The Coronavirus Post I Didn't Really Want to Write - A Word for the Church
I didn’t want to write this post or even plan to do so.
I have heard MORE than enough of the word “coronavirus,” between the television, radio and literally every single email in my inbox. And I honestly didn’t want to partake in the hysteria around it.
But, after having a conversation with my friend about it the other day, I knew I needed to transcribe everything I have felt the Holy Spirit saying to me prophetically about it. And as I continue to see emails coming through from churches and ministries that are stopping their gatherings and cancelling their activities, I feel the urgency even more.
Because whether I like it or not, it is happening. And I am feeling the heaviness from it. And I don’t just mean about people getting sick. I feel grieved at people’s reactions to the virus. The panic and fear, the hoarding of supplies… sigh, I don’t even like to type it.
But, what I feel the heaviest about actually is how many in the Church are reacting to it. That’s where I’ve felt most grieved in my Spirit. And that’s what the conversation with my friend yesterday was all about.
What are we supposed to do? As Jesus followers?
Well, it’s interesting… because it actually comes down to pretty much the same thing I wrote about in my last post - BELIEVING God.
Believing what His Word says. Not just as some nice, feel-good encouraging words. But as a definitive truth and mighty weapon. A Divine promise from the Heavenly Father to His children.
So, that when we read something like this in Psalm 91, we believe it.
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
This is a declaration of a truth that we can stand on when we are in Christ. We can boldly declare that the Lord will protect us from deadly diseases and that evils will not touch us, no matter what is going on around us.
So, why are so many “believers” so hesitant to believe that? I mean really believe that?
God didn’t give us the Bible has a motivational book, He gave it to us as a promise and a weapon. It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12 ESV).
It is active. It is sharp. It is piercing. It is supposed to fight for us.
After all, “…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV). And “…the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4 ESV).
But unfortunately, I’m not sure if many Christians today take these words seriously. Or if they do, they don’t recognize it when it’s actually happening in the natural.
The Bible straight-up tells us that we are NOT fighting against flesh and blood, but the evil spiritual forces that are behind what we see. And that we are likewise to fight not with physical might, but with the spiritual weapons we have been given - prayer, fasting, worship, decreeing and declaring - to destroy the strongholds that are at work.
Yet, when things like this virus “pandemic” happen… many miss the fact that it is spiritual. That there are spirits at work - illness, infirmity, fear, panic… even lack and poverty (hence all the hoarding of supplies) - and that we can destroy them spiritually.
We… as believers! With the authority and power that Jesus gave us!
“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you” (Luke 10:19 ESV).
Have we forgotten this? Or did we never really believe it in the first place?
Or what about the Great Commission? What we are actually called to do as followers of Jesus?
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18 ESV).
Have we forgotten this too?
The work the disciples did in the Bible wasn’t something exclusive or isolated. It wasn’t supposed to just stop with them. WE - right now, right here - are supposed to be doing these things that Jesus said.
Cast out demons.
Speak in new tongues.
Lay our hands on the sick and they will recover.
Are we doing this? Or are we freaking out and panicking right along with the rest of the world? Hoarding supplies for ourselves and closing ourselves in our houses?
Not only are we supposed to be sure of our own protection - that which Psalm 91 describes - and claiming it in the name of Jesus. But, we are supposed to be out there helping others to recover! We are supposed to be different! We are meant to stand out from the world! Not blend in with it.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14 ESV).
We are supposed to SHINE in times like this! To walk around in such confidence, such peace, such love and hope, that the watching world will notice and ask us where it comes from. So, we can tell them about Jesus and what He did for us and for them and how they can have the same peace and protection too.
But, if we are right there next to them freaking out, covering ourselves in hand sanitizer and snatching the last 24-roll pack of toilet paper out of someone’s hands… how is that showing them something different than the world?
When my friend and I were talking about this the other day, she asked me to help clarify for her what I felt God was saying we were supposed to do? Like where was that line between declaring His Word/not giving in to the spirit of fear and just being smart?
And I told her what I felt Him telling me - just do what you would normally do! Meaning, if you weren’t walking around in fear and panic, what you would normally do. Wash your hands, like a normal person. Go to the store, like a normal person.
I told her that from the very beginning of this whole thing, I have never felt any fear about it. And I wasn’t exaggerating. None. Like freakishly none… because this is coming from someone who used to be ridden with debilitating anxiety and fear. But, Jesus has delivered me from it. And this is proof. (Hallelujah!)
