Opinion › Feature Article       06.10.2018

Passion For The Lost Or A Lost Passion?

The great Evangelist George Whitefield was constrained by love to an extent his prayer was not God give me money but rather: “Lord, give me souls or take my soul”. Then came William Booth of blessed memory and his prayer was: " Some men's passion is for gold, others men's passion is for fame, but my passion is for souls". Lord give me souls”. I read John Hyde’s prayer when he went to India to preach and his prayer was: “Lord, give me these souls or die”. Then John Knox also added his prayer: “Lord! Give me souls or I die”. Hmmm so this is what the love of God does to men of passion for the lost sheep, it even affects their prayer. This is indeed a passion for the lost.

How do we feel when sinners come around us today? Do we mock them and join them in their folly until we are called to attend their funerals or we spend time on our knees in the secret place and the cry is: “Lord, please save these souls”? What was your reaction when an armed robber was caught behind your house and burnt to death? Did you just smiled and walked away or you were touched with the worries of where he is spending eternity after he was burnt? What did you do when you heard a family was divorcing? Did you just called a friend to discuss her over a bottle of beer or you entered your room, shut the door behind you and said: “Lord, not this one, please save this marriage”. Do we see everybody around us as a soul that needs to be saved through the Gospel or we consider their weakness and laugh over it? Guys! If we have no answer to this question: then we may have to re-consider this journey we are embarking on, because it is either we have a lost passion or we have a passion for the lost.

Until we stop seeing men as wicked and see them as souls there won’t be passionate and selfless intercessors in our generation. Until we start seeing prostitutes and all those making a mess of our societies today as souls and enroll them on our prayer list and cry out to heaven that: “Lord, please save these ones, they cannot go to Hell”, we may have to check our love gage again. Until we stop this unnecessary ministerial bout: my church is larger than yours, my members are more committed, my prophetic is sharper, I have more rhema than you and all sorts of unwise utterances, we will have to explain to the next generation why and where we cultivated this lost passion.

Jesus put a whole crusade on hold just to save a prostitute, He sent his disciples away and ignored food just to save an adulterous woman, He entered a city to save a thief we call Zacchaeus. Peter let down his net not to go and get another job but to save souls. Paul entered a city to preach the entire community stoned Him he got up cleaned up and went back to preach, this is passion for the lost. When you look at the eternal destiny of souls, no price is too high to pay. Apostle, please check your heart: is it a lost passion or passions for souls? Do you really care about the sinners strolling down your church isles every Sunday? Do you care that much to pray for cities and people you are sure of will be destroyed should the rapture sound today? Are you truly concern about the drunkards and prostitutes on your lane and offices that you have their names written down in your note books and doing warfare on their behalf or you only have the names of those who sow seeds into your ministries? Hmmm well, if you don’t then you have a lost passion.

The soul you have not preached to, prayed for or paid for the gospel to be preached to, you have no right to criticize that soul, simple. We have talkers and few soul winners. If we talk then we say “I am not an evangelist”. My brother since when did the great commission become a job for the evangelist?

Let me remind us according to the Gospel of Dr. Luke chapter Nineteen verses Ten, the mandate is “to seek and to save the lost”.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus! Re-kindle the flames of passion for the lost souls in me. Set me ablaze for souls.

R. Duafah
rduafah@gmail.com

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