7 Qualities Of Soul Winner By Charles Spurgeon

Qualities Of Soul Winner:

I will ask you to decide for yourselves what characteristics God would naturally search for in His workers, what qualifications He would likely approve of, and most likely use. You realize that a wise worker uses a tool that will probably achieve his goal. Some artists can only play their own violins or paint with their own favorite brushes and palettes, and surely the mighty God, the Mightiest of All Workers, loves to use His own special tools to win souls. “He spake, and it was done; ” He employed only His own tools in the old creation, and His mighty Word still works in the new. His servants are His trumpets, His instruments for bringing His Word to men’s ears and hearts. So, my brethren, judge if God would use you; imagine yourself in His place, and who you would most likely use if you were the Most High God.

#1 Holiness Of Character

You would agree that a Soul-winner must first have holiness of character. Ah, how few preachers consider this! If they did, they’d realize the Eternal would never use dirty tools, and the thrice-holy Jehovah would only use holy tools to do His mission. No wise man would put his wine in bad bottles. No decent parent would take their kids to immoral play. No wise God would use tools that would compromise His own nature. 

What man in the world, with any right feeling, would not be ashamed of such a state of affairs if it was well known that, if men were only clever, God would use them, whatever their character and conduct might be? But no, brethren. Many today claim that the theatre is a great moral education. That must be an odd school when the teachers never study their own material. Teachers in God’s classroom must be masters of holiness. 

“Physician, heal thyself.” they will remark if we teach one thing and live another.   ‘Repent,’ you say. Where is thine own repentance? Do you serve God as you claim to? Are you His servant? Unholy service is a disgrace to the world and God. “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” He will speak through a fool if he be but a holy man. But let a man become truly holy, even if he has the smallest capacity, he will be a more suitable tool in God’s hand than the man of great accomplishments who is not obeying the divine will, nor clean and pure in the face of the Lord God Almighty.

Please, brethren, prioritize your own personal purity. Live for God. Without it, your Lord will not be with you; He will say of you as He did of the false prophets of old: “I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit these people at all, saith the Lord.” 

You can deliver great sermons, but no souls will be saved until you are holy. The probability is that you will not come to the conclusion that your want of holiness is the reason for your non-success. You will blame the people. You will blame the age in which you live. You will blame anything except yourself. But you are the root of the whole mischief. 

Do I not know men of considerable ability and industry who cannot grow their churches year after year? They are not living before God as they should. 

“Why do ye such things?” Eli asked his wicked sons, “Why do ye such things?” 

Sometimes the preacher is worldly, hungry for wealth, and lazy. God will not bless such a man. 

I never heard a sermon that did me more good and benefited my spirit more than Mr. George Müller’s lecture at Mentone. Its value came from George Müller. In one sense, there was no George Müller in it, because he preached Christ Jesus the Lord rather than himself. He was only there in his personality as a witness to the truth, but he bore that witness in such a way that you couldn’t help but think, “That man not only preaches what he believes but also what he lives.” His wonderful life of faith seemed to ring in every word he spoke. I enjoyed listening to him, but there was no evidence of freshness or originality in his whole talk. The preacher’s power was holiness, and if God wants to reward us, our strength must be in the same direction.

Holiness Through Communion with God

This holiness ought to show itself in communion with God. That’s one thing, but if he can capture anything of the spirit of the master as He looked at him and said the message if he can reproduce the expression on his master’s face and the tone of his master’s voice, that’s quite another. Read McCheyne’s Memoir, all of it. There is nothing new or startling in it, yet you must gain something out of it since it is the narrative of a man who walked with God. Moody’s powerful words would not have come from him if he had not known the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The sermon’s greatest power comes from what came before it. You must prepare for the entire service through private prayer and true purity of character.

#2 Strong Spiritual Life

You will all agree that a guy who is used to win souls must have a strong spiritual life. Our role, under God, is to give others life. Imitate Elisha’s stretch onto the lifeless infant to bring him back to life. In order to convey life, a live instrument is required, as well as a large quantity of it. 

You recall Christ’s words, “He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,” implying that the Holy Spirit, after dwelling within a living child of God, rises like a fountain or river, inviting others to share in the Spirit’s gracious influences. 

