29TH OCTOBER
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
“By the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Satan, ‘the god of this world’, is actively at work to keep people from understanding and accepting the good news about Jesus!
Sometimes you share the gospel very openly and clearly with someone, or you take them to an event where the gospel is powerfully and clearly declared. You speak to them later, hoping they are ready to turn to Christ but you find that they still don’t really understand and you wonder how they could have missed it.
The influence on that person’s heart and mind is not one-sided. Yes, God is reaching out to them as he works through you. But at the same time, Satan is working hard to keep them from understanding the truth.
What can you do about this? You can pray about God’s work in your friend’s’ life through you. The same God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness” will shine piercing the darkness Satan is trying to create.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Do you have any experiences where you took someone to church and they didn’t seem to be impacted by the message of the Gospel? Are you allowing these experiences to keep you from inviting people to church?