Y Safle

“Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.

“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

“And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten….”

Joel 2:22-25

An often quoted verse from scripture tells us that the fields are white unto harvest, but the labourers are few. This verse is used by people often to get them to go out onto the streets of their town and witness to the people that are there. It is also used to encourage people into missionary work.

However, I have spent some time witnessing in the town of Aberystwyth and I have an observation to make, which is this: The fields are no longer white unto harvest!

I am not saying the scripture verse is wrong, but rather that it is being quoted out of context. When Jesus told his disciples the fields were white unto harvest it was surely in anticipation of pentecost, when God’s Spirit would be poured out on the church and the church would merely require gatherers to bring in the bountiful harvest (three thousand people in one place in one day!)

But just as there are seasons on the earth, so it seems there are seasons in the church. When the church has been dry and barren how can we expect rich harvests? For years now the church has been in such a state that it has been hard to understand how it has seen the measure of growth it has seen, and we can only put such growth down to the grace of God. Nevertheless, the time must surely come when the church will have repented of its own driness, and its own barrennes, and then God will send the rain.

That is what Joel promised.

We see that God will indeed send the rain upon his land when it is ready to receive it. He will send the rain and the crops will grow and the barns will be filled with plenty and the vats will be bursting with wine.

Let us pray that God will move swiftly to send the rain upon our churches. Let us pray that the withered dry formalism and the limp and weedy shallowness that is the hallmark of modern day Christianity will be replaced by the firm and sure shoots of a church nurtured on the living water sent by God.

We wonder why people do not come to our churches. We try having Christian concerts, Christian choirs, Drama, Humour and all kinds of entertainment, but in the end people still do not come because they know better then we do that church is not about entertainment.

Entertainment will save no-one. Enough with this Spiritual child- minding. It is time people preached once again the true Gospel, born in eternity past at that great council of God, completed by the work of Christ on the cross and consummated in Holy Ghost Power on Pentecost.

This great gospel needs no apology. When The Power of God is present in our churches then people will come. People will flock to the churches, not because there is entertainment there but because God is there.

Let us pray that God will send the rain.