Derek Prince - You'll Be Repaid In Heaven If You Do This
This is an excerpt from: Orphans, Widows, The Poor And Oppressed
Now we turn onto Luke chapter 14 verses 12 through 14. This is after Jesus has been invited to a meal in a Pharisee's house, but he takes it more generally, he applies it. Luke 14 verses 12 and following: Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind". Do you do that? Do I do that? Does Jesus mean what He says? And then He says: And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Whatever we do that we're paid for now, will get no payment at the resurrection of the just.
Whatever we do now that isn't paid for, will be paid for in eternal currency at the resurrection of the just. And as I came prepared for this meeting I wanted to make a little suggestion to some of you. Consider, keep a little diary for a week and write in it how many hours you spend doing work that you'll be paid for in the resurrection of the just. See what I mean? Most of the things you do you get paid for now. So you won't be paid for those at the resurrection of the just, but whatever you do that's good, that is not paid for now, you will be paid for, praise God, in eternal currency at the resurrection of the just.
I remember when I was in the Sudan as a soldier, in the northern Sudan which is totally Muslim. The British who administered the nation at that time did not allow missionaries into the Sudan because they didn't want trouble with the Muslims. But I wasn't a missionary. I was a soldier so I was posted to a place in the Sudan called Jubayt on the Red Sea hills... A little hospital run for Italian prisoners of war. And I was put in charge of the native labor in the hospital, the Sudani labor. So there was what the Arabs called a rais, a man in charge of the labor, and he reported to me every morning. So we established a relationship of a kind, but we had no real spiritual contact. Then one day I discovered he believed in Satan... Shaitan as they say in Arabic. "Well," I said, "I believe in Satan too".
So, strangely enough, that was our meeting point. We both believed in Satan. We established a point of contact. Then one day he was late coming to the office. When he came in he had his foot bandaged and he was limping and he said, "I've got a sore on my foot. I had to go to the clinic and have it dealt with". So I don't think I'd ever seen anybody pray for the sick at that time, but I knew it was in the New Testament. So rather timidly I said, "Would you like me to pray for you"? "Oh, yes," he said. So I treated him rather like a bomb that could explode. I didn't get too much involved with him. I kept him at a distance, but I laid hands on him and prayed for him. About a week later he came along again and said, "Would you like to see my foot"? I said, "Yes". He said, "It's healed".
I was almost surprised to say the truth. Well, then we became friends, so I used to take the King James Version of the New Testament and read it to him, translating it into soldier's English because he understood English. He didn't read or write it, but he had a good knowledge of the kind of English the soldiers use which is not the English of the King James. So I would translate from King James to soldiers' English, we read. We became quite good friends. Well, then he wanted to teach me to ride a camel. So I said, "Okay". Well, he taught me, and I will tell you one thing about a camel. I don't know if you've ever ridden one, but when one part of a camel is going up, another part is going down. There's no time when a camel is totally level. Anyhow I survived this test.
So I was in charge of the rations. I could do what I wanted with them, so I said, "Why don't we take a picnic out into the desert and ride our camels". So we rode out on our camels, came to a kind of little hill with a brackish stream trickling down it, and took out our food, but we had nothing to drink. So he looked at me and he said, "Well, we Sudanis drink this water, but you white people don't". "Well," I said, "if there's nothing else I'm prepared to drink it". He said, "Why are you different from other white people"? "Well," I said, "Jesus said if I drink anything deadly in His name it won't harm me". So I drank the water and it impressed him. Well, it so happened our reading that day was from John chapter 3 about being born again. I was translating this into soldier's English and he got more and more interested.
So as we were riding back on our camels I said to him, "Would you like to be born again"? He said, "Yes, I would". I want to tell you I had no experience in counseling and all that, so I said, "All right. This evening you go to your hut, I'll go to my billet and when the sun sets you'll pray and ask to be born again and I'll pray for you". So he said, "Okay". Off he went. I met him next morning and said, "Did you pray"? He said, "Yes". I said, "Did anything happen"? He said, "No". I was about to feel disappointed when the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear, "He's a Muslim". I knew very little about Muslims at that time. "Well," I said, "Did you pray in the name of Jesus"? He said, "No". "Well," I said, "If you want to be born again you have to pray in the name of Jesus. Are you willing to do that"? He said, "Yes".
So I said, "This evening when the sun sets you go to your hut, I'll go to my billet". I met him next morning, I looked at him and I said, "You've got it"! His whole face had changed and it impressed every person in that hospital. They all said to me, "What's happened to your friend Ali"? I said, "He got saved". "What's that"? I said, "Let me tell you". The commanding officer of the hospital sent for me and said, "What's happened to your friend Ali"? I said, "He got saved". He said, "What's that"? I said, "Let me tell you". I mean that was a dramatic transformation. I wonder why I started telling you that. There must have been a reason. I know why.
Now we'll turn back to Luke, chapter 14: When you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. I believe, myself, that if I make it through to the end I'll be repaid in eternal currency for what I did for that Arab raiese. So I want to challenge you. Take a diary, keep a record for seven days of all the things you do for which you will not be repaid now, but you will be repaid in heaven eternally.