I have had zero fear about it and I have not adjusted my lifestyle to “accommodate” it at all. For instance, I have never been a person who feels the need to wipe their cart down before they use it at the store - I just haven’t. So, I’m not going to start doing it now either.
You may read that and think I am crazy. But, think about it this way, if I did… what would the reason be? The motivation behind me suddenly starting to wipe down the cart?
Fear.
Fear that if I don’t, I will pick something up off of it and get sick. But, if God told me I was not given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV), then I choose not to agree with the fear. I choose to believe God and walk in the power and self-control that He gave me.
It’s not crazy, it’s trust. It’s faith. It’s power.
Now, if you’re the type of person who always wipes down the cart (even before all this virus stuff), then by all means, wipe down the cart. But, don’t change your life by giving in to a spirit of fear, anxiety and panic. It’s a weapon of the enemy and he wants to paralyze you, debilitate you and steal your peace.
The Lord reminded me of a story in 2 Kings. It’s a short one, only a few lines long, but an important one. In 2 Kings 4:40, Elisha is sitting with a group of prophets while there is a famine in the land. He sends his servant out to gather herbs to make stew for everyone and when the young man comes back, he unknowingly puts poisonous gourds in the stew.
After taking a few bites, the men realize there’s poison in the stew and refuse to eat it. So, Elisha asks them to bring him some flour, he throws it in the pot and says it’s okay to eat now. So, they trusted him, ate it and they were not harmed.
This is quite a vivid picture of faith since the men had to now eat what had just a moment ago been poisonous. But, they trust in the man of God and the miracle of the flour (which symbolically represented a foreshadow of the bread or body of Christ). They had a choice to make - since it was a time of famine and the stew was all they had to eat, they could trust they would not be harmed and eat it or they could refuse to eat it and die of starvation.
I actually had a similar experience one day a few years ago when I was in the middle of my “wilderness season.” I was out doing a few pet sit visits including an unexpected drop-in for my friend’s dog and had no money at the time to buy lunch. So, I was just hoping to make it through until I got back home, even though I was getting really hungry. My friend had texted me and told me that she had left a quiche on the stove and I was welcome to have some, but since I was gluten-free (and usually felt sick to my stomach if I ate gluten), I had politely declined.
As I walked out to the car though, I think I said a silent prayer to myself asking God to make a way for me to get lunch, when He abruptly disrupted my thoughts and said “I did.” It actually startled me a little, as He reminded me of the quiche and outright asked if I trusted that He was bigger than gluten. I immediately felt SO convicted in my spirit and said “Yes! I trust You!” as I hurried back inside my friend’s apartment. I ate the quiche and of course, I was fine.
It’s the same principle that I wrote about in my last blog post. I’m not going to tell the whole story again here, but it was the same thing that happened with my dog. I had to believe what God said over everything I saw. I had to believe that God would keep His word and keep them from fighting and He did. The men had to believe God had blessed the stew and made it edible and He did. I had to believe He blessed the quiche and He did.
It’s about believing God.
We have to stand firm on God’s Word and claim it as truth in our lives. We need to personalize Psalm 91 with “I” and claim it over ourselves and our family. We need to claim the protection of the blood of Jesus and thank God that we are covered by His feathers.
We need to believe that we are.
Because Jesus’ blood IS our protection. Not coincidentally, the Holy Spirit just had me do a short study recently on Jesus as the Passover lamb and now I know why. Because we can’t claim the protection of the blood of Jesus, if we don’t understand why it is.
Simply put, Passover is a celebration of rebirth and a journey from slavery to freedom. In Exodus, while the Israelites are still in Egypt, the Lord gives them specific instructions - each family is to select a lamb that is without defect and slaughter it at twilight. Then, they were to take some of the blood and smear it on the doorposts of their home, then roast the lamb and eat it.
When the Lord’s angel of death passed through the land of Egypt to pass judgment on the Egyptians for their idol worship by striking down their firstborn sons and their firstborn male animals, the Lord would recognize the blood on the door and pass-over their homes. So, the plague of death would not touch them.