I doubt any of you would want to be a dead minister. God cannot perform wonders with lifeless instruments; He needs living men, all alive. Many are alive, but not fully alive. 

I once saw a painting of the resurrection that was one of the oddest I’d ever seen. The artist tried to portray the time when the job was only half done: some were alive up to their waists, one arm, or even part of their heads. Today, that is extremely workable. Some men are just half alive; they have a living jaw but no living heart; others have a living heart but no living brain; others have a living eye but no living heart; they can describe what they see well but their hearts are cold. 

Some pastors are half-angel, half-maggot. It’s a terrible contrast, yet it happens frequently. Do we have any? 

“That is a good man.” you think as you listen to one of them preach. You believe he’s a good man; you hear he’s going to someone’s house for supper, and you think you’ll go along to hear his gracious words, and then you see them—maggots! It was an angel preaching; now the worms! It happens a lot, but it shouldn’t; to be real witnesses for God, we must be all angels and no worms. 

God save us from this semi-death! May we be alive from head to toe! 

I know several such ministers. You can’t meet them without sensing the spiritual vitality in them. Not just when they discuss religion, but even in everyday life, you sense that there is something about the men that tells you they are all alive to God. God will use such guys to quicken others.

#3 Man Of Humble Spirit

Suppose it were possible for you to be exalted into the place of God, do you not think, next, that you would employ a man who thought little of himself, a man of humble spirit? Would you employ a prideful man as a servant? Surely, the almighty God favors the lowly. 

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” He despises the haughty, and whenever He sees the powerful, He passes them by; but whenever He sees the humble in heart, He delights in exalting them. 

He loves ministers who are humble. A proud minister is a terrible sight. There are few things that can give the devil more joy than this whenever he takes his walks abroad. “Here are all the preparations for a great fall before long.” he thinks to himself. “It is I: be not afraid,” they said proudly in the pulpit. Another way they show it is by magnifying the flaws of others and exaggerating their own extraordinary achievements. 

There are two kinds of prideful individuals, and it’s often hard to tell which is worse. 

There is the sort that is full of self-importance and urges others to do the same, to pat it on the back and brush its feathers. “Praise me, please, praise me, I want it,” it struts about, like a youngster who goes to each person in the room and says, “See my new dress; isn’t it a beauty?” I have met many of them.

The other kind of pride is too big for that sort of thing. It does not care for it; it despises people so much that it does not condescend to wish for their praises. It is so supremely satisfied with itself that it does not stoop to consider what others think of it. I have sometimes thought it is the more dangerous kind of pride spiritually, but it is much the more respectable of the two. There is, after all, something very noble in being too proud to be proud. 

Get rid of both forms of pride if you have any. Both are abominations in the Lord’s eyes. Don’t forget that you are His followers who said, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.”

Humility Is Not Low Self-esteem

Humility is not low self-esteem. If a man has a low opinion of himself, he may be correct. I knew some folks who had an extremely poor view of themselves, based on their own words. They had little faith in their own abilities and claimed to lack self-confidence. They called it humility, but I felt “sinful love of ease” was a better word for their behavior. Genuine humility will help you think correctly about yourself.

When it comes to winning souls, humility makes you feel you are nothing and nobody. You feel compelled to give God all the praise since none of it is yours. You will blame your own foolishness and weakness, not God’s sovereignty if you fail. Why should God bless you and then let you take the glory? The honor of saving souls belongs to Him alone. So why attempt to take it? 

You know how many try this.” After the service, fifteen people came into the vestry to praise me for the sermon I delivered. “You and your beautiful speech be hanged,—I could have used a worse term if I had wanted to since you are truly deserving of condemnation anytime you usurp the honor that belongs solely to God. 

You recall the story of the young prince who entered the room where his dying father slept and tried on the king’s crown. “Wait a little while, my son, wait till I am dead.” the king said. Just imagine God saying to you, “Wait till I am dead before you try on My crown.” Since it will never happen, leave the crown alone and let Him wear it. That we give praise to God for His kindness and truth, not to ourselves.

Some men have been driven out of the ministry because they lack humility. The Lord will not use those who do not give Him all the glory. Many have dropped from the list of useful men because they were raised up with pride and, therefore, fell into the devil’s snare. 

