HEART WORK EVIDENCE #5 — A BURDEN FOR SOULS

Fifthly and finally, heart work involves a consciousness on the part of believers of indebtedness to God for His “unspeakable gift” of salvation through Jesus Christ. In the words, in the words of a popular gospel song, “We owed a debt we could not pay; He paid a debt He did not owe.” (1 Cor. 9:15; 1 Tim. 1:15; Rom. 6:23. In verse 14 of Romans chapter one Paul reveals specifically the sense of indebtedness he felt to bring the good news of the gospel to the lost. He wrote, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise” (vv. 14-16).

Heart work explains Paul’s burden for the Greeks and Barbarians in Athens, where the Bible says, “his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry” (Acts 17:18). Heart work in progress explains the burden he had for the Jews: “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh;” and “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Rom. 9:1-3; 10:1).

The prophet Jeremiah knew something of the heart work of God that will not allow a believer to remain unburdened for lost souls; heart work that overcomes the reluctance one may have, and compels them to share the Gospel with those who are lost. He said, "But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." How about your heart? What is going on there where your being a soul winner is concerned? See Prov. 11:30; Acts 1:8).