Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be;

Lead me by Thine own hand, choose out the path for me.

“…if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the  trumpet, and   the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes  any person from among   them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but  his blood I will require at the   watchman’s hand.’ … I have made you a  watchman for the house of Israel;   therefore you shall hear a word  from My mouth and warn them for Me.” Ezekiel   33:6-7

“Some one, then, must undertake the ungracious task of probing and  laying   bare the evils of the age; for men must not be allowed to  congratulate   themselves that all is well. If others will not, he will.

If others shrink from the obloquy of such a work, he will  not…. He loves his   fellow-men too well. They may upbraid him; they may  call him a misanthropist, or   a prophet of evil; they may ascribe his  warnings to the worst of motives, such   as pride, or arrogance, or  self-esteem, or malice, or envy; but he will give no   heed to these  unjust insinuations.

He will prefer being thus misunderstood and maligned, to allowing men  to   precipitate themselves upon a ruin which they see not. Rather than  that they   should perish, he will allow his own good name to be spoken  against. He will   risk every thing, even the hatred of brethren,  rather than withhold the warning.   If they give no heed to it, he has,  at least, saved his own soul. If they do, he   has saved both his own  soul and theirs.

He would rather take up the glad tidings of peace, and tell  men of Him who   came the first time for shame and death, and who is  coming the second time for   glory and dominion; but he feels as one who  has a special and personal message   to deliver, which cannot be  postponed.

He must remember that he is a watchman; and, having seen danger  pressing on,   he must not hesitate to make it known. He must speak his  message of forewarning   and rebuke, sparing no arrows, and neither  smoothing down nor hiding any form of   sin, but laying his finger upon  every sore, and beseeching men to turn from   their ungodliness. The  evils around him press upon him sadly; the coming evils   are  foreshadowed upon his spirit, and, therefore, he lifts up his voice like  a   trumpet.

Satan has many snares which need to be detected; the world  has many spells   and lures which must be disenchanted; religion has  many guises which must be   unmasked, many devious paths of  inconsistency which must be pointed out, many   cherished errors which  must be condemned, many carnal taints which must be   abhorred and  shunned. All these he must protest against without fear or   favour.”

Smooth let it be or rough,

It will be still the best;

Winding or straight, it leads

Right onward to Thy rest.

I dare not choose my lot;

I would not, if I might;

Choose Thou for me, my God,

So I shall walk aright.

Horatius Bonar

HT: Reformed Nazarene

See also:

APPRISING MINISTRIES TOUCHING LIVES

ANOTHER SIDE OF APPRISING MINISTRIES

EFFECT OF APPRISING MINISTRIES