Day 8. The Billions Are Made Up of Ones
“Like the good Samaritan, we need to stop for just one.” – Heidi Baker
“Whenever Aaron enters the holy place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the lord.” Exodus 28:29
An intercessor once dreamed of a prayer room with a prayer wall. Hundreds of names were pinned to the wall like you would see at the wailing wall in Jerusalem. He realized that people from all over the country had sent in the names of loved ones who needed freedom and salvation. Those names were then taken up in intercession until they could be pinned on the testimony section of the wall. The testimony side was filling up with names from the prayer side of the wall and they all came under the heading: “The lamb’s reward.” It was clear that Christ had paid the price for both the intercession and salvation of these ones he had died for.
I believe that as we enter the time of the great billion soul harvest* God is re-highlighting his simple strategies and heart for this end-time harvest. A primary strategy is, “Start with the one.” I was once leading a passionate prayer meeting for the billion soul harvest when I heard Holy Spirit speak to my heart. It was the middle of the meeting as we were shouting out promises and claiming the billions when the God interrupted me and said, “The billions are made up of ones.” Broken ones. Hurting ones. Poor ones. Abused ones. Depressed ones. Blind ones. Lost ones. God doesn’t look at the billions as a large robotic mass of people aimlessly wandering on a make-believe planet called earth. God carefully formed and intimately knows each one by name.
I think about a young Billy Graham before he was known as the great worldwide evangelist. After a night of passionate prayer with a few friends in a SoCal campground in 1947, they made a covenant called “the burning heart contract.” They committed themselves to four principles of Christian discipline that included: (1) one hour in prayer and the word, (2) sobriety, (3) fidelity/chastity, and (4) “to seek every possible opportunity to witness, to the end that I may be responsible for bringing at least one to Christ every 12 months.” I believe it was Billy Graham’s commitment to witnessing to the one, while no was looking, that gave him the platform to preach the good news to 201 million people over his lifetime. Who were the other friends that made this commitment with Graham? Bill Bright, Henrietta Mears, Richard Halverson, and Louis Evans.
In Exodus 28:29, the priest was never to enter the presence of God without names written across his heart (breastplate). The mere sight of the names of the precious ones that God created, deeply moves his heart. As we pray and fast for the great harvest in California, take the names of your family members and friends, write them on your heart, and pray for each one by name. It is through these ones that much of the great harvest will come. When Jesus reached the one Samaritan woman, he reached the entire city. When Ananias ministered to Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul, he reached the Gentiles.
The greatest harvesters are still in the harvest fields. As a royal priesthood, if we would be faithful to carry them on our hearts before the Lord in prayer and share the love of Jesus with them, the millions and billions are not far behind!
Prayer:
Lord, forgive me for forgetting about the ones that are on your heart. Sear the names of the lost on my heart! May my heart burn with love for the lost ones again. I bring before you today my family members, friends, and co-workers who don’t know you. [list them by name]. Save them. Deliver them. Heal them. Use them to bring salvation to the masses! Lord, as we’re faithfully loving the ones, give us the millions and the billions!
* In 1975, Bob Jones encountered the Lord beyond the veil and was told: “Prepare the people, for I am going to bring in a billion souls in one great harvest”