Perhaps you feel that, as you are only poor students, there is no fear of your falling into this sin; but it is quite possible that with some of you there is all the more danger, for this very reason, if God should bless you, and put you in a prominent position. A man who is brought up in a good circle of society all his life, does not feel the change so much when he reaches a position which to others would be a great elevation. 

I’ve always felt that some men, whom I’ll name, made a huge mistake. As soon as they were converted, they were removed from their previous affiliations and become public preachers. It was a tragedy that many transformed into mini-kings, paving the road for their demise. 

It would have been beneficial for them if everyone had mistreated them for ten or twenty years since it would have saved them much later pain. 

I’m always thankful for the tough treatment I had from many individuals in my early days. They came after me like a dog pack the instant I accomplished something nice. They were constantly shouting and roaring at me, so I had no time to sit down and brag. If I had been lifted and placed where I am today, I would have fallen just as swiftly. 

You will benefit from being treated like I was when you leave the College. If you have great success, it will turn your head if God does not permit you to be afflicted in some way or other. 

Keep in mind Nebuchadnezzar, who was “driven from men, and ate grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle feathers, and his nails like birds claw.” God may quickly humiliate you if you are ever raised up with conceit. It is self-evident that God will not bless a man much unless he is really humble.

#4 Living Faith

The next essential qualification for success in the work of the Lord, and it is a vital one, is a living faith. The Lord Jesus Christ could not accomplish many tremendous works in His own country because of the people’s unbelief, and God cannot do many powerful works with certain men because of their unbelief. If you don’t believe, you won’t be used by God. 

“According to your faith be it unto you,” is one of the unalterable laws of His kingdom. “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you;” but if the question has to be put, “Where is your faith?” the mountains will not move for you, nor will even a poor sycamore tree be stirred from its place.

Believe Your Call To Ministry

You must have faith, brethren, about your call to the ministry. You must believe without question that you are really chosen of God to be ministers of the gospel of Christ. If you firmly believe that God has called you to preach the gospel, you will preach it with courage and confidence; and you feel you are going to your work because you have a right to do it. If you believe you are nothing more than an intruder, you will do nothing worthwhile. You will be nothing more than a weak, hobbling, diffident, half-apologetic preacher whose message no one will care about. You should not preach until you are certain that God has called you to it. 

A man wrote to inquire if he should preach. When I’m unsure what to say, I attempt to be as wise as possible. “Dear Friend,—If the Lord has opened your mouth, the devil cannot shut it; but if the devil has opened it, may the Lord shut it up!” I wrote to him. When I saw him six months later, he thanked me for my letter, which he claimed inspired him to keep preaching. “How was that?” And he responded, ‘The devil cannot close your mouth if the Lord has opened it.’ “Yes, I did so; but I also put the other side of the question,” I responded. “Oh!” he said, “that part did not relate to me.” 

We can always interpret oracles to fit our own notions. If you truly believe in your call to ministry, you will be ready to proclaim the gospel even when in the leviathan’s jaws, between his enormous fangs.

Believe Message Is God’s Word

You must also believe that the message you have to deliver is God’s Word. I’d rather you accepted half a dozen truths deeply than a hundred weakly. A large purse would be useless in a scuffle when everyone could take as much gold as they could carry from a heap, but the one who could close his hand tightly and not let it go would come out on top. 

We may learn from the classic fable’s youngster. He couldn’t get one out of a narrow-necked jar, but when he let half of them go, the rest came out easily. 

So must we. We cannot hold everything, our hands are too little; but when we do, let us grip it. If you don’t believe what you believe, no one else will. 

If you preach in this manner, “I think this is a truth, and as a young man I beg to ask your kind attention to what I am about to say. I am merely suggesting,” and so on, you will be working on the simplest method to create doubters. 

I would rather hear you say, “Young as I am, what I have to say comes from God, and God’s Word says so-and-so and so-and-so. There it is, and you must believe what God says, or you will be lost.” “That young fellow certainly believes something;” many will comment, and maybe some will be persuaded to believe. 

God uses His ministers’ faith to inspire faith in others. You can bet that a preacher who doubts will not win souls and that preaching your doubts and questions will not win a soul for Christ. If you want to win souls for God, you must have confidence in His Word.

Believe in the Power of Message To Save

You must also believe in the power of that message to save people. 

