There is so much fear in people’s minds nowadays mainly due to the continuing spread of the coronavirus, or specifically COVID-19. Not only has the coronavirus infected and killed many people worldwide, it is also bringing down most forms of business or economic sectors such as tourism, investments and manufacturing.
Here in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte suspended classes in Metro Manila for the days of March 10 to 14 as the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that there are now locals infected by coronavirus.
Considering these mentioned developments are only a few of many negative developments related to the spreading coronavirus, they have still proven to drag down a lot of people deep inside. Instead of being optimistic, those who believe in the danger of coronavirus are feeling lost, scared, depressed and even panicking.
Even though the danger of COVID-19 is real, I am not scared at all and there is no good reason for me to be afraid and panicky. Why? Because my faith and trust in the Lord remains as strong as ever and I know for a fact that God will never leave us nor forsake us. It is faith in the Lord – not religion, not unbelief, not feelings and certainly not idols – that will spare us Christians from the danger and disasters of this screwed up world we live in. Instead of hiding or spending our time on our smartphones, we all should still be reading God’s Word in the Holy Bible and keep praying to Him no matter what happens.
To puts things into perspective, let’s look at key verses of Chapter 91 of the Book of Psalm in the Holy Bible.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by the day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
Psalm 91:1-10 (NKJV)
The scriptures above make it clear that our Heavenly Father is a caring, loving and protective creator and we, as His creations, need to be faithful to Him and keep serving Him. Remember that in emphasizing His love for us, God sent His Son Jesus who spread the good news, died on the cross, got resurrected and flew to Heaven. Jesus saved humanity! He redeemed us! He saved us! Jesus made people realize their true purposes as God’s creations!
Verses 9 and 10 of Psalm 91 emphasize the promise of divinely protected health. The passage promises protection from sickness as a blessing of the redeemed life. Always remember these details and for as long as you remain faithful and trusting in the Lord while applying His Word in your personal life, you will be protected from harm, poverty and disease. Not even coronavirus will bring you down.
It is essential to remember that fear is a weapon of Satan who never gave up in trying to neutralize Christians and make them fail in their relationship with God. Like past diseases, coronavirus struck fear into the hearts of many people around and those who panicked showed signs that their faith and trust in the Lord are weak. Coronavirus also made people panic and doing desperate acts like panic buying. What also come with panic buying are increased vehicular traffic on highways, increased physical presence of people in and out of the retailers (note: this incidentally would increase the risk of getting infected with COVID-19), increased air and noise pollution, and other risks of incidents.
The coronavirus paranoia shows how powerful fear is and why Satan is delighted to see people lose control of themselves and, at the same time, separate Christians from the Lord through their weakness. First of all, God did not just create us to be mere creations on Earth. He really wanted Earth to be filled with perfect beings which was what He planned with Adam and Eve. Unfortunately, Adam rebelled against God when he ate the fruit Eve gave him (which was the result of her getting tempted by the serpent to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil). This rebellion (note: God specifically commanded Adam to never eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) committed by Adam gave dominion to Satan and cursed humanity with sin, and this led to a downward spiral for the human race thousands of years later as recorded in the Holy Bible. As we know by now, God had a plan to redeem humanity by sending His Son Jesus into the world. It was through the acts and sacrifice of Jesus that humanity was saved and He proved God loves and cares for us. Jesus Himself stated that becoming born again is needed in order to see the kingdom of the Heavenly Father (read John 3:3 in the Holy Bible).
God’s plan for His creation is so great, Satan will stop at nothing to take it all away by exploiting human weakness. Fear is a favorite weapon Satan uses along with unbelief, religion, idolatry, doubt, greed, hatred, covetousness, homosexuality, deception, division and temptation. Fear leads to anger, hatred, panic, desperation, resentment and the weakening of faith in the Lord.
As Christians who were born again (accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior), we are targets of the enemy. Satan, who was defeated long ago when Jesus redeemed humanity, will strike against each of us through feelings, fear, pressure, symptoms and negativity. For us Christians, living in holiness with Jesus in our hearts becomes challenging due to our obligations such as careers, businesses, family matters and other worldly matters. As if that was not hard enough, our screwed-up world has lots of religion-blinded authorities who teach the wrong theology that God is in control of everything and allows bad things to happen to the innocent as well as to His own children (us Christians). And then these same authorities teach people to worship idols (both the living and those man-made objects like statues, statuettes, images and relics) which is sinful (refer to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10), to practice religious traditions and rituals, and to follow a bunch of rules that were not really part of the Holy Bible. Being religious is not the same as being faithful to the Lord.
