Whose Report Do You Believe?
HeartLife is an organization committed to the healthy growth and development of the family. To that end, we look to the Word of God to guide us through our life journey. On that journey, it is not only the spirit man that has to be developed; the physical man and the soulish realm (our mind, will, and emotions) also need God’s direction. Jesus came to earth, fully God and fully man to show us that by allowing Him to come into our hearts and live, we too can live a life honoring God.
I have listened intently for years to political discussions among the saints. Most of the time I am silent. Not because I don’t have opinions, but because I want to remain neutral on political debates that my assignment as a preacher of the gospel might remain unfettered. However, yesterday I heard a statement from a friend that shook me, and the first thing I heard this morning was a scripture, and it is to this scripture I write. The statement from my friend was,"listen to that fool, he’s talking about the virus being over around Easter". When I added that to the many news reports I have heard, as well as the actual press conferences from the White House, something shot through my being, as a child of God. Is it foolhardy to believe that this virus could pass over by Passover?
We often quote 2 Chronicles 7;14 and proudly wave it as an anecdote to whatever is plaguing us. Do we believe it? And have we read even the two verses that precede it and the couple verses following it:
God appeared to Solomon that very night and said, "I accept your prayer; yes, I have chosen this place as a temple for sacrifice, a house of worship. If I ever shut off the supply of rain from the skies or order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people, and my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. From now on I’m alert day and night to the prayers offered at this place. Believe me, I’ve chosen and sanctified this Temple that you have built: My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always…2 Chronicles 7:12-18 (MSG)
God appeared to Solomon that very night and said, "I accept your prayer; yes, I have chosen this place as a temple for sacrifice, a house of worship. If I ever shut off the supply of rain from the skies or order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people, and my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. From now on I’m alert day and night to the prayers offered at this place. Believe me, I’ve chosen and sanctified this Temple that you have built: My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. 2 Chronicles 7:12-18 (MSG)
God did not promise Solomon that He would never "order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people". He did not say everything, every day was going to be a trip down the milk and honey road. What He did promise Solomon was that if His "God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives" – then – "I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health". God further says that He would be on ‘alert day and night to the prayers offered at this place". God was referring to the newly built temple. Without going an historic journey through the Bible, WE are now the that temple:
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 3: 16(KJV)
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19 (KJV)
If you believe the Bible to be God’s Word for you today, just as it was two thousand, and four thousand years ago. Then how can you not believe that IF God’s people pray, asking forgiveness for OUR sins, and humbling ourselves to the mighty Hand of God, that He can’t and won’t heal our land? Will partisan politics and the six o’clock news keep you from petitioning the only ONE who can bring healing to our land? Because you find President Trump to be offensive, will this keep you from believing that the death angel that is currently taking out lives, can be sent back from whence he came? Or do you believe more masks, more ventilators, and waiting on a vaccine is the ONLY answer?
Beloved, I’m stirred in my heart today, for years ago when I first came to a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I came at a time when the rapture and tribulation were everyday topics. I had such fear in my heart, as Matthew 24 was read. I had little babies at home, what would I do if I had to flee from an anti-Christ world? What if I was required to take the mark of the beast in order to get food to feed my children? What would I do? Those questions plagued me until one day I CAME to faith and realized that the faith I had today would keep me for today and if I did all that I could that day, then God would give me the faith I needed for tomorrow, whatever that tomorrow would bring. I have stood on that growing faith for fifty years and I yet believe, God is greater! Greater than covid-19, greater than a man, even a man in the most powerful position on earth. I have come to believe that there is a God, who in spite of myself, has abundantly pardoned my sins and shortcomings; that He loves me with an everlasting love; that He means good for me (and mine) and not evil; and that He will keep that which I committed unto Him against that day. This is the day of an unbeatable coronavirus in the eyes of many; I still believe this is the day of the Lord, and at His command, this too shall pass.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and theplague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:13 (KJV)
Maria