Tag Archives: COVID-19

Anxiety & Depression, The Last Days

See yourself on the winning side

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I have come to realize by experience that if we don’t see ourselves on the winning side during these difficult days before Jesus comes for His church, we will be weak and fearful. Anxiety will overwhelm us. Doubt and insecurity will wreak havoc with our faith. In short—we will not be well. I suspect there are multiplied thousands, if not millions, of us who already fit this description.  

People all over the world have experienced the agonizing effects of COVID-19. In the United States, we are just beginning to see what damage the lockdowns alone have done—especially to the young and the old. My heart breaks as I think of the vulnerable children who are locked inside their homes with angry, depressed, and perhaps abusive parents or relatives. And my heart breaks equally as much for what has happened to the elderly.

Yesterday, I saw a Facebook post about the residents in a nursing home in Colorado who staged a protest to the lockdown. They were outside, lined up in wheelchairs and holding signs that said, “We’d rather die from COVID than to die from loneliness.” It is shameful what has happened to them.

Even before the onset of the pandemic, I had determined to prepare myself mentally, spiritually, and emotionally for the last days. You don’t have to look very hard to find a description of the last days in God’s Word (Matthew 24; Luke 21), and let’s face it—those days won’t be easy. I began asking God to lead me to books, people and programs on Christian Networks that would strengthen my faith.  

God has clearly answered that prayer. I have watched my faith grow and my confidence flourish. Powerful truths in God’s Word that I have known for 40 years began to come alive in my spirit once again. Apparently, I had stifled and stuffed down those truths because I was afraid if I voiced them or taught them, I wouldn’t be “politically or doctrinally correct.” I asked the Lord to forgive me, and today I no longer care whether or not I am considered correct by the world’s standards.  

Now before you criticize me, perhaps you have done the same thing. Haven’t we Christians toned down our beliefs on sin, so we won’t be out of touch with our culture? Aren’t we afraid to speak our true feelings about certain issues that cause division? Yep, it seemed best not to take a stand. And what we see today is a wanning church reaping the results of preaching a “weak gospel.”

Last week I spent two full days praying about one particular situation. During the early hours of the first day, I heard God speak to me: “Truth and Light. Pray for truth and light.” I began doing that very thing. Throughout the day, my eyes began to open to what a huge difference those two words could make in the situation for which I was praying. Next, I began applying those two words in other situations. It eventually became very clear: Truth and light could make a huge difference in every aspect of our lives—our nation, schools, churches, families, jobs, health, faith—in fact, our everything!

My friends, we desperately need TRUTH AND LIGHT in our world. There is distrust everywhere we turn. We clearly have a “trust” issue. COVID has taught us to not trust what our government is saying, what doctors are saying, and what scientists are saying. Politicians have deceived us. Our nation’s history is being torn down and destroyed before our eyes. Clearly, what is good is now called evil, and what is evil is now called good.

The Lord has spoken many encouraging things to me in the past few weeks. The words “truth and light” have exploded on the pages of my journals. God has shown me the “lies” that have been taught down through the ages deceiving millions of people, including God’s very own people. I will share these things with you in my future posts. But between then and now, I ask you to do three things:

1) Dare to believe that God is for you. He is not against you.

2) Begin to see yourself on the winning side during this unprecedented time in which we live. Jesus told us these days would come so we could be ready.

3) Pray that God will open your eyes, your ears, your mind and your spirit to whatever you need to know that you currently do not know.  

Pray this prayer for yourself: Dear God, in these strange and unsettling days, I desperately want to believe that you are for me and that I am on the winning side. I ask you to begin right now to open my eyes, ears, mind and spirit to whatever I need to know that I currently do not know. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” ~ John 8:32

Blessings to all ~ Janie

Christian Growth, Coronavirus

How Will the Church Emerge from COVID-19? ~ My Wish List

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“These are the times that try men’s souls,” wrote Thomas Paine. The year was 1776, the same year the thirteen American colonies broke from their mother country and declared independence as a free nation. They were brave men and women who fought for what they believed in, who they were, and the future they desired. Their trying times gave birth to the greatest nation on the face of the earth—the United States of America.

Our trying times should give birth to something greater as well. We should never be the same person when we come through trying times and out on the other side of pain and struggle. God allows such times because they test us to see what we’re made of. Are our hearts right before Him? Are our motives for a worthy cause? Do we want the thing bad enough to sacrifice something to obtain it?

I can’t help but wonder what changes COVID-19 will bring to us. For some reason God has allowed it, and it has and will affect so many things about our lives—what we do, where we go, how we act and react to a new normal. And then there is the Church—will the Church of Jesus Christ emerge better than we were before COVID-19? Could God be using these trying times to iron out our wrinkles so we will be ready for the Bridegroom when He comes? And what might the new normal for the Church look like?

 

 

I have a few things I would like to see change ~ my wish list, if you will.

