November 2020

HOW TO WIN ONE MILLION SOULS FOR JESUS

Before I lowered the young lady into the water, I prayed, “LORD, by the power of your Holy Spirit, use Madison’s life to bring one million souls to Your kingdom.” It was a colossal prayer of faith that made an impact on Madison’s heart, and recently, she sent me an email informing me of her application to Loma Linda Medical School. In her application, she had to answer the prompt: “Why I want to go to medical school,” and she said, “I wrote about how your baptismal prayer for me played an integral part in how I view my calling and career. I’m sorry I never got the chance before to tell you how much your words impacted me, but after I heard your prayer, I began to aspire that I would do my part (with the Holy Spirit doing the most) to bring 1,000,000 souls to Christ.”

Madison continued her message: “I have always aspired to be a world changer, and when I heard the word ‘one million’ it intimidated me. I thought that you could reach this many people perhaps as a pastor. As an introvert, this made me discouraged; I prefer one-on-one interaction. However, your words helped me consider my influence in a different way and also changed the way I viewed my future career. I cannot hold off on trying to reach others thinking that I will only be effective once I am a doctor, but I need to view every single interaction as an opportunity. I realized that my work starts now. Thank you for praying this prayer for me!”

Through that prayer at Madison’s baptism, God gave her a vision of what He could do when she willingly accepted the work of the Holy Spirit in her life. Such vision comes before success. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). Once you see the vision the LORD has for your life, the way Madison did, you realize how there’s no time to delay. You have to get busy now! The LORD works as powerfully through a single young shepherd boy like David as He does through an entire consecrated congregation, like those who marched around the walls of Jericho. He can “save by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6).

I would like to let you in on a personal secret: for many years, I have prayed that, by the power of His Holy Spirit, the LORD would empower all the young people I’ve ever worked with to each bring one million souls to His kingdom. I’ve also prayed the same prayer for my wife and two daughters because God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to His power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20). And, of course, you too can pray colossal prayers and believe that “with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

I once shared this truth with some good friends of mine, and one of them confessed he would be far too scared to pray a prayer like that because it would be too overwhelming for him to even think about how God could use him to do something so great. I assured Him that God longs for us to ask Him to enable us to do great things in His service. All too often, we do not have because we do not ask (James 4:2).

I understand how fear works—how it paralyzes us from attempting great things for God, but when I think of the millions of lost and lonely people who are locked behind dark doors of discouragement, and I remember how I was once in a similar condition, I am motivated to diligently seek God to equip me to reach them, to bring the hope and healing only Jesus can produce in their lives.

Every day at It Is Written Canada we are blessed with the ability to reach into the homes of Canadians, and people throughout the world, through internet and television transmissions with life-giving messages from God’s holy Word. We are so grateful, and we thank you for your ongoing encouragement, prayers, and financial support of this life-changing ministry, especially at this time when so many have not been able to meet together with friends, family, and church members. Through keeping It Is Written Canada on the air, countless Canadians have the opportunity of experiencing the abundant life that is found in Jesus in a way that is personal and relevant. Thank you for partnering with us. Our greatest desire is that we will all daily develop a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, be increasingly filled with the Holy Spirit, and work together to prepare others for His soon return.

~ Mike Lemon