I Am Getting Over It

It has been two weeks since my employment was moved to working from home and even longer since I've been able to do my favorite part of my job, which is teaching.  All I saw on the television, internet, and in my email for weeks was more bad news about the virus that is sweeping the world like a plague.  Yesterday and today I got news of family friends who were sick with it.  I heard voices of disbelief on the phone as I listened while they tried to make since of it all and asked me to pray.  What do you say to people when fear is being nurtured all around them and not completely uncalled for?  I said that I would pray and I did, and I am still.  Even as I spoke on the phone with my mother today and she told me of a dear friend that was lost today and two more friends who are hospitalized, the conversation took a turn as it often does with believers in Jesus Christ.  We started out sad and shocked at our first known experience with the plague, but then we realized that God was preparing us for this all along the way.  I even remembered something that I had said while teaching to a youth group at my church about not worshiping the building of God but God himself.   I said "if something were to happen to the church, I promise you that our pastor would be sad, but that he would still be praying, worshiping, and studying his Bible. Your relationship with God should not be based on this building."  A month later we are all having church online and in our homes.  God is a good God and he saw this coming.  I started to give in to the fear when I saw the numbers rising in my state and my county, but God reminded me that while he promised bad things would happen he also said that he has overcome the world already.  He also reminded me that I am also an overcomer.  1John 5:4 says that whoever is born of God overcomes the world "and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

If you believe that Jesus is Lord that doesn't mean that life won't happen to you, but when life does happen, it is the job of your faith to stand up to it.  In Ephesians chapter 6 it describes the heavenly armor of God, and faith is our shield which blocks the attacks of the enemy of our souls.  My grandfather, before he died, told my mother something very wise.  He told her that when she is challenged about the heart of God concerning life situations, which every believer often is,  she should say, "it is written" and then proceed to utter the biblical Word of God concerning it.  He expressed to her that if it was good enough for Jesus, in the wilderness, then we should follow that example (see Mathew 4).  I am so glad that I was a bystander in that conversation because when life comes at me, I now recognize that the Word of God that I have read and been taught also rises up in me to speak to my situation and all I have to do is say "it is written."  When I speak the Word of God to situations or attitudes, those things start to shrink and fizzle and with the power given to every believer I am able to step right over that thing.  I can't afford to let every thought take up residence in my heart and mind.  I refuse to give in to doubt, which is just a fancy way of saying fear that trusting God won't work out.  I also refuse to be overtaken with sadness (the result of feeling like you have lost something or someone of value to you) or anger (feeling like you or something/someone that you care about has been devalued).  I reject those in favor of God's unfailing love (see Romans 8:39) and his goodness and mercy which follow me all the days of my life (see Psalm 23).

Get over it.  Whatever thought or situation that is threatening your belief that God loves you, block it.  Stand up and remember "I am a child of God".  Then deal the crushing blow "it is written..."  When you get in your Bible you'll find that the sound of unbelief may roar like a lion in your ears and make situations look like mountains, but the word of faith shows those loud sounds to really be alley cats and those situation to really be foothills that you can walk over in the power of God.  The only way to lose against life as a believer in Jesus Christ is to give yourself up.  Don't give up, hold your ground and stand tall knowing that though you may be weak God is strong on your behalf (see 2 Corinthians 12:9).