Saturday, January 01, 2005
Chapter 1
The Introduction
My primary purpose and goal in writing The Heart that Heals was not just to help you, although I hope the book is a tremendous help to you. My ultimate desire though, is that this book will help you help others. You, helping others, will glorify God, and in turn, help you also.
helping
others
glorifies
God and
helps me
your name
here
Write your name in the diagram to the left. I put my name there, and now it says, “Patsy, helping others, glorifies God and helps me too”. That is my desire, that this book would give you the strength not only to help you to cast your own burdens on the Lord, not only to bear the burdens of others, but also that it will give you the strength to teach others how to do the same.
I attended a missions conference, some years ago, and watched, as the keynote speaker demonstrated a very simple, yet profound, point. The point he was trying to make was, If he were to win the souls of the world to the Lord one by one, the time it would take would be immeasurable, the task daunting, needless to say, impossible. But, if he won a soul to the Lord, and at the same time taught that person to be a soul winner, and the two went out to win two more souls, and teach them to be soul winners, and then, the four went out…You see where this is going, and you may have seen a similar demonstration yourself. Let’s look at the demonstration and see how it applies not only to soulwinning, but also to other parts of our lives.
His demonstration went something like this. The keynote speaker stood on one side of the platform and another man, who had been chosen from the audience, stood on the opposite side of the platform. The speaker went out into the audience and brought back to his side of the platform a person, representing a soul he had led to the Lord. The man on the opposite side of the platform did the same. The speaker then left that person, which represented the soul he had led to the Lord, on his side of the platform, and proceeded out into the audience to retrieve yet another person, representing another soul led to the Lord, and he brought that person to his side of the platform. At the same time however, the man on the opposite side of the platform, who not only led a soul to the Lord but also taught that person to be a soul winner, went out into the audience with the person he had led to the Lord, and they both retrieved each a person, brought them back to the platform, representing two more souls that were saved. The speaker went out again, and the now four soul winners on the opposite side of the platform also went out. Now the speaker’s side of the platform held three people and the other side of the platform held eight. This continued on for several minutes. Each time, the speaker brought back one soul, and each time the soul winners on the opposite side of the platform doubled in size. Amazing – What a concept! You can see now, how quickly the one side filled with people, representing souls won for Christ, and how slow, and toiling, the work continued on the keynote speaker’s side of the platform.
Some years later after viewing that graphic demonstration, and being convicted of my own lack of soulwinning, I realized that the demonstration not only applied to soulwinning, although that is of the utmost importance, that is our purpose on this earth, but it pertains to many other aspects of our lives as well.
I realized that the demonstration I had witnessed some years prior was similar to the old adage of teaching a hungry person how to fish. The adage goes something like this:
If I feed a man a fish, I feed him for one day;
but, if I teach him how to fish, I feed him for life.
Now, to draw a parallel between the demonstration, the old adage, and what I want to accomplish through this book. If I help you, I help only you, and through Christ a LIFE can be changed. But, if I help you help others, you help others to help others, and those others all help others to help others, then, through Christ LIVES can be changed. Do you see the difference here between a LIFE being changed and LIVES being changed? You can see now how quickly the teaching others to help others multiplies, and how much more effective our work for God can be when we do that.
So, my desire is that through Christ, with the help of this book, you will be helped, and will also be challenged to help others, which, in turn, will glorify God and help you.
chapter 2 coming in February...
My primary purpose and goal in writing The Heart that Heals was not just to help you, although I hope the book is a tremendous help to you. My ultimate desire though, is that this book will help you help others. You, helping others, will glorify God, and in turn, help you also.
helping
others
glorifies
God and
helps me
your name
here
Write your name in the diagram to the left. I put my name there, and now it says, “Patsy, helping others, glorifies God and helps me too”. That is my desire, that this book would give you the strength not only to help you to cast your own burdens on the Lord, not only to bear the burdens of others, but also that it will give you the strength to teach others how to do the same.
I attended a missions conference, some years ago, and watched, as the keynote speaker demonstrated a very simple, yet profound, point. The point he was trying to make was, If he were to win the souls of the world to the Lord one by one, the time it would take would be immeasurable, the task daunting, needless to say, impossible. But, if he won a soul to the Lord, and at the same time taught that person to be a soul winner, and the two went out to win two more souls, and teach them to be soul winners, and then, the four went out…You see where this is going, and you may have seen a similar demonstration yourself. Let’s look at the demonstration and see how it applies not only to soulwinning, but also to other parts of our lives.
His demonstration went something like this. The keynote speaker stood on one side of the platform and another man, who had been chosen from the audience, stood on the opposite side of the platform. The speaker went out into the audience and brought back to his side of the platform a person, representing a soul he had led to the Lord. The man on the opposite side of the platform did the same. The speaker then left that person, which represented the soul he had led to the Lord, on his side of the platform, and proceeded out into the audience to retrieve yet another person, representing another soul led to the Lord, and he brought that person to his side of the platform. At the same time however, the man on the opposite side of the platform, who not only led a soul to the Lord but also taught that person to be a soul winner, went out into the audience with the person he had led to the Lord, and they both retrieved each a person, brought them back to the platform, representing two more souls that were saved. The speaker went out again, and the now four soul winners on the opposite side of the platform also went out. Now the speaker’s side of the platform held three people and the other side of the platform held eight. This continued on for several minutes. Each time, the speaker brought back one soul, and each time the soul winners on the opposite side of the platform doubled in size. Amazing – What a concept! You can see now, how quickly the one side filled with people, representing souls won for Christ, and how slow, and toiling, the work continued on the keynote speaker’s side of the platform.
Some years later after viewing that graphic demonstration, and being convicted of my own lack of soulwinning, I realized that the demonstration not only applied to soulwinning, although that is of the utmost importance, that is our purpose on this earth, but it pertains to many other aspects of our lives as well.
I realized that the demonstration I had witnessed some years prior was similar to the old adage of teaching a hungry person how to fish. The adage goes something like this:
If I feed a man a fish, I feed him for one day;
but, if I teach him how to fish, I feed him for life.
Now, to draw a parallel between the demonstration, the old adage, and what I want to accomplish through this book. If I help you, I help only you, and through Christ a LIFE can be changed. But, if I help you help others, you help others to help others, and those others all help others to help others, then, through Christ LIVES can be changed. Do you see the difference here between a LIFE being changed and LIVES being changed? You can see now how quickly the teaching others to help others multiplies, and how much more effective our work for God can be when we do that.
So, my desire is that through Christ, with the help of this book, you will be helped, and will also be challenged to help others, which, in turn, will glorify God and help you.
chapter 2 coming in February...
