Posted on by Daisy Joan

Peace and Security

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers,[a] you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4

We’ve all seen the info-graphics online.  X number of people have died since the outbreak.  X number of people have recovered since the outbreak.  X disease has killed more or less than the virus. X number of unborn babies have died since the outbreak. Cancer takes x number of lives every year.  Influenza kills x number of people every year. There’s a graphic out there to compare a million facts about death lately.  

Death is on our minds and we can’t stop thinking about it. 

But people have always been dying, haven’t they?  Death is the inevitable finish to life. And right now a lot of people are shaken to their core by the contemplation of a pandemic so powerful that it has shut down the world in order to save lives.  

Here in America, there’s been talk that it’s a political ploy to steal our freedom.  We have certainly lost a lot of freedom. And if you’ve invested all your hopes and dreams on the freedom of America, then of course you’re going to be shaken.

In our Western Church we’ve put a lot of emphasis on our freedom to freely worship God.  We are allowed to congregate and propagate and investigate without fear. We have incredible access to resources and teachings.  We can talk to strangers in coffee shops about our faith or share the Good News on the internet. Nothing has stopped us. Until now.

Undaunted, we push forward with our freedom of religion.  We get on Zoom calls. We have live gatherings on YouTube or Facebook.  We call people to repent and to pray and to trust and have faith. We are all about keeping up the freedom in our meetings. And maybe people who would never walk into a church building might actually get to hear what it’s all about for the first time in their lives.

What are we going to do about it?

Our president asked for prayer that the virus would pass over us on Passover.  Wouldn’t that be something? And all the world will see how blessed we are as Christians that God will protect us from this “China Virus”.  We are proud to be Americans where we have God on our side! Dang straight! God will protect us! God will protect our people. God will destroy our enemies and we will walk across safely on dry land, just like the Isrealites.  God will have the virus pass over us just like the Angel of Death passed over them in the final plague of the first born sons.

Except our first born son was slain. Our salvation from our slavery happened on the cross 2000 years ago, when our First Born Son, our One and Only Son, endured death for our sake.  The dry land we walk across it the dry land of Jesus Christ.  

Our faith is not in worldly protection anymore.  Our triumph is no longer freedom as man understands freedom.  Instead we stare with bold defiance at the face of our enemy and proclaim the victory won for us through Christ Jesus.  

12 For 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

We can triumphantly say our “Passover” has already happened!  Let’s not cheapen it with miracles meant to make us feel better. 

Our lives are so free that we have lost sight of the freedom we have found in Christ.  No matter what we must endure, no matter what affliction looms over us, we can claim our freedom and trust in our Savior, not our country or our healing or our protection.  

Our King, King Jesus will remain.  Nothing can steal His victory and the freedom He won back for us on the cross.  

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

So, it’s time to stop talking about death as it relates to death.  No more infographics. No more statistics. No more comparisons. No more compromise!  We are all going to die, my friends. Stop trying to beg God to save you from this inevitability of physical death.  Ask for your life in only so much as it would please Our Master. Stop mocking the healing God gave us that day on a cross on Golgotha and that bright and beautiful morning of His resurrection, by demanding something else!    

There is an eternal death, my friends, and Covid-19 can bring it the same way cancer does, the same way war does, the same way starvation does.  And Jesus Christ has already answered that death with life. No new salvation will ever be offered. No cure, no peace, no abortion law, no food for the hungry can replace the salvation of our One True King.  

When you die–and you will die–will you die to yourself, considering your own needs worthless compared to what the Lord has called us to in order to glorify the King?  Or will you cry for peace and security and watch the world fall back into death once again?

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16:25

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Spiritual Amnesia

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
John 1:19-23

Do you ever get spiritual amnesia?  It happens to me all the time. I know who I am, but I forget at the most inopportune times. I get tempted by something, or I get angry, or I get lazy, and I forget who I am.

A few years ago, while trying to encourage me, my husband taught me a way to remember who I am.  (He’s been gifted to teach, so it’s no wonder God would use him in that way.)

I was feeling overwhelmed.  I was depressed. I felt unworthy.  And my husband took me to Ephesians Chapter One and began to read it to me.  However, instead of reading “we” or “us”, he inserted my name. It sounded something like this:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed Daisy in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…”Ephesians 1:3 (with my name inserted)

As he read, I began to weep.  I’d completely forgotten who I was.  I’d gotten Spiritual Amnesia. God’s grace hit me like a ton of bricks at that point.  His Word has a way of doing that, doesn’t He? And as I was reminded of who I was, my heart began to change.  

I moved away from my own ideas of failure and defeat back to the Daughter of the King (with the full rights of Sonship that had already been given to me) and returned to my seat in the Heavenly places where God has seated me.

I know that can feel like a crazy concept, but hear me on this.  Who we are isn’t based on how we feel, or what other people think, or even what we think.  Who we are is what God has made us to be.

John the Baptist knew who he was.  When confronted about who he was by the great teachers of the Law, the religious scholars and elite wise men of the temple, John answered plainly and without fear.  

He said: “I’m not the Christ. I am not Elijah.  I am not the Prophet prophesied about in Deuteronomy 18 (which was Jesus).”  This, of course, frustrated the Men of the Law. They wanted answers.

John knew who he was.  And he proclaimed it to them confidently, without fanfare, without fear, without doubt.  He proclaimed proudly, “I’m the guy Isaiah prophesied about. Yep. That’s me. I’m the voice crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord!”

John knew who he was.  He was a man proclaiming the coming Messiah.  With bold humility, John announced who he was:

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
John 1:24-27

John didn’t back down with fear or doubt even faced with accusation.  John proclaimed the coming Messiah with courage and boldness and a warning to pay attention.

Like John the Baptist, we need to remember who we are and proclaim the Messiah boldly and with confidence.  We need to proclaim it over ourselves and also to the world.

In the end it cost John his life.  Are we willing to go to death for the One Who Died for us?  If we trust and know who we are, then you better believe we will!

So snap out of that Spiritual Amnesia and remember who you are!  

in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
    What can man do to me?
Psalms 56:11