So, how does this apply to us now as Jesus followers? The Passover celebration in the Old Testament was a foreshadowing of Christ and His sacrifice for us. When God sent Jesus to die for our sins, He was ending the old covenant with us where we had to follow the law and continually offer blood sacrifices to atone for our sins. He was starting a new covenant with us, where Jesus would serve as the one sacrifice for all of our sins. But, because a covenant wasn’t sealed without the shedding of blood, He had to be slaughtered and sacrificed just like the lamb.
Jesus was the lamb without defect - He was the gentle one that was without any sin. He was “slaughtered” (crucified) at twilight (just like the lamb) and His blood is what now marks us for the passover. Instead of having to physically put blood over our doorposts, we claim the blood of Jesus over ourselves (since He now makes His home in us) and the Lord will pass over us when disease and plagues are affecting the world.
That is why we can claim God’s promises over ourselves as His children. We quite literally have the protection of the blood of Jesus over us. It isn’t just words. It is a spiritual truth. So, that is why we can stand firmly and claim promises like this over ourselves:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation — so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?” (Psalm 27:1 NLT)
“Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection.
I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by.” (Psalm 57:1 NLT)
We need to pray these words like they are alive and active. We need to declare and decree them with authority and power.
In Matthew 9:20-22, a woman comes to Jesus after dealing with an issue of bleeding for twelve years. She had exhausted all of her money on medicine and never gotten better. She is frustrated, discouraged and physically ill. Yet, “she [says] to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well” (v.21).
This woman’s faith is so strong, her certainty in the Lord is so resound, that she knows she only needs to touch his garment and it will be done - her illness will be healed and she will be made well.
Of course, we know how it turns out. She does reach him, she does touch His garment and she is healed. And beyond that, Jesus notices what she did and acknowledges publicly that it is her faith that has made her well.
Because she believed that she would be made well and she was.
In Matthew 8:5-13, a Roman centurion comes to Jesus about his dying (or suffering) servant. Jesus offers to come to his home and heal him, but the centurion tells Him to just say the word and he will be healed. Again, not only is the servant instantly healed at that moment, but Jesus again praises the man and says He has not found anyone in Israel who has such faith.
Both of them believed - really believed - that Jesus heals. One only needed to touch His robe and one only needed to hear His word. Yet, we have even more now than either of them had. We have Jesus living inside of us. We have the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us. We have the authority and power of Jesus in us because of His sacrifice. All we have to do is call on it.
Have you stopped to think about that? Really think about that?
We have the same power that heals people and even raises them from the dead inside of us at this very moment, yet we act like we are powerless.
Why? Where has our faith gone? Where has our power gone?
I will say that I’m not 100% sure where this virus came from. I don’t know if God sent it Himself or if the devil sent it and God allowed it (because after all, everything has to go through God’s hands regardless). But, I do know that God is the same God that He always was and has been. So, we can’t conveniently forget that He does indeed send judgment on people.
It’s not sunshine and rainbows and no one wants to talk about that part, but it is part of who He is. Yes, He loves us. Yes, He is merciful and kind and good and graceful. But, part of that Divine love is judgment. And we can’t ignore that just because we don’t want to think about it.
But regardless of whether it came from Him or the devil, He is allowing it for a reason.
Hebrews 12:26-27 says, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.”
The Lord promised that He will again shake everything that is on Earth (and in the heavens). He is “shaking” things so that what has been made (by man) will fall away and all that will remain is what is in Him.
The world or those who are new to the faith may not understand what that means. But, if you are mature in your faith, you should recognize that that means all of the things man has built in his own strength and his own ways, will and motivations will fall apart. The idols, the harlot church, the self-worship, etc. They will all be shaken.
In Revelation, in the seven letters to the churches, the phrase is repeated, “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.” And this has never been more true.
Anyone who has the spiritual discernment and awareness to recognize what is happening must listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying. God is allowing this shaking to happen right now because it is revealing things. It is revealing what is really in people’s hearts.
It is one thing to say you trust in God or wear it on a bracelet or have it on a bumper sticker on your car. But, it’s a whole other thing when it’s put to the test. Our responses to storms and crises expose what we really believe. What we really think. And who (or what) we really look to for refuge.
Do we look to the world? The news? Doctors? Pharmacies? Celebrities? Money? Possessions? Our jobs? Our families? Ourselves?
These are the idols of today. Idols aren’t golden calves or wooden carvings like in the Old Testament. But, they are no less real today. In fact, that might even be more dangerous because they can be more inconspicuous.
