Spring has begun! A new season, bringing warmth. We have a new situation in the world now with the break-out of the Corona Virus. We need to come up with a new way of gathering together when the government is telling us that we are not able to. Praise God for the possibilities of virtual congregational services in such an unusual time, looking forward to the time that we can again physically come together.
Jn 14:23-29 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
He that love me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it comes to pass, you might believe.
I am not certain that life as we have known it will return to “normal”. We are moving into a season that is approaching, in my unprophetic opinion, the beginning of the last years of the age. Life will certainly not be normal then, just as a woman beginning her birth-pains knows that there is no going back, and the hardest part is still coming before the joyful glory on the other side of it.
Brothers and Sisters, as individuals, as a nation, as a world, we are experiencing something that our generation has not seen before. This also includes those who are in New Covenant relationship with God through faith in His Son, Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit – and also the Father and the Son, Jesus tells us — dwells in all born-again believers, yet we are not exempt nor immune from getting sick or even dying as a result of this novel Covid-19. Yet we can take personal responsibility to maintain personal hygiene, and to submit to governmental and health ministry regulations in order to minimize the risk to ourselves, and to others in the community, whether believers or not.
Yeshua spoke to His closest disciples on the night that He was betrayed, the day before He would be tortured and crucified in our place because of our sins. He knew what He was facing; He knew what was coming; He was at peace with God His Father. And He wanted His disciples, then and now, to have His peace in such times of distress of body and soul. Like now.
What we are going through now is not from the enemy, but from the Lord Jesus Christ! This is important as we pray, endure in faith, seek God’s will and purpose for allowing this little virus to bring small and great — the kings of the Earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, slaves and free men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation — to take account of their lives and their lifestyles — before that great and terrible Day of YHVH. Man does not control our own destiny! We are being given an opportunity to get right with our God, the Judge of all. We are being given an opportunity to get closer to the Lord in our personal relationship with Him and in our worship of Him. We each need to know the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for who our God and Savior is, whether we are in the company of hundreds of other believers, or whether we are alone and even isolated. He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Yeshua tells us that if we love Him, we will keep His Word. Do we know what His word is? This is a good time to find out, if not. We are to love Him above all, and to love one another as He has loved us, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to love our enemies. We are to separate ourselves from the world that lives in opposition to the holy character of our God and Father. We are to tell them the good news of salvation and the Kingdom of God, which is the power of God for salvation of any person from any people group or nation.
The Holy Spirit lives in us to teach us, and to help us remember the words of Yeshua, who came to us with the words of the Father. These words are our food, by which we live and grow healthy if we abide in Him. Jesus gives us His peace, which is not the peace that the world knows or can give. The world now is rightly troubled and afraid, the very thing that our Lord tells us who know Him not to be. Let us draw near to Him, and He will draw near to us.
The Messiah knows all things that are coming. And in His love for us, He has told us already. We may be surprised at the suddenness of this virus, and its global affect so quickly, but we need not be troubled in our soul and spirit if we believe that what He says is true. We will seek His face, and not blame an invisible enemy, not even the devil. He can do nothing but what our Sovereign Lord allows Him. God has a plan, with a purpose. We want to align ourselves with Him and it. We want to always keep in our hearts and minds the last prayer of the whold Bible: Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
