Month: May 2020
Acts 21:1-26
“What if?” OR “Even if?”
“What if?” is a game played in the darkest recesses of your thought processes. Even though this “game” is not real, it almost always seems real. For example, “What if I contract the COVID-19 virus and die? What will happen to my family? What if I’m not ready to die!”
This game is essentially based in the emotion of fear. Fear that something bad will happen, something that I don’t want to happen, and as a result I will suffer great loss.
On the other hand “Even if?” is a game played in the brightest well-lit areas of your consciousness. And in fact, unlike the “what if?” game that is not real, the “even if” game is the ultimate reality. For example, “Even if I contract the COVID-19 VIRUS and die, I am not afraid of death. I know the ONE who has conquered death, WHO will lead me through this dark shadow into the light of His presence on the other side (and it isn’t the World Health Organization). And my family will be fine. Because He – the LORD JESUS CHRIST – has them too, in the palm of His hand.”
Any given individual in our USA culture today is daily given the opportunity to choose one of these options in response to the “Wuhan pandemic.” In the news this week there were more than enough stories to continue feeding the fear-frenzy that defines the psychological manifestation in many Americans across our land. There were also many stories, although you had to look for them, that should at least turn some people’s heads away from all the fear-mongering.
So, let’s flip the script.
Let’s reverse the “what if?” portion of the game.
What if everything you’ve heard so far… number of people tested, number of people identified as having the virus, number of people who have died from ACTUAL complications of the virus (and not some other factor – like gunshot or alcohol poisoning) … what if these numbers have been over-inflated and are completely misleading? What if the numbers were deliberately massaged this way to increase the “fear factor” so that the American public would be easier to control? What if our economy was shut down, based on models that said 1-2 million people would die directly from actual effects of the virus.? When that clearly hasn’t happened, has it? What if the very people who are controlling the models, and manipulating all the data, are also motivated to support ideas like population control and euthanasia of the elderly?
To truly reverse the script we have to respond to these questions with the “even if?” answer.
Even if everything is a lie… could God use the events of a well-strung disaster in our economy and government to bring about GOOD for those who love Him and are called by His name? Even if there is a group of well-placed, highly powerful individuals who are designing all this modeling to create fear and panic, is GOD totally unaware of their actions and evil purposes and goals? Even if these ideas of population control and euthanasia of the elderly are being talked about as a potential reality in dark rooms where no-one can see, does the LORD JESUS CHRIST Himself not see and know exactly what is going on?
I know you see what I’m suggesting. You understand what I’m saying. Intellectually and cognitively if you are a Christ-follower you know Jesus is in Control, and that He has Sole Authority over all things, and has still promised the POWER of His presence with you individually, in all things.
Seeing it, understanding it, and believing it are one thing.
Living it out… without fear of the “what if?” is something else entirely.
Choose today to leave the fear behind.
Begin each moment with “Even if” and whatever comes after those words – then say, “God is in control,” – only then will you begin the journey of a fearless life that Jesus calls us to. It is a life of abundant joy, and peace. It is a less-confused life, a life of logic and reason. It is a life where God’s own Spirit brings comfort, and direction for our path, and our choices.
Even if …
Acts 20:1-38
Feelings or Faith?
It really does come down to this. The minute we are born, we begin to die. When we are young we become aware, at least on some level, of what death means, but we are able to deal with the reality of death by also believing it won’t happen to us. This is why young teenage undeveloped minds can do such death defying and crazy things, because they believe they are invincible. This belief, nonetheless, does not change the fact that death is coming. We don’t know where, or when, or how, but we can absolutely, and unequivocally rest assured, death is coming, and not just from COVID-19.
This is where it gets sticky. There are those who never are able to get over their fear of death. I’m not talking about just unreligious people with no faith, or no belief in eternal life. There are those I’ve known in the past who truly led their whole lives based on feelings, specifically the fear of death. They lived in fear, so their actions and speech and beliefs were based in their “feelings” of fear. Even now I struggle with how to help them, it’s rather sad to watch. And, they don’t seem to want to listen to the Bible’s instruction: “Do not fear.”
One last observation.
I believe God is in control.
I believe God wants us to live by faith in reality of His being in control.
I believe we will not die before God says it is our “time” to die, because He is in control.
I believe the Bible instructs us to not live by feelings (fear) but faith.
Here is a video that might help. You might want to watch it today. The people who want you to continue to live in fear, will surely take it off of facebook, just like they took it off Youtube. They want you to be afraid. Don’t be.