Laboring IS Important to God

Revelation 2:3

And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

The church of Ephesus was a church that God had much respect for because of one thing: because of their labor for Him. God pointed out to this church that He knew that they had labored for His name’s sake. Though we see that this church lost their first love, and God rebuked them for that, the reason they lost their first love was because they stopped laboring. There is an important word in verse 3 that shows why this church stopped laboring. The word that is important to this verse is the word hast. Hast is a past tense word. In other words, this church used to labor, but when they stopped laboring is when they lost their first love. You cannot labor in the harvest and lose the love for the souls of mankind. The only reason a person has lost their first love of reaching the souls of mankind through soul winning is because they stopped laboring in the harvest. Now, let me share with you what it takes to labor in the harvest.

First, it takes old-fashioned hard work. I am not going to try to make it sound easy, but it takes work to be successful in the harvest of reaching souls. Too many people want to reach souls and make it easy, but there is no easy way. Those who know me know that I go soul winning several times a week. I cannot tell you how many times I have had people call me and try to tell me an easier way to reach souls, and the funny part is, those who call me up are not actively involved in reaching souls. My friend, there is no easy way to be involved in the harvest of reaching the souls of mankind other than through hard work. At this present time, I spend about 14 hours a week going soul winning. There are many days that I don't feel like doing it, but I do it because it's what God commands us to do. You will never be successful in the harvest unless you're willing to work hard.

Second, it takes patience to labor. You have to be willing to work in the harvest without getting any results, and be rejected, if you are going to labor in the harvest. It takes old-fashioned patience and waiting for God to show you the results of your laboring in the harvest if you will be successful in laboring. Our problem in this present day is that we seek immediate results or gratification, but immediate results never happen. It takes old-fashioned hard work and patience with the work that we are doing to see the results that will come. Results often don't come in days, but they come in decades. If you are not patient with the process, you will quickly look for a new way to do something, which will cause you to leave the labor for the Lord.

Third, it takes carrying the burdens of others if you're going to labor in the harvest. I cannot tell you how heavy my heart is for those that I lead to Christ when they tell me their stories. My friend, you will carry a broken heart if you patiently labor in the harvest of reaching souls. Sin has broken so many lives, and as you labor in the harvest, you will have to carry the burdens of others in order to reach them.

Fourth, you can't faint in the labor of the harvest. There will be times when you want to quit, but quitting is the losers' way out. You can try to find a substitute to appease your conscience that you didn't quit in the harvest, but at the end of the day, if you stop soul winning, and stop trying to reach the harvest, you are a quitter. God promises that if we don't quit, we will reap if we faint not.