Telling People about the Gospel is like Giving Food to those who are Hungry

A quick survey of the recorded testimonies of both the Old and New Testaments will reveal one paramount truth in God’s dealing with humanity.  He values loyalty.  And more than it just being something that He is delighted to see in a person when He finds it but it is actually something that He actively seeks as He searches the heart of each person.  2 Chronicles 16:9 reads,

"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." 

And thus it is unquestionable that loyalty is a non-negotiable trait that must be displayed by anybody who would want to be used by God.

In our generation today, the true servants of God are those who are loyal to His Word and His Spirit.  And such individuals are worthy of great commendation and will receive such on the Judgment Seat of Christ.

The Spirit of Rejection

All of that withstanding there is an issue that I see in the Body of Christ that needs revealing.  The issue is the Spirit of Rejection.  What I’ve noticed is that generally the most loyal of people to God’s Word (myself included) have for whatever reason formed a perspective that causes us to believe that the world will reject our God, His Gospel and consequently us when we are truly being ourselves in their presence.

We live with almost an expectation of persecution, where we say what He commands us to say, hold to the standards of His Word, faithfully preach the Gospel and then we expect it to be received with anger and rejection.  From my own personal introspection, this belief has grown in me both by the mixture of studying Jesus’ Words about prophets being persecuted and by watching the news and seeing the isolated cases of people being persecuted for various stands they have taken involving God.

I gravitate towards the idea that things will only get worse in this country for those who speak God’s Truth and live with a perspective of a world that doesn’t want to hear what God would have me say.  I see everything discouraging as only a small seed that will eventually grow into something that will make life nearly unlivable for all who are loyal to God.

Put simply I find myself subconsciously believing that all my efforts to preach the Gospel will ultimately fail.

Believing God’s Promises

While it is certainly true that a real prophet will be persecuted and a false prophet is a person that no one ever says anything bad about, and it is also true that antichrist is coming and that for a brief period of time he will seduce the world into a more aggressive stance against the Gospel and its heralds, but at best that is only one half of a 2-sided coin.

In John 4 Jesus states that God is like water for the human soul – in that every person was created with a desire to know and experience God – a desire that can’t be unlearned or abandoned.  It is an intrinsic part of every person walking the earth right now.  They may not know how to explain it and they may even have walls in their minds against Christ – but deep down people are hungry for God.

More than that we have Jesus saying in Matthew 16:18 that He will build His Church and the gates of hell will not stand against it.  Meaning that no matter how strong the devil’s boundaries may seem, we will get through that Gate and touch that place in people’s hearts that longs for an encounter with God.

We need to really watch what we say both publically and how we speak to ourselves.  We can’t allow ourselves to be deceived into a faithless view of God’s power touching a hungry world.  Yes, persecution is real and yes, wicked men resist the light – but it is also equally true that Jesus is the Bread of Life that every person aches for.

So let’s repent of our one-sided unbelief and begin to pick up a faith-filled approach to both God’s design and the power of His Spirit. The devil’s walls are not more powerful than the Spirit’s ability to break them down.  And even more so, I’m not talking to a group of people who have no desire to hear about God – I’m talking to people who are hungry for bread though they’ve been told their whole life that they shouldn’t eat it.  If evangelism is a war between God and the devil – we have both the high ground and the better weapons.  Let us walk by faith in the Power of God to overcome the strongholds of the evil one!