You may have heard the story of one of our first students, who came to me, and said,

“I have been preaching now for some months, and I do not think I have had a single conversion.” 

“And do you expect the Lord is going to bless you and save souls every time you open your mouth?” I asked him. 

“No, sir,” 

“So,” I continued, “that’s why you don’t save souls.” 

“If you had believed, God would have blessed you.” 

I had caught him well, but many others would have replied the same way. They tremblingly believe that it is possible, by some strange mysterious method, that once in a hundred sermons God might win a quarter of a soul. They have hardly enough faith to keep them standing upright in their boots; how can they expect God to bless them? I like to go to the pulpit feeling, “This is God’s Word that I am going to deliver in His name; it cannot return to Him void; I have asked His blessing upon it, and He is bound to give it, and His purposes will be answered, whether my message is a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death to those who hear it.”

What will happen if no souls are saved? 

Why you’ll hold special prayer meetings to find out why people don’t come to Christ. You’ll hold enquirers’ meetings for the anxious. You’ll greet people with a joyful face, showing them you expect a blessing, but also warning them you’ll be disappointed unless the Lord gives you conversions. But where is it? People pray little about it, there are no meetings to pray to God for a blessing, and the minister never invites people to come and tell him about the work of grace in their lives. He gets his reward; his Master gives him his penny but nothing else. And here we are, with closed lips, waiting for the blessing. Open your mouth, brother, with full anticipation and trust, and it shall be done to you.

Believe in God and In Gospel

That is the essential point, you must believe in God and in His gospel if you are to be a winner of souls; some other things may be omitted, but this matter of faith must never be. True, God does not always measure His mercy by our unbelief, because He must consider other people as well as us; but, if we look at the situation objectively, the most likely instrument to do the Lord’s work is the man who expects God to use him and goes out to work with that conviction. He is not surprised by his achievement since he sought it. He sowed living seed and expected a harvest; he tossed his bread into the waves and intends to wait and watch until it was found.

#5 Earnest and Sincere

Once more, if a man is to succeed in his ministry, and win many souls, he must be characterized by thorough earnestness. Do we not know persons who preach in such a lifeless manner that no one is ever touched by what they say? 

I was present as a good man who prayed to the Lord to bless his next sermon for the conversion of sinners. Without limiting God’s power, I think He could not have blessed the sermon unless He had caused the hearer to misunderstand the minister’s words. It was one of those “bright poker sermons” You know how pokers are stored in drawing rooms to be admired but never used? Wouldn’t you be in trouble if you tried to poke the flames with them? As polished as those pokers, these sermons seem to have some link to the fixed stars, but they have none with anybody in this world. Nobody knows what good such talks could do, but I’m confident they couldn’t kill a bug or a spider, or even bring a dead soul back to life. The more you think about some sermons, the less you think about them; and if a poor sinner goes to hear them hoping to be converted, you can only say that the minister is more likely to hamper his salvation than to guide him in the right direction.

You may be sure that if you truly want to, you will persuade them to see the truth; yet, if you are not sincere, it is unlikely that they will. 

If a man were to knock at my door in the middle of the night, and when I put my head out of the window to see what was the matter, he should say, in a very quiet, unconcerned way, “There is a fire at the back part of your house,” I should have very little thought of any fire, and should feel inclined to empty a jug of water over him. 

If I am walking along, and a man comes up to me, and says, in a cheerful tone of voice, “Good afternoon, sir, do you know I am starving? I haven’t eaten in days;” “My good fellow, you seem to take it very easy; I do not believe you want for much, or you would not be so unconcerned about it.” 

“My dear friends, this is Sunday, so here I am; I have been spending my time in my study all the week, and now I hope you will listen to what I have to say to you. I do not know that there is anything in it that particularly concerns you, it might have some connection with the man in the moon; but I understand that some of you are in danger of going to a certain place which I do not wish to mention, only I hear that it is not a nice place for even a temporary residence. I have especially to preach to you that Jesus Christ did something or other, which, in some way or other, has something to do with salvation, and if you mind what you do”—and so on—”it is possible that you will”—and so on, and so on. That is, in a nutshell, the full report of many a discourse. There is nothing in that kind of talk that can do anybody any good; and after the man has kept on in that style for three-quarters of an hour, he closes by saying, “Now it is time to go home,” and he hopes that the deacons will give him a couple of guineas for his services. Now, brethren, that sort of thing will not do. We did not come into the world to waste our own time, and other people’s, in that fashion.

