We cannot bring anyone to the Lord merely by good fortune. Rather, the work of preaching the gospel to bring people to the Lord requires much patience. We need to learn Christ as our patience that we may continually fight the battle to preach the gospel. The real preaching is a battle. We should not think that we can bring the gospel to people so easily. The apostle Paul used the phrase striving together (v. 27). This indicates that we need patience and endurance. George Muller prayed for a certain person to be saved, but that person was not saved during Muller’s lifetime. It was after Muller’s death that this one was saved. It is not very easy and quick to bring certain persons to the Lord. It requires a real struggle. We all have to learn this lesson. We cannot do a quick work in the preaching of the gospel. To preach the gospel is to have a harvest, and we cannot have a harvest in a quick way. We have to learn patience.
I was saved in such a way. A brother in the Lord worked on me for a very long time. For a time there seemed to be no result. I was too hardened in my heart, and I made up my mind to not care for what he said to me. I believe that more or less he was disappointed, and at a certain time he stopped coming to see me. However, one day after he stopped coming-although I did not know why-I made up my mind to go to a Christian meeting. That was the result of the work of that brother over a long time. We all have to learn patience in this work. As the members of a local church, we all must have this life of preaching. In this preaching life we should not expect to do things in a quick way. Rather, we have to labor. If we all would labor for a certain period, perhaps for two or three years, the doors will be wide open to us.
This is similar to a business in that we need to build up credit. I have seen this happen. In the north of mainland China, in my hometown, we spent more than eight years trying to build up credit for the gospel. In the first eight years, from 1932 to 1940, we never baptized over forty people at one time. Within those eight years there was a real struggle. By the mercy of the Lord, however, the brothers there did their best to keep preaching all the time. Then around 1940 the results burst out. From that time on, we always baptized one or two hundred people. Families, factories, hospitals, and schools-all the doors-were opened, and it was very prevailing. In Taiwan we spent at least one or two years in this way. By that time we had learned more, and a group of trained persons came over from the mainland to carry on the work. This is why the work that began there went so fast. Eventually, the doors were opened.
Now we are just starting in this country. On the one hand, we need some time to be trained, and on the other hand, we need time to build up credit. We cannot sow a seed tonight and have a harvest tomorrow. That is the behavior of mushrooms. Mushrooms are not the right life; they even damage the genuine life. A tree bears fruit in its time. We have to learn patience and endurance. The neighbors, relatives, colleagues, and schoolmates with whom we are working may not be saved in this year. Some may be saved this month, but some may be saved only after five years. We do not know when they will be saved; only the Lord knows. I cannot explain why this is so, but it is a fact. Some will be saved very quickly, but some will be saved very slowly. We cannot care about that. We must simply go on and believe that gradually some fruit will be brought in. Therefore, we need patience.
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