Idols are anything that we put above God in our lives. Anything that we deem more important, more valuable or that we look to for our safety and security instead of God. When you think about it this way and you go back to that list above, you can see where a “crisis” like this can quickly expose your idols.
Are you looking to God for your security and protection? Or the doctors? The media? The hand sanitizers and paper masks?
If we say we are believing God is our protection but then still obsessively washing our hands, using hand sanitizer and distancing ourselves from one another, our actions tell a different story. That’s more like, “Well, I trust God, but just in case…” Except, that “just in case” means you don’t trust really Him. Believe me, that’s not a judgmental statement. That’s a hard truth! Because I’ve been there myself (several times) and the Holy Spirit has convicted me on it! If we say we believe Him, but then we enact a “plan B,” then we don’t we really believe Him at all.
If we say we’re believing Him to protect us, but then we’re doing all these other things too, then which thing is really “protecting” us? Is it Him or is it the products? And what about when all those products go away? We all have seen just how quickly things can change on a dime. What if all the soaps and hand sanitizers and medicines went away tomorrow (we’re not far from that now!), what would we do then? Would we turn to God then as a “last resort”? These are the questions God is bringing up right now, so we will all take a hard look at what we really believe and what we’re really leaning on.
Some of these directives have been labeled as “wisdom” or being “wise.” Except, in Biblical terms… wisdom means to know God’s ways, not man’s. Real wisdom means to understand God’s word and how it applies to the situations we face in the natural.
For instance, Psalm 91 says God “alone is my refuge, my place of safety.” He is my place of safety, not my house. Not a designated shelter. Him. The One who goes with me wherever I go.
Which is also in Psalm 91, in verse 11: “For He will order His angels to protect you wherever you go.” Why would God send His angels to protect us wherever we go if we aren’t going anywhere?
Plus, our spiritual gifts work best in community. How can we minister, evangelize, teach, prophesy and heal if we stay closed away in our homes? We can’t and the devil knows this.
Let me put it this way… if the Holy Spirit straight up told you to lay your hands on an elderly person in your church or community right now so you/He could heal them, what would you do? Listen to Him or listen to the world? You can’t do both. You have to make a choice.
Are we being shaken right along with the rest of the world? Or are we standing on the Rock? Are we able to be so easily swayed and upturned along with everyone else? Or do we have a peace that surpasses all understanding?
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 ESV).
For a few days before I wrote this post, I kept feeling the Holy Spirit prompt me to look up the meaning of the word “corona.” That wasn’t weird in and of itself because He often speaks to me prophetically through words, names and their meanings.
But, I was still a little shocked when I saw what it means - “a part of the body resembling or likened to a crown.”
The “corona virus” is quite literally a virus that has attacked the part of the Body (the Body of Christ) that doesn’t remember or recognize that they are royalty. Yes, it is in the world too. But, within the Church, it is “infecting” those who have laid down their crowns.
Not meaning that they will all physically get sick. But, they are spiritually infected because it causes them to be overcome with fear, panic, anxiety, torment, poverty and lack… as they forget who they are. It’s like the post I did on Instagram a few months back where I used the analogy of Vanellope in Wreck-It Ralph. In the movie, she didn’t remember the entire time that she was actually a princess because the evil king had stolen her memory. Just like the enemy loves to steal our memories, steal our identities and make us forget who we are. Children of God… royalty.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:14-15 ESV).
Which is the good side to this shaking… because it can “wake” us up. Those in the Church who have been “asleep” and hadn’t realized it. Those whose faith and passion have been tempered. And those who have been compromised by the world.
Jesus does not mince words in Revelation 3 when He says, “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”
He is not a fan of those who say one thing with their mouths and believe something else in their hearts, for “everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23 NIV). So, if you don’t walk the walk, it doesn’t matter if you talk the talk.
It’s time to do both.
It’s time to believe what God says. It’s time to believe who God is. It’s time to believe we are who He says we are. It’s time to believe He can do what He says He can do. It’s time to believe we can do what He says we can do.
It’s time to stand out from the world. It’s time to shine His light into the world. It’s time to be set apart. It’s time to lead the way.
It’s time to walk in authority. It’s time to reclaim our inheritance - not in concept, in reality. It’s time to walk in our power.
It’s time to BELIEVE.
It’s time.
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