I hope we weren’t created to be chips in the porridge-like the man I described. Imagine God sending a man into the world to win souls; that is his mind and spirit. The effort almost wears out some ministers. They provide pastoral visits, which comprise drinking tea and gossiping; but there is no vehement agony for souls, no “Woe! woe!” on their hearts and lips, no perfect consecration. So, if the Lord sweeps them away, if He kills them like earth-cloggers, it will not be surprising. Jesus grieved over Jerusalem, and you must cry over sinners if you want to redeem them. Be sincere, put your whole soul into the work, or give up.

#6 Simplicity Of Heart

Another qualification that is essential to soul-winning is the great simplicity of heart. 

I’m not sure I can fully describe what I mean, but I’ll attempt to contrast it with something else. 

You know some men who are too wise to be just simple believers; they know such a lot that they do not believe anything that is plain and simple. Their spirits are so delicately nourished that they can only live on Chinese birds’ nests and other delicacies. No fresh milk from a cow has ever been good enough for them. They are too fine to drink it. Their possessions must be unique. God no longer blesses these divine aristocracy. 

No, no; you’re ready to remark, “They may do well enough as Lord So-and-so’s servants, but they are not the men to do God’s work. He is not likely to employ such grand gentlemen as they are.” 

They never explain the actual meaning of a book; instead, they run about looking for something that the Holy Ghost never intended to express via it, and when they get their hands on one of their darling “new thoughts “—oh, dear! What a fuss they make over it! 

This is a man who has discovered a rotten herring! What a treat! It stinks! Now we’ll hear about this stale herring for six months until someone else finds one. What a commotion! “Glory! Glory! Here’s a new idea!” When a new book on it is out, these great guys start sniffing around it to show how profound thinkers and beautiful men they are. That wisdom is not blessed by God.

What is Simplicity of Heart

By the simplicity of heart, I mean that a man enters the ministry only for God’s glory and to win souls. 

Some folks would desire to gain souls and honor God if they could do it while protecting their personal interests. 

They would be happy to spread the kingdom of Christ if the kingdom of Christ would fully use their wonderful talents. 

You must be somebody, recognized, talked about, and heard remark, “What a splendid man that is!” 

They would go in for soul-winning if it would cause people to dismount their carriage and pull them triumphantly down the street. 

They give God the praise after they’ve drained the juice out of the orange, but they have to eat the orange first. 

That kind of spirit exists even among preachers, and God cannot bear it. 

He isn’t interested in a man’s ashes; he wants all the glory or none. 

The Lord Jehovah will not use a man who tries to serve himself, rather than God alone. 

To be used by God, a man needs to just believe that what he is doing is for God’s glory. 

When outsiders go to hear some preachers, all that they remember is that they were capital actors; but here is a very different kind of man. After they have heard him preach, they do not think about how he looked, or how he spoke, but about the solemn truths, he uttered.

Another man keeps rolling out what he has to tell in such a fashion that those who listen to him say to one another, “Do you not see that he lives by his preaching? He preaches for his living.” I would rather hear it said, “That man said something in his sermon that made many of the people think less of him, he uttered most distasteful sentiments, he did nothing but drive at us with the Word of the Lord all the while that he was preaching, his one aim was to bring us to repentance and faith in Christ.” That is the kind of man whom the Lord delights to bless.

I like to see men, like some before me here, to whom I have said, “Here you are, earning a good salary, and likely to rise to a position of influence in the world; if you give up your business, and come into the College, you will very likely be a poor Baptist minister all your life;” and they have looked up, and said, “I had sooner starved and win souls than spend my life in any other calling.” Most of you are that kind of man, I believe you all are. 

There must never be a conflict between God’s glory and the fat sheep. It must always be a conflict between God’s glory and your own honor and regard among mankind. The preaching must be solely for God’s glory, nothing less or more, not even for Jemima’s sake. Like a limpet to a rock, she is to the minister, but he cannot even think of satisfying her. He must endeavor to satisfy God, regardless of whether men or women are pleased.

