Dear friends, greetings in the blessed Name of our Lord Jesus. I hope that the Lord is prospering you spiritually and materially. Last night I was watching the movie “Windtalkers” and it got me thinking. The invasion of Japanese mainland was in full swing and American troops began experimenting with a new encoding system. Native American soldiers began transmitting messages in their native Navajo language (code named “windtalkers”). The Japanese, who had broken all other codes, simply couldn’t decipher these communications. The Navajo coded messages won the battle of Saipan, and eventually, Tokyo. Do we face a similar situation in our battle for souls of men and women? Do people feel that the gospel is coded and incomprehensible?
I’d like to refer to Luke 8:10. The Lord Jesus had just concluded the parable of the sower and His disciples were curious as to why He always spoke in parables. The Lord then explained that the secrets of the Kingdom of God were given to the chosen disciples but the world could only receive it encrypted. That should help us to understand why some people never seem to comprehend the gospel. The Apostle Paul even suggested that Satan had blinded their minds (or their spiritual vision) and that’s the reason why they can’t accept the good news (2 Cor 4:4). Paul also suggested that God sends a powerful delusion so that those that follow the lawless Man (apparently Satan) would be deceived and damned. Since God does no evil (James 1:13), I’d like to think that the Apostle meant that people yielded to Satan. It’s not as if God is sending the delusion because Satan is already in this world. So if the gospel is veiled and encrypted to the masses, how do we decode it to save souls?
The way I see it, the most powerful weapon that we as saints have to advance God’s kingdom is not more preaching, but prayer. In Ephesians 1:18 the Apostle Paul prayed that “the eyes of your heart may be opened…” meaning that God would grant them spiritual understanding. The gospel can only be understood by those to whom God had revealed Himself. That spiritual transformation will happen in God’s good time and in God’s way. The Apostle Peter had been intimate with the Lord Jesus for about three years before he understood who the Lord was “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16)”. Till then Peter thought that Jesus was a good rabbi. It was only after receiving a revelation from the Holy Spirit did he understand the gospel. The Jews who were vociferous in demanding the crucifixion of Christ, were speechless when the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin while the Apostle Peter was preaching (Acts 2:37). Salvation is God’s idea, and hence its execution will also be according to His will. We only plant and water the spiritual seed saints, it is God who grows it (1 Cor 3:6-7). We get frustrated when we don’t see immediate results. But sometimes it could be years before that soul encounters God (it took the Apostle Peter 3 years to realize who Jesus was). There will always be hard heads like the Apostle Thomas (John 20:24-25), or even Saul (Acts 9:1-6). By granting His salvation to such stubborn hearts, God was expressing His infinite love and patience to mankind.
So, the next time you witness or preach the gospel saints, remember that the gospel is encrypted and incomprehensible to people of this world. Don’t let that discourage you, because God will accomplish His will in His own good time. We may be surprised to find people in heaven that we’d long given up on. Let’s wage this war for souls of men and women in the Holy Spirit without being discouraged.
Dear friends, I’m quite certain that all of you are sanctified, Holy Ghost baptized saints. Should there be any among you that don’t know the Lord yet, I pray that the Lord of the Universe will set you free from sin and disobedience into His glorious light and freedom. Amen.
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