Going into 2020, I am sure nobody expected what was to come but, here we are. We are all experiencing this pandemic. We are seeing stores, schools, states, and countries shut down. Borders are not allowed to be crossed, physical social interaction is discouraged, and fear is in the midst of all of our minds. We all have questions and we all want answers. We want to know the why, how, and when. We want to know why this is happening, why now, why us. We want to know how this started, how we got to this point, and how we are going to fix it. We want to know when we will find a cure, when will we see a decline, when will all of this be over. We all have these questions. We are all being put on social distancing. We are being told to work from home and to do school online. Events, parties, weddings are being cancelled. The world is getting put on a stand still. We are all experiencing this moment together, not just people in your city, county, state, country, but everyone in the world.
It’s easy to sit and dwell on the things that are currently happening. It is easy to allow fear and uncertainty to take over our thoughts. It is easy to wish things were back to how they were before the pandemic. It’s easy to lose sight of who is in control. It is easy to become discouraged, scared, and lose faith during this moment. All these are our human instincts, they are our natural responses to a time such as these.
Each year a lot of people ask God to give them a word for that year. Throughout the year, you study the word and see God’s purpose for giving you that word. For my 2020 word, at first was trust. But then, a few weeks into 2020 the word Jesus kept sticking out. So, I decided to change my word to Jesus. Besides, what better word to study and focus on throughout the year. Now with the state that the world is in, I have realized that my 2020 word has become a 2020 phrase, Trust In Jesus.
Trust In Jesus
How easy it is to speak those words, but so hard to put into action. Especially, for people who need control, who desire to fix their own problems, who have a hard time trusting. For example, myself. This is not because I do not believe God can fix my problem, I definitely believe he can. I just want to be able to fix them myself, because I want to be able to do things my way with my direction. This causes trusting to be very difficult. Before this pandemic occurred, I knew that trusting in Jesus was something I needed to work on. Now with this pandemic, I realize that trusting in Jesus is vital. Trusting in God is the only way to get through this, because this pandemic is out of my control. This pandemic is out of everybody’s control, except Gods.
Control
We have no control over the circumstances of the world. Which is hard because as humans we want/need control. Especially, in times where we have no control. We may not be able to control the state of the world right now, but we do have control over how we handle the state of the world.
We have control over our mindset
We have control over our actions
We have control over our time
Mindset:
In trying times, negatives seem to outweigh the positives. That is because our mindset naturally focuses on the negative. In times like these, we have to readjust our mindset to the positive things. A lot of worry, stress, anxiety can slip into our minds when things are not going the way we planned or hoped for. It is very easy to allow these dark thoughts to go through our mind when we are living in a dark time. But we cannot allow the darkness to outweigh the light. We have to readjust our mindset to the light, to the positive, to the future. One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.” This pandemic is one of the biggest afflictions of the world that I have experienced, but the Bible is telling us, this is small compared to the eternal glory that is to come. Knowing that allows so much joy to come to mind. When the negative starts to overrule the positive just think about the glory that is to come.
When the darkness seems to be overcoming the light, readjust your mindset to who the light of the world is. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “Therefore, we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.” We can control our mindset. We can control what we think about, we can control our perspective, we can control the negativity. No, it is not easy. Yes, it is possible. We have to wake up every day and choose to renew ourselves. Choose the positive, choose our focus, and choose the light over the darkness.
Actions:
We have full control of our actions during this time. We may feel that God is not doing anything, we may feel abandoned and we may feel hopeless. We have the choice in our reaction to the state of the world. We can choose to not have trust, or we can choose to have trust. We can allow the darkness to conquer or we can choose to seek Jesus. We can choose to fight back with our human ability, or we can choose to fully surrender our circumstance to Jesus. We can be scared and feel hopeless or we can feel scared but be hopeful. If we choose to put our trust in Jesus and keep our eyes fixated on the light, there is hope to be found.
To find that hope is to seek actions that will grow your relationship with Jesus. Seek actions that will strengthen your trust in God. Seek actions that will strengthen your hope in God.
I believe the best action we can seek during this moment is to be still.
Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you; you need to be still”
This is out of our control. The best action we can take is to step back and to let God. Only God can change the circumstances. ONLY GOD. The only thing we need to do is believe in God, put our trust in God, and be here for God and allow God to take full control.
The song "This Is A Move" by Tosha Cobb Lenard beautifully puts a new perspective in my mind when facing the world today. Especially, if you are having a hard time seeing God in the midst of these times.
Mountains are still being moved
Strongholds are still being loosed
God, we believe
'Cause yes, we can see it
That wonders are still what you do
God has not abandoned us. We may not see it right now, but we need to believe that he is still working in our midst.
And bodies are still being raised
Giants are still being slayed
God, we believe
Yes, we can see it
That wonders are still what you do
We are here for you
Come and do what you do
We are here for you
Come and do what you do
We set our hearts on you
Come and do what you do
'Cause we need a move
This is a time to be still and to worship Jesus. Support God in his ability to come and do what he does; which is miracles!
Miracles happen when you move
Healing is coming in this room
Miracles happen when you move
Heaven is coming, oh!
When we set our actions aside and allow Jesus’ actions to step in… Miracles will happen!!
Time:
“If I only had time” this is a phrase we use as an excuse to not do something under regular circumstances. In the midst of the circumstances we are in right now, we now have time. We can decide to think that this extra time is a pause on the life we have been living or striving for. We may view it as a pause in our plans, some may even say a setback. If that is your viewpoint of this extra time, then I would encourage you to change your perspective. View this time as a blessing. A lot of us finally have time to do things that we previously did not have time for, so do those things. Do not waste the time that has been given to you.
Use this time to focus on your mindset and your actions during this pandemic. Use this time to grow closer and stronger with God. Most importantly, use this time to pray. I know that life can get busy and prayer can be set aside. 1 Thessalonians 5 tells us to “pray constantly” because “this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” So, if your prayer life has gotten shaky, there’s literally never been a better time to get it back on track. The world needs a lot of prayer right now. Now is the time to start praying.
In this time, we have the opportunity to seek Jesus.
Do not let it go to waste.
H
I encourage everyone to listen to this!!
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