#7 Total Submission

Finally, total submission to God means deciding to think of God’s ideas, not your own, and to teach God’s Word, not your own. 

If you read your sermons, which is unlikely, you want to write just what the Lord wants. 

When you receive a fine big word, you think about whether it will be a spiritual gift to your people, and if not, you leave it out. 

Then there’s that great poem you couldn’t comprehend, but you had to reject it when you questioned whether it would be educational to your people’s ranks. 

But if you want to leave yourself completely in God’s hands, you may be inspired to make some very simple statement, some trite remark, something with which everyone in the audience is familiar. 

Incorporate that into the sermon, even if you have to leave out the big words, poetry, and jewels, for the Lord may bless that simple statement of the gospel to some poor sinner seeking the Saviour.

If you surrender yourself unreservedly to God’s mind and will, you will occasionally be compelled to use a strange expression or to offer an odd prayer, which may appear queer even to yourself at the time; but it will all be explained to you later when someone comes to tell you that he never understood the truth until you put it that day. 

To feel this influence, you must be thoroughly prepared by study and prayer for your work in the pulpit, and I urge you to do so, even to write out what you intend to say, but not to deliver it memoriter, like a poll parrot repeating what it has been taught, for you will not be leaving yourself to the influence of God.

I have no doubt you will sometimes feel that there is a passage that you must put in, a fine piece by one of the British poets, or a choice extract from some classic author. I do not suppose you would like it to be known, but you did read it to a College friend. Of course, you did not ask him to praise it, because you felt sure that he could not help doing so. There was one particular piece in it that you have very seldom heard equaled; you are sure that Mr. Punshon or Dr. Parker could not have done better than that. You are quite certain that, when the people hear that sermon, they will be obliged to feel that there is something in it. 

It may be, however, that the Lord will consider that it is too good to be blessed, there is too much in it; it is like the host of men that were with Gideon, they were too many for the Lord, He could not give the Midianites into their hands, lest they should vaunt themselves against Him, saying, “Our own might hath gotten us the victory.” When twenty-two thousand of them had been sent away, the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are yet too many,” and all of them had to be sent home except the three hundred men that lapped, and then the Lord said to Gideon, “Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.” 

To quote the Lord, “I cannot do any good with them, they are too big.” Let seven of the fourteen subdivisions go, and maybe the Lord will bless it. Someday it may happen, just when you are in the middle of your discourse, that thought will come across your mind, and you will say to yourself; “Now, if I utter this, that old deacon will make it hot for me; and there is a gentleman just come in who keeps a school, he is a critic, and will be sure not to be pleased if I say this; and besides, there is here a remnant according to the election of grace, and the ‘hyper’ up in the gallery will give me one of those heavenly looks that are so full of meaning.” 

Now, brother, feel free to express whatever God allows you to say, regardless of the consequences or what the “hypers” or “lowpers” (the exact opposite of “hyper”)believe or do.

A great artist’s brush must be willing to let him accomplish whatever he wants with it. A harpist loves to play on one specific harp because he knows it and it knows him. So, when God touches the very strings of your existence, and every force inside you seems to respond to His touch, you are an instrument. 

It is difficult to maintain that state, to be in such a sensitive state that you get the impression that the Holy Spirit wishes to transmit and are immediately impacted by Him. 

A huge ship at sea is not affected by a little ripple in the waves. A moderate wave approaches, but the vessel is unaffected; the Great Eastern remains still in the depths. The corks detect the motion of a fly in the water and dance on the small wave. May God grant you the same mobility as a cork on the sea’s surface! 

I’m convinced self-surrender is a requirement for a preacher to gain souls. There is something that must be spoken if you are to save that man in the corner. Woe unto you if you are not ready, afraid, ashamed, or do not dare to speak it lest someone in the gallery say you were too sincere, enthusiastic, or zealous!

These seven things, I think, are the qualifications, Godward, which would strike the mind of any of you if you tried to put yourself into the position of the Most High, and considered what you would wish to have in those whom you employed in the winning of souls. May God give all of us these qualifications, for Christ’s sake! Amen.

This article is an edited version of the article “Qualifications for Soul-Winning — Godward” from Charles Spurgeon’s book “The Soul Winner”. Check out our related posts for more information on this topic, or get a copy of the book from Amazon.