Celebrate the Savior

I received and forwarded a video yesterday, which made me really stop and pause to think that I might have been too hasty in dispersing this message.  It was a beautiful video encouraging viewers to show appreciation to our essential workers who are in the frontlines during this COVID-19 crisis.  I was really happy to see this because I am totally behind honoring all those who are working to keep us safe, including persons who work in medicine, security, supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations, utility services, along with our political leaders and so many other essential workers.  However, one thing concerned me.  The timing of this celebration of our essential workers seemed a bit odd.  It would be right in the midst of many church services on Resurrection Sunday throughout the island.  Albeit, church for me is in bed these days watching an online live stream. Nonetheless, I would still be joining with other members of the body of Christ to celebrate His defeating death in this awesome and deliberate act of self-sacrifice so that none of us should perish, but all might have eternal life.  Now, I know many people may not share my beliefs, so they would not have wondered like I did why we couldn’t honor our essential workers on Easter Monday instead, when nothing much would be going on.

You see, I like many others, may fail at times to but Christ first in preference for others.  We so easily slip into honoring people before our Lord, giving more esteem to the created rather than the Creator.  How quickly we forget that when we seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first, it is then everything will be added unto us including healing and protection.  I must admit I got quite riled up last night after thinking about this video and how we get so easily distracted by what is good, instead of worshiping God.  I started to get my praise on and I realized after that I got a reprieve from an unusual malady that I was suffering from since a few days before, which I had never had in my life.  Now, that is the power of praise.   When we get into the Word, we will understand that God inhabits the praises of His people and that He has a peculiar way of sending the praise team ahead in a battle to confound and scatter the enemy.  In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat was informed that a great multitude was going to come against Judah.  Fear gripped him, hence, he sought the Lord and proclaimed a fast for the nation. The people came from throughout the land to seek the Lord’s help.  And, God responded telling them not to fear because the battle was His.  They didn’t need to fight the battle. All they had to do was to stand and see the salvation of the Lord.  The people fell down and worshiped Him while the Levites stood up and praised Him loudly.  The praise of the Lord was going to prevail and He would win this battle.  They just needed to put their trust in Him.  Jehoshaphat appointed the singers and the folks who praised the Lord to give thanks to Him.  As the praises went up, the Lord set an ambush and the enemy forces came against each other destroying themselves. It took Judah three days to collect all the enemy left behind.  After three days Jesus rose from the dead and thwarted the enemy’s plan.  And because death couldn’t hold Him, eternal life is ours.  How can we not praise Him?  When we come together wherever we are united over the internet on Resurrection Sunday to praise and celebrate our Savior, we will confuse the enemy.  He expects us to succumb to fear and to get distracted by this storm.  But, this war against COVID-19 is the Lord’s, we just need to stand and praise Him, then we will see His salvation. 

I have always loved the words in the song, I Feel Like Praising Him, which says “If you don’t want to praise Him, don’t hinder me.” Unfortunately, we sometimes hinder our praise of God because we have our eyes on people, instead of keeping our focus on Him.  Jehoshaphat prayed “…for we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” 2 Chronicles 20:12 NASB.  Many of us feel powerless against the coronavirus, but we must seek the Lord and keep our eyes on Him.  He has the power and the plan.  Let us get His strategy of praise, knowing that with man it is impossible, but with Him all things are possible.  I comprehend this because I know His character.  He has been my Waymaker when I felt there seemed to be no way; He has been my Healer when the doctor said there was no cure; and He has been my Provider when I have been down to nothing.  Therefore, I am going to celebrate God first, so that I can celebrate people better.  If I were to get married, I would never want to marry a man, who put me before God.  He has to love God more than me and accept His love before becoming united with me, because without a doubt, there are times I am going to fail him.  He is going to need the love of God to carry him through my mishaps and he will need the power of God to love me unconditionally through whatever drama I drag him in.  Anyone, who knows me, knows that I don’t go looking for drama, but drama sure has a way of finding me.  My point about this whole preemptive marriage confession is to state that when we put God first, then we can love people better.  

We must recognize that it is the Lord who has made us, and not we ourselves. (See Psalm 100:3)  Consequently, we must stop running to the created first, instead of to the Creator.  There are many of us who are busy working for God, but not loving on Him. We are occupied with church optics looking good, while our eyes have deviated from our God who is good.  The work for our Father itself has become our idol.  The effects of coronavirus has allowed us to see church differently and to refocus on the Lord.  Let us not take our eyes off Jesus this Easter period. Now, more than ever we need to look to Him and celebrate Him.  Let us open ourselves up to Him and let Him pour His Spirit and love through us so we can love others.  During this time, let Him show us how to love our neighbors who are essential workers, or those who may be in self-quarantine because of a variety of reasons, including being elderly or having underlying conditions.  Let us ask God how to help those who have lost jobs because of this crisis, and also the underprivileged who are facing even more hardships during this time.  Many of our friends are grieving the loss of a loved one, put we can’t reach out to them as we normally would, so we need to seek God for Him to show us creative ways to help them during the mourning process. And, when He responds, we must listen, no matter how uncomfortable or inconvenient His directions may be. 

