God may use you to plant a
seed or two into another person that could eventually be
instrumental in leading that person to getting saved with
the Lord. Just a word or two from God through you to that
person may make the difference as to whether or not that
person ever accepts Jesus as his personal Lord and
Savior.
Now here is the Scripture verse that perfectly explains the
above phenomenon when it does occur:
For in this the saying is true, 'One sows and
another reaps.' "I have sent you to reap that for which you
have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered
into their labors." (John 4:37)
Notice this verse actually says that sometimes the person
who gets to "reap" has not really been
"laboring" for that person's soul. All of that
"laboring" was actually done by other
Christians who had been witnessing to that person over the
preceding months or possibly years. Notice this verse even goes
as far as to say that the person who will be reaping the
rewards of all of your efforts from the preceding months will
be "entering into your labors."
This verse is giving us a major piece of revelation in
showing us how God does "work and play" those
who He starts to go after in an effort to try and get them
saved before they die. Sometimes one Christian will be able to
get the job done - but other times it may take numerous
Christians witnessing to that person over a certain period of
time before that person is willing to get saved.
If this should ever happen to you, where you had
been "laboring" over a period of months or years with
someone, and then another Christian comes along and finally
gets this person saved - realize that your part was just as
important, if possibly not even more important, than the
person who ends up getting this person saved on the actual
day that it occurred.
God will be rewarding you for your time and
effort that you put into the matter - irregardless of
whether or not you were the one to actually get this person
saved on the day that it occurred. Your "labor" will not
have been in vain!
The above verse is just another very fascinating verse from
the Bible that is telling us what is occurring in both the
natural and spiritual realms when we are witnessing to others
in an effort to try and get them saved.
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Basics of
Salvation Through Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
True
Repentance Will Lead to Salvation
Story of Adam and
Eve
Sinners Prayer
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Scripture taken from New King James
Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
License.
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