For the church, I heard this in my spirit: “Don’t ‘cave’ too long, and don’t go too deep in the ‘cave’!” It wasn’t a suggestion…It was a mandate!
We all must do our part in this crisis, but DO NOT allow the crisis and the fear of it to speak more loudly than the voice of God! Don’t get so “deep in the cave” that you can’t hear what the Spirit is saying! God is not separating Himself from us. He is a VERY PRESENT Help! Don’t forget God in the crisis!
Don’t view Him as just a kind Comforter and that the best He can do is to “help us bear up under this burden”. NO! He is Almighty! He is all powerful, wise, our Healer, Deliverer, Warrior, Defender, Father, and Lord! Don’t look at the crisis as though it’s bigger than God! Don’t forget His infinite power and might that is FAR above any and all earthly power, wisdom, or might, and FAR above any and all demonic powers and their workings!
Don’t get so familiar with and dependent on earthly voices, who are promoting fear and panic as a tool for submission, that you allow those voices to drown out His voice! Don’t allow fear and its relentless threats to cause you to forget that greater is He that is in you than he that is against you! (See 1 John 4:4.)
Is this crisis real? Yes! Do we take this thing seriously? Yes! But as the people of God, we are commanded to shine as lights in the darkness! And the spirits of darkness are what we stand against! As one writer said, “Even as we pray for those being negatively affected by this ‘invisible enemy’, we must not forget the real enemies—principalities and powers determined to destroy this nation at any and all costs.”
We must remember that it is satan who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil! And He absolutely accomplished that on the cross and in the resurrection! JESUS is forever CROWNED as the Victor! The sickness associated with the current worldwide shutdown seeks to display itself as the “crowned” one, but do not be deceived—there is but ONE King! Yeshua is His name, and every other thing that is named must bow to His authority and power! Don’t forget that!!
Do we ignore the crisis? No, but we don’t fear it, either! Fear is a vicious dictator that will shut you down in torment! You will run yourself ragged with fear as your motivator. You will do and do and do only to find that it’s never enough! You still wind up feeling hopeless and vulnerable because fear keeps suggesting and pushing you deeper and deeper into despair!
Jesus said, “Come unto Me…and I will give you rest!” (Matthew 11:28). He has left us a promise that we can enter in to His rest! The book of Hebrews teaches us that our greatest concern as the children of the Most High God should not so much be about the crisis, but our greatest concern should be that we fail to enter in to the promise of that rest! “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1).
God is not sitting in Heaven wringing His hands as though they are tied and He just has to sit there, weeping and hoping that things will work out for the best! No! He is not disconnected from us, and His power is by no means diminished! He works through us, His people! He has given us authority in Jesus’ name! Don’t forget that! We have authority in Christ! There is dynamic power that works through fervent, faith-filled prayer! (See James 5:15.)
By the Word of God and by His Spirit working in and through us, we can know God’s will, and when we pray in agreement with His will and His Word, there is power that is activated that the gates of hell CANNOT prevail against! We have power over ALL the power of the enemy through our resurrected Savior! (See Luke 20:19.) Don’t forget that!
Jesus’ victory on the cross was not just some cute story for Sunday School! It was a vicious battle that was fought and won by our Savior, and His COMPLETE victory is our victory! He won, so we win! He came to give us LIFE, and His Life is greater than death! He reigns! ALL power in Heaven and in earth has been given to Him, and He imparts that power and His well-timed wisdom to us by His Spirit! With that power and wisdom, we stand, we expect, we obey, we live, we move, and we have our being!
Don’t forget God! Don’t overlook Him or leave Him out of your thoughts when pondering the situation around us!
Yes, we do our part in natural things, but there is a place called “in the Spirit” (the Holy Spirit) where we rise above the natural and we tap in to the power of the True King! It’s the place where He adds His “super” to our natural, and He causes death and infirmity to bow to His Lordship and His authority!
We submit to His LIFE! We submit to His peace! We submit to His wisdom! We submit to Him, Christ Jesus as Lord, and we declare that death, deception, infirmity, and all works of darkness MUST bow and melt like wax in the presence of the CROWNED King Jesus!
Don’t go so deep in the “cave” that you forget Who He really is! Don’t go so deep that you can’t hear His voice, see His hand, receive His wisdom, and be reminded and aware of His unmatched power and authority!
At the end of the day, it is His voice alone that speaks true wisdom and direction for the moment! He knows all things! No one and no thing is hidden from Him! He SEES ALL things, and He understands ALL things! He sees what we don’t see, and He knows what we don’t know! His wisdom is not of this age! It is HIGHER and far more accurate than the wisdom of this age! He sees and knows what is operating behind the scenes! He will route out evil and bring it to swift justice!
Remember Your God! Seek Him! Trust Him! Don’t engage this moment with fear-evoked emotions! Rise “up”! Listen “UP”! Listen above the fray! See beyond the crisis! Stay the course! Remember God, and know and confidently declare that He WILL bring us through this with victory, with great deliverance, and with a great testimony of His saving Grace!
Gina Gholston
April 11, 2020
