Oh ye of little faith!
Where to begin? First of all to the church, what has happened to our faith?
The endless news cycle, would have us once again believe it’s the end of the world. The crisis of the hour never gets wasted, or not taken advantage of.
Is the the corona virus real? Yes. Is the regular flu real? Yes.
Is the God of this universe, the First and the Last, who has promised the take care of anyone who says I believe real? Yes! A thousand times yes!
Can governments protect you and keep you from getting sick? While they may try, the answer is a thousand times no! TBS(the Bible says) with man nothing is possible, but with God nothing is impossible!
Everything is possible when you put your faith and trust in God! The Bible promises abundant life for all who will believe! The coronavirus or any other virus, or illness is not part of the abundant life for anyone!
The Bible says every good and perfect gift is from the father above, who never changes, which there is no variation of either! The Bible also says the accuser, comes continually to seek, kill and destroy!
The way you partake and receive from God, is by faith in His Son Jesus, who he sent to deliver His amazing gift of grace! The way you partake and receive what the accuser introduces to the world is by fear!
Fear is the only way the accuser gets a foothold, fear is the only way the accuser obtains his desired outcome! Fear is the opposite of faith, fear is the opposite of hope, fear’s intended outcome is death!
God sent his most prized possession, His One and only Son Jesus to this earth, to deliver the message of Grace!
Jesus came so we could experience the abundant life of relationship with God! Jesus came, lived, delivered, was scorned beaten crucified and executed, raised from the grave, so we could experience Gods Grace and Salvation!
In Exodus 12, pestilence was used to overcome the Egyptians and to free the Israelites from slavery. And the way that they were spared from the pestilence, was by applying the blood of a sacrificial lamb over their doorposts. And by doing so, the angel of death did not visit their household.
The sacrificed blood of the animal represented a form of Jesus, who has become our sacrificial lamb of protection for everything not of God!
What the world is witnessing is not of God! It is not the wrath of God either! It is the accuser and the power of darkness in full force of seeking, killing and destroying whom ever they can!
Matthew 24:6,7 KJ
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
We have seen all these things taking place in the last few weeks! We have witnessed it in our grocery stores, in our marketplace, in our financial institutions and every other aspect of life!
Today March 15, 2020 has been called to be a national day of prayer! While some in the media would say, prayer isn’t that a little bit too little too late? Only if, we continue to depend on self effort and we wait and fail to pray! A nation and a world at prayer and seeking Gods help is exactly what is needed!
We must not pay attention to what we hear, we must stand on the Word of God and what we know to be true and the faith our hearts of faith have been established by!
2 Chronicles 7:14 New International Version (NIV)
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Romans 10:11-13 TLB
11 For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed. 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect: they all have the same Lord who generously gives his riches to all those who ask him for them. 13 Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:10,12 NIV
Our salvation, is the gift by the grace of God that unlocks all of the blessings and promises God has ever given to us, that will propel us, supply our provision, keep us safe from all harm, defend us from attack and even rescue us from every situation we will ever face!!
This dilemma that we face as a nation and in the world, God has known about him from the beginning. And an all knowing God who loves us with an eternal love, has provided everyone with a measure of faith for our escape from this dilemma and every circumstance that will ever raise its ugly head and dare confront us!
This testing of our faith, has been provided for and that provision is Jesus our Saviour, our redeemer, our defender, our friend and our deliverer!
2 Corinthians 9:8-15 MSG
8 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. 9 As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. 10 This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, 11 wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God. 12 Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. 13 This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. 14 Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. 15 Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!
God has provided and God has given us the most wonderful and abundant life to live! Ours is to realize, have the faith and to make the choice to live the life that we have been given, by a loving God!
Lyrics from the song, “the goodness of God”
I love You, Lord
For Your mercy never failed me
All my days, I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
And all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
Now is the time to pray, to thank God and remember the past victories of deliverance and what he’s already done for us! To remember the test of faith, our measure of faith has already helped us overcome!
But more importantly to pray, praise and thank God for the Victory and continued Victorious and abundant life that awaits us each and every day of our existence, through our continued faith commitment to live for Him!
A defeated church is not part of the plans God has for our lives. Jesus is one day going to return for a glorious church, and in that church will be a church full of successful, healthy and faithful men women boys and girls of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities from all around the world!
Today is the day and now is the time to be counted, to stand up and say I choose to be included in that number!
I'm so glad I'm a part
Of the family of God-
I've been washed in the fountain,
Cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus
As we travel this sod,
For I'm part of the family,
The family of God. Lyrics from “the family of God” song
Amen? Amen!
