God Will Bless the Church That Evangelizes
When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drink, and carried there silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried there also, and went and hid it. — 2 Kings 7:8
For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who has not, even that which he has will be taken away. — Matthew 25:29
Author
Dr. Roberto Miranda
Summary: God wants to give his Church a time of refreshment and spiritual and material provision, but we must not hoard his blessings while others are in need. Like the men who, after eating their fill, decided to bring the good news to Samaria, we are called to proclaim that in Christ there is hope, salvation, and reconciliation with God. Even when conditions do not seem favorable, we must cast our nets and preach the Gospel boldly, expecting a great harvest of souls. The Church that takes part in God’s purposes will be blessed; if we remain silent and keep the Word to ourselves, we will face the consequences of our disobedience.
Here we see a tremendous harvest that these men—who are moving in the revelation of God—enjoy. When we move in the power of God and are doing the Lord’s will, there is great blessing, there is a great harvest for us.
God wants a time of refreshing for the Church of Jesus Christ; a time of abundance, a time of spiritual provision, even a time of prosperity, and that is what is coming in this season for the children of God. These are times of great, great enjoyment of divine provision, both materially and spiritually.
And these men have their moment. Notice that their lives were radically changed. God allowed these men to keep these things, and their lives were changed. I imagine they were able to live comfortably despite their leprosy; indeed, they were able to live richly for the rest of their lives because they were the first to reap those firstfruits of God’s blessing.
But then something interesting happens: after they eat and have their fill, they store up His blessings. In verse 9 it says: “Then they said to one another: We are not doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning, our wrongdoing will catch up with us. So let us go now, enter, and bring the news”—the tidings—“to the king’s house.”
Suddenly these men seem to come to their senses. They say: Wait a minute. We’re here eating, drinking, enjoying these riches, while over there our people in Samaria are starving in extreme poverty. We are not doing right. We have to share the news of what has happened here and share with them this abundance that has appeared unexpectedly.
And I believe we also see here a picture of something very important: we are called in this season to announce that in Christ Jesus there is hope, that in Christ Jesus there is power to meet the needs of individuals and also the needs of cities and nations. This is not the time to keep silent about the truths of the Gospel. It is the time to be bold and proclaim from the rooftops that God loves humanity, that He has great purposes for the nations in this season, that He wants to be reconciled with humanity, and that He does not want to destroy but wants to bless and give life.
This is the message we must be announcing in this season. God will bless the Church when the Church begins to do the work of evangelism and realizes that our greatest calling is to announce the good news of the Gospel. This is the time to declare God’s good news and believe that, in doing so, we will have a great harvest of souls.
We must do as Peter did when the Lord told him: Cast the nets to catch fish, and Peter said to Him: The conditions do not seem the best for fishing, but at Your word I will cast the net. And when he had done so, he caught a great multitude of fish. If we go out and preach the Gospel in this season of God’s powerful movement, if we do not keep silent as the lepers initially did but instead share the good news that God wants to bless humanity when people repent and seek Him, God will bless us too.
If we do not, we will pay a very heavy price. Let us also remember the story of Esther’s uncle Mordecai, when he said to Esther: If you keep silent, do not think you will escape the consequences of what is coming upon your Jewish brothers and sisters. But if you speak, who knows whether God has raised you up for such a time as this? As in the case of Queen Esther, we are living in a time when God is moving powerfully among the nations.
The devil wants to kill, steal, and destroy, but the Church of Christ has been placed here at this moment to announce salvation, to move with power, authority, and courage, and to carry out God’s purposes in history. If we do this, God will bless us; if we do not, judgment will come upon the Church as well.
As I say, in these times of God’s great movement there are two positions: whoever is with God will be blessed; from whoever does not move with God and resists God’s declarations and purposes, God will turn away, and judgment will come upon that person’s life. Let us not be found like the lepers were at first, storing up the Word for ourselves and keeping it in our churches for our own purposes. Instead, let us go out and announce to humanity that God has a call of blessing and healing for them too. If we do, God’s blessing will be upon us. God bless you.