Like many times in the past, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ must rise to the occasion of spiritual leadership in such trying times. We need great guidance now, especially during the age of access to real time global news, and in determining whether the news is agenda driven and whether it is true or false. With the current global pandemic, we must determine our response as we apply our faith in God, and as we hear His direction to us as believers. This is no doubt an event that happens very seldom, like World War I and World War II. Just a walk through the newly opened shopping malls seems like somewhat of a post-apocalyptic movie, with so many stores still closed, but take heart, what the devil means for destruction, God will turn it around for good.
First, we always go to the Lord Jesus Christ for all of the answers of what our response should be. Remember the fundamentals or our faith from the words Jesus spoke while in His earthly ministry. From Mark 5:36 Jesus said, “Fear not, only believe.” I think most Spirit-filled and Spirit-led Christians would agree that our primary assignment in life is to believe God’s word, especially those spoken through Jesus. Why? Because if we can believe, all things are possible to those who believe, especially those promises of protection and deliverance as in Psalm 91 and Isiah 53:4,5.
Next, Jesus tells us to take authority over the negative circumstances, the mountains in our lives, and cast them into the sea. Mark 11:23, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things the he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” So we speak to the threat of sickness or disease, or the actual sickness or disease, and command it to be cast from our physical temple, then it must obey our command.
Then Jesus taught us to pray the “Prayer of Faith,” to receive the replacement for whatever we needed to get rid of through using our authority. What a great time to pray for all of the promises of God that He has given in His Word. When it comes to protection from sickness, Psalm 91 is a great place to start. For recovery of sickness, Isiah 53:4,5; Mt. 8:17 and 1st Peter 2:24 are a great place to start.
Then, in order to guarantee that your prayer of faith works, make sure that you are walking in forgiveness with everyone. Mark 11:25, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” You see, the whole Kingdom of God that He created for his human family is based on forgiveness. If God had not been able to redeem mankind through the work of His only begotten Son, Jesus, and through His death on the cross and the shedding of His own blood, then there would be no human family of God. Since we came into Gods family through His forgiveness, He expects us to follow Him in forgiving others.
This one issue causes many Christians to struggle in getting their prayers answered. I like sharing that God doesn’t expect us to forgive and forget; only God has the faculty to forget. We, however, can forgive and remember, without it tapping our nerves and making us rehearse the offense in our minds repeatedly. Remember this saying, un-forgiveness is like taking poison and waiting for your enemy to die. Un-forgiveness only hurts me, not the one that has done me wrong.
Remember this, forgiveness does not always include reconciliation. Some people have proven that they are not to be trusted by us any longer. We are not required to be in fellowship or contact with everyone that we need to forgive. When we examine all of benefits of forgiveness, and all of the curses of un-forgiveness, we can make the decision to forgive, once and for all.
So, because of the great grace that God has given us, we can use our faith, coupled with common sense, and proceed on to victory in every area of life. So how do we proceed in the face of the circumstances of the corona virus issue surrounding us. First we must recognize that Satan delights in instilling fear in the hearts of the unbeliever and the Christian that is unaware of faith and how it works. That is why we are watching people throughout the whole planet meltdown with fear and panic. I have been referring to this global pandemic as a global “panic-demic”. Its like a global panic attack.
What wonderful opportunity for Christians to come to a very fear-filled world with the message that our God takes away our fear when we receive Jesus as our Lord. He then replaces fear with faith and faiths’ great attributes of power, love and a sound mind. 2nd Tim. 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Meditate on the promises of God’s word to the Believer; spend time in prayer where you cast all your care on Him, for He cares for you, and rest in His peace that passes all understanding. We will all get through this, but let’s be those who get through unscathed by the devil and giving glory to our delivering God. Let’s be those who follow God into Revival that follows the opposition of God’s enemy against human-kind.
Dr. Doug Wingate,
President and Founder of Life Christian University