As I mentioned before, we Christians need faith in the Lord, not religion, not idolatry, not traditions, not rituals, not sacraments, not feelings, and certainly not unbelief. By being faithful with Him, we each can establish a personal relationship with God which is strictly off-limits to others (even your own biological family members have no right whatsoever to interfere in your relationship with the Lord).
Let’s read these scriptures from the Holy Bible.
Therefore He says: “Awake you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”
Ephesians 5:14 (NKJV)
“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.”
Luke 21:34 (NKJV)
The scriptures above clearly show that as we have been redeemed by Jesus, He warned against spiritual lethargy and wants us to be always ready for His return. To live in holiness with Jesus in our hearts, read God’s Word through the Holy Bible, pray to Him constantly and dedicatedly (which include praying in tongues), preach His Word around, help save the unsaved and lost souls, keep trusting Him and maintain strong faithfulness in Him are all part of preparing ourselves for Jesus’ promised return.
Next scripture…
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NKJV)
The above scripture makes clear why there are many unsaved and lost souls around the world. In verse 4, Satan blinds the minds of people (including the ones who practice religion, idolatry, traditions and rituals) and the sad thing is that they choose not to believe which results their failure to see and realize the glory of Christ.
Once a man realizes the light of God and starts being faithful to Him, Satan gets defeated.
Yes, you read that right! Christians who are edified by God can defeat Satan and keep resisting him each time he tries to strike back. By having powerful faith in the Lord and following the examples of Jesus, we Christians can truly live in holiness and in victory over the enemy! Fear becomes nothing!
Having lived an old life of religion, idolatry, traditions, rituals and unbelief myself, I can say that I was hounded by darkness all the way. Since the day I got saved I realized that faith in the Lord is truly essential and true Christian living is simpler than I thought. My becoming born again is the greatest miracle in my whole life and through Jesus, I became a new creation free from the darkness of unbelief, religion, idolatry, traditions, sacraments and rituals that burdened me. I also realized that with the Lord, Satan and any other forms of evil can be defeated not once but multiple times!
The following scripture will compel you to be with Jesus.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
Now let’s look at the Passion Translation.
Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (TPT)
To put things in perspective, being a new creation means having a fresh, new start spiritually. By realizing your true purpose under God, you are in a race for holiness, a race to meet His High Call. To live in holiness with Jesus in your heart. This leads me to the next scripture.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12: 2 (NKJV)
We live in a chaotic and screwed-up world. As we live in the flesh, we are vulnerable to the trouble around us and that only means we need to resist the fear sparked by Satan that started the mess. The loser Satan thinks he can use this physical world against God by going after us and trying to defeat us spiritually. All the more reason why we should NOT be conformed to this world and we must focus always on maintaining holiness under God. We Christians have the Holy Spirit already in our hearts, and we should always be led by the Holy Spirit. We must live with purity under Jesus. The truth is that the path to godly living is not complicated, nor is it energized by our flesh. We the believers should always submit to God’s provisions and ways.
The next scripture will remind you of the battle with Satan.
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
1 Peter 5:8-9 (NKJV)
You are definitely not alone with your effort to resist Satan and living on as a Child of God. You are part of the Body of Christ (the church – refer to 1 Corinthians 12:12-30) and it is essential for us to keep living in holiness, serving the Lord (who will never abandon us nor forsake us – read Deuteronomy 31:6) and always ensure that the enemy will NEVER win. Satan can use unbelief, temptations or religion (with idolatry, traditions, rituals, sacraments and the wrongful theology) as weapons against you but as long as you know you were saved and got anointed by the Lord, and as long as you know your true purpose as a Christian, you will get to defeat Satan and beat him again on each and every subsequent attack he throws at you. Always maintain strong faith in God! God is the source and the following scripture explains why.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:17 (NKJV)
James 1:17 emphasizes that the Heavenly Father is not responsible for human sin. God is in fact the source of all good, He is also faithful, He is just and He always keeps His promises. God’s promise to Abraham of a son (Isaac) through his wife Sara is one of the most notable promises ever made and fulfilled. Behold the existence of Israel which not only has the Holy Land but also its own State. We Christians have a goal to support the State of Israel, love the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Whatever promise God made to you, rest assured He will fulfill it in due time. Don’t let the devil or anyone representing darkness fool you. Don’t let fear overpower you. You definitely do not want to settle for less knowing that God has a plan for you complete with blessings coming.
Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His Love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:12-14 (NKJV)
The above scripture emphasizes that we Christians are qualified to receive blessings from the Lord and this includes Kingdom Wealth. As citizens of God’s Kingdom, we will each be rewarded according to our respective work. Lord Jesus Himself said in Revelations 22:12 – And behold, I am coming quickly and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work.
Lord Jesus Himself pulled us out of darkness and helped us break the chains that symbolized danger, death, sickness, hostile situations, wickedness and other negative elements the enemy used on us. As Christians, we have been freed and saved by Jesus. We are new creations, citizens of God’s Kingdom and are living in victory under Jesus whom we worship directly (note: we are not hindered by a religion-led hierarchy which itself only exists to get in the way between a Christian and the Lord).
On with the next scripture…
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)
We Christians each have a race to endure and finish. The race, if you are imagining sports competitions like foot races, is obviously about our souls and the goal of achieving holiness. This means laying aside anything that would hinder the progress being made. Avoiding the committing of sin is a must! However we race, we should not focus on each other as contestants or competitors at all since we are God’s children and citizens of his Kingdom. Instead, when we race, we should always focus on Lord Jesus who saved us.
As part of living in holiness, we Christians should do more than just attending church every Sunday. For one thing, going to church on Sunday is to be done not as an obligation, not as a tradition but rather to prioritize our relationship with God by truly connecting with Him right in the presence of the many members of the spiritual family. Apart from Sunday worship, we need to attend, as much as possible, seminars and prayer meetings at church held during the weekdays. The learning of God’s Word is ever enduring and we need to keep on learning and applying the lessons into our respective lives. This is living in holiness! By doing these dedicatedly complete with strong faith in the Lord, fear as well as other forms of attacks launched against us by Satan will be futile! There is more to deepening our personal relationship with God. Let’s examine the next scripture below.
The LORD upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
Psalm 145:14-20 (NKJV)
It is clear in Psalm 145: 14-20 that God is gentle, loving, protective and caring for His children while remaining firm to punish those who are wicked. For us, His children, God really loves us and wants to bless us, and all we need to do is to keep submitting to Him, live in holiness and endure to honor, praise and serve Him. Those who sin and keep on doing what is evil and what pleases Satan will end up with doom. This should serve as a reminder that we Christians must make efforts to save the unsaved souls around the us by preaching God’s Word and magnifying the Lord to them. Eventually the unsaved souls will realize something and decide to reach out to God.
Going back to fear, we only need to fear God because it will lead to wisdom (read Proverbs 9:10). All other forms of fear are to be rejected and resisted without question! This way, Satan is defeated yet again!
Another reason to constantly pursue holiness under the Lord is that God has a vision to make you and your church unstoppable and moving on driven by faith. God, after all, is the source of all vision, success, prosperity, progress and holiness. We Christians all need to humble ourselves to Him and to realize His vision for you, you need to tell Him to show it. For insight, read Jesus’ words in John 12:26 and the Lord’s words in Jeremiah 33:3.
Here’s one more scripture…
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
God truly loves us. When we His children commit errors, He makes ways to correct us. When we His children are troubled, he comes to us to help and pave the way for the better. For as long as we His children remain faithful to Him, God’s plans for each and every one us will manifest in due time. Knowing that God’s plans are definitely good, there is no more reason for us to be fearful and weak. Satan has been defeated and will only be defeated again and again.
As of this writing, we in this chaotic world are living in the middle of the storm caused by coronavirus COVID-19. There are people who are suffering from coronavirus and there were those who died. Still no matter what happens, we the faithful Christians have no reason to be scared and lose hope because the Lord is with us. Always maintain strong faith in Him, keep trusting Him, honor Him and thank Him for all the good and the care He keeps on providing us.
We all need to pray to the Lord and trust in Him that coronavirus COVID-19 will fade away, that no more people will be infected and those who are already infected will be spared. Don’t limit your prayer into asking (note: also you should not beg), but believe that God will do it. Trust the Lord! The fear that has crippled millions of people worldwide has gone far enough and already economies have slowed down. The time to keep standing with the Lord on ending this time of crisis is now! The coronavirus COVID-19 crisis is the battle that only the Lord can fight and conquer!
The Lord is our refuge, our protector and provider! Fear and all other negative elements are nothing when we the faithful are with God.
Let me conclude this post with this holy scripture. This one will be remembered for a long time.
Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV)
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