I believe as we celebrate God He will show us ways in which we can better assist our heroes who are on the frontlines.  This has to be ongoing during this period, so that they know we have their back not just for a moment, but all throughout this trying time.  Jesus prayed for the unity of believers in John 17, so let us be united as we pray together for our essential workers and all those who are in need, while giving sacrificially and celebrating our Savior.   

Thankful in the Storm

I have not written any posts these last couple of weeks, not because I haven’t had anything to say, or because I haven’t had time. The fact is I have had a lot of opinions I would have liked to express, and one of the repercussions of COVID-19 is that I have lots of free time on my hands as it brought to an abrupt end a very busy period in ministry.  However, just because I have something to say doesn’t mean I should say it.  I have found there have been a lot of misinformation and falsehoods being disseminated through not only social media, but also mainstream media.  It is an irresponsible practice to publish all that comes our way, even those that may look godly as they may not be of God.  So, during this period let us pray for discernment and take the time to wait on God to know what to say, when to say it, how to say it and to whom to say it. In addition, another important question to ask ourselves is, “Why are we saying it?”  God is very much concerned about the motives of our heart. Therefore, let us make sure that the attitude of our heart is one that God would be pleased with.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I will get on with what God would have me say at this time.  Last week, I had a dream that I had my own house and there were a lot of people over moving around.  I stood on my front porch beside one of my guests and as we looked at an orange tree in my yard I complained that I could not get any oranges now as they were all green.  The person showed me a fruit that was almost ripe near the top of the tree, and then another that was fully ripe above that.  I had not looked up and I wouldn’t have if I didn’t have someone to point me in the right direction of the fruit that I longed for that were there ready to be picked.   Sometimes we miss the blessings that are in our midst, and we may need someone to direct our attention to the good work that the Lord is doing in our lives.  Our focus should not be on what we do not have, but rather we need to shift our perspective to see clearly that we are being blessed even in this chapter of uncertainty, which is sure to make the history books. God did not stop driving home this point to me. It was either that day or the next, I am not remembering which now, I was packing lunch bags to bring to my children since there is no gathering at church right now and I had the food for their snacks for church. Plus, I wanted to check in on them and give a couple families groceries, but I had no fruit to put in the lunch bags.  I decided I shouldn't worry about it as I couldn’t get any fruit at that time.  While packing the bags, the phone rang.  It was a neighbor who said the Lord had clearly told her to buy oranges for me while at the supermarket. I thanked her, explaining that I started rationing oranges just that day.  But, on hanging up the phone, I realized the oranges were not for me, instead God had supplied the fruit for my children’s lunch bags.  God had provided in my lack, and the next day when I brought groceries to one of the families in need, the grandmother gave me more than half a dozen oranges.  My Heavenly Father is not a God of lack, but of abundance and does the impossible by making a way when there seems to be no way.  Consequently, we can trust Him to take the wheel and navigate us safely as we journey down this challenging road that COVID-19 has put us on.  

The whole world is going through a major crisis, yet we now have the opportunity to step back and see God at work, making a wonderful message out of a mess.  If you are not seeing God’s goodness, then you may be too focused on the storm because His mighty deeds are right in front of you. There are treasures in darkness and riches in secret places for you at this time. (See Isaiah 45:3).   Even as I am writing this post, my internet has given out.  By all indications, it should be working.  As I go to my offline Bible to verify the verse I am writing, this pops up as the verse of the day - When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.  Psalm 94:19 NASB.   I do admit to having a bit of anxiety at the thought of losing internet since it is my primary connection to the world as I am at home like many people who are trying to be socially responsible, practicing social distancing by not going out to socialize in order to decrease the rapid spread of the coronavirus.  Yet, even in my anxious thoughts God has comforted me with the fact that I have electricity, so I can continue writing and not lose my train of thought.  I recognize I need to focus on what He is doing right now and what He is speaking to my heart.  So, losing internet at the moment is a good thing, because it offers another training ground for God to teach me to rely on Him and look to Him alone in moments of doubt, fear and anxiety. 

The internet is now back up, and the craziest thing is that WhatsApp was working, but I couldn’t get on to any other website or app on my phone or computer.  I got a call from a friend on on the app, so I spent most of the time writing this post or talking while the internet was down.  God cares about the littlest detail, therefore He even gave me activities to keep me occupied when I couldn’t get fully online.  We don’t want to miss that He is giving us a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Isaiah 61: 3 NIV

With so much time being spent at home, it is a period to build broken families, to rest in Christ so He can restore our hearts, and to strengthen our relationship with Him.  God wants to fill us up with Himself, but in order to do this we can’t be full of ourselves.  We need to get rid of our hurts, fears, anger, pride, unforgiveness, and all that would block us from being filled up and running over with His Spirit and love. 

Let us take this time to reflect on the goodness of God, in spite of all that is going on around us and to give Him thanks in this storm, while not taking our eyes off Him and His amazing deeds.  I pray that if you cannot find the blessings by yourself, that God will send persons to you to help you see your blessings, so you can do as the song says and count your blessings to see what the Lord has done. As a result, you will definitely want to give Him thanks in this storm.