Essentials for the Lord's Work

Essentials for the Lord's Work 

Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.Mark 2:3 

As the four friends of the palsied man were the human instruments to bring him into contact with our Lord, so there are four essentials for the Lord's work on the human side.

 1. Prevailing Prayer—James 5: 16. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Fervency of supplication, like the greased slip beneath the vessel to be launched, causes our petitions to go easy to the throne of grace, and places us in the river of God's purpose. Prayer is the hand of our need grasping the hand of God's power, whilst He grasps our hand to accomplish His Divine salvation. Pray, brethren, pray, a ministry that is soaked with the oil of prayer must have in it an unction of power.

 2. Powerful Faith. No ordinary faith will suffice if it is to accomplish effective work. One of the nine gifts of the Spirit is faith—1 Cor. 12: 8-11; not the personal faith for our own salvation, but that which brings blessings to others. When Christ saw the faith of the four bearers, He said to the palsied man, "Thy sins be forgiven." Faith that can command blessing from God always achieves conquests for Him.

3. Personal Love. Love, like God, is a trinity. The heart of love is sympathy, the hand of love is help, and the act of love is sacrifice. He who died for our sins will impart His Spirit which led Him thus to die. We need to be conformed to His death, denying ourselves self-ease and pleasure that we may know the power of His resurrection. The tenderness of Jesus must operate through us. We may organize much, but we need to agonize too. Organization alone is like a factory of cold machinery. Let the machinery work with power. Love much, do much. It is love's doing which makes duty performed a benediction—2 Cor. 5: 14. 

4. Persistent Effort. Continuance in well doing means doing a thing well. Individual effort is one of the secrets of success in Christian work. Going after some one person and gaining that one for Christ. The Divine order is ever when Christ finds Andrew and Philip and they each in turn find Peter and Nathaniel. Concentration of effort is the secret of success. Above all, follow Christ. His promise to make us "fishers of men" is preceded by His command to "Follow Me" (Matt. 4: 19).