Number 1: Christians would be one with each other, just as Jesus is one with the Father. If God has done anything in this season it is to marginalize the denominational lines that divide us. These divisions of separation need the searing hot iron in God’s mighty hand to smooth out those deeply embedded creases. Our pet doctrines need to melt away or at least be shelved. (I won’t be holding my breath on that one.) Our prejudices and jealousy must not exist in our new normal. All arrogance and pride should be gone as we emerge from this pandemic storm.

Number 2: Another change I would like to see is the leveling of the playing field among Christ’s followers. During this time, we see famous spiritual leaders, teachers, televangelists, singers, writers, speakers, etc. now standing shoulder to shoulder beside the weakest among us. We all recognize our desperate need for Him. We all feel the same stress. We all feel the same uncertainty. We all feel the same neediness. Our one heart’s cry that rises to the heavens in true harmony (something that doesn’t happen often) is this: “Oh God, we need YOU!”

If we’ve learned anything during this season of unrest, it is that the church building is not the church. Our denomination is not the church. Our platform and style of worship is not the church. Since those things are not the Church, then it seems apparent that we must now figure out what the Church of Jesus Christ is actually supposed to be.

Could it be that a conceit for our way of doing things and a disdain for other’s way of doing things will have no place of expression on the other side of the pandemic? Oh God, may this be true! Lest we stand together as one unified body of born-again believers, our religious freedoms will vanish before our eyes.

Could it be the efforts to grow our church, our brand of Christianity, our form of worship will cease and be replaced with all of God’s children serving Him and each other in one accord and waiting before Him? After all, wasn’t that the atmosphere that set the stage for the coming of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts? Wasn’t that the very match that lit the fires of revival and church explosion? It was!

During this season of seeking the Church’s true place in God’s Kingdom, it should be the desire of our hearts that we emerge from COVID-19 as a changed people—less divided, less critical, less proud, and more like our Savior who gave up everything for us? Do we owe Him anything less?

As the Church seeks to find our new normal, may we keep in mind that before the Church can love the world, we must first learn to love each other.

Somehow, I believe that Jesus’ wish list for His Church may look a lot like mine.

Blessings to all as we face the new normal of Christianity. ~ Janie

Coronavirus, Devotional

Hungering for More ~ During COVID-19

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In the midst of this Coronavirus, some of us find comfort in the humor of Facebook posts that tell us we’re not alone in the “eating more and enjoying it less” syndrome. It could be that we’re not really enjoying it less, but rather eating more and enjoying it more. In all honesty, sometimes eating is downright fun…and we will gladly pay the consequences later. But what we need most is to get through this crisis.

 

Whether our issue is quarantine related, sheer boredom, or something else, we eat because we want to eat. Good food…not-so-good food…mediocre food, you name it—we consume a lot of it. Yet sometimes the more one eats, the less satisfying it becomes, and after a while, food loses its appeal. More isn’t always better; and we long for the better! You know, like the stuff from our favorite restaurant.

 

I don’t know about you, but the thing I hunger for right now is more of God. The better thing. The real thing. The deeper thing. The richer thing. I want the good stuff. The regular stuff just isn’t doing it for me. The mediocre stuff is not satisfying me right now. I simply want more of God and I hunger after Him. In John 6:35 we read where Jesus boldly declared, “I am the bread of life.” Was He trying to tell us something?

 

 

I just know that I’m hungry. Has the pandemic caused this condition of hunger? Maybe. Could God in His infinite wisdom be behind it all? It’s highly possible. But regardless of the cause of this new hunger, its effects on my life are real. My heart screams for more. Yesterday’s high is too low for me now. And so is yesterday’s success, yesterday’s plan, and yesterday’s program. Even yesterday’s anointing isn’t enough. None of those are enough for today—in the midst of this current trial.

 

I no longer desire to pretend I have enough of Him. I no longer care to play-like everything is okay. I don’t want to play church, play worship, play praying, play giving, play serving, play anything! I have to have the real thing in order to ride out this storm.

 

I love the song that says, “Our hearts always hunger for more.”1 Does that describe you? Have you felt that deep-gnawing need in your innermost being? Perhaps you have sensed your spiritual gauge registering somewhere near the empty mark. I know that I have.

 

Is it possible that God has upset our applecart of pretense, so that our hearts will hunger for more of Him? I believe He has done that very thing with His people throughout history—in times like these…

~ when His people have forgotten Him.

~ when His people have eaten their fill on the things of the world rather than the things of God.

~ when His people have a form of worship that denies the power of the Holy Spirit.

~ when His people have allowed their religion, their church, or their denomination to become a substitute for God.

~ when hyper-grace teaching has caused them to lose their compass for truth and they’ve settled for mediocrity.

~ when His people believe they no longer have to repent of their sins.

~ when His people have seriously grieved the Holy Spirit.

 

While we spend another week or two (or more) sheltering at home, how about we invite the Holy Spirit to come freely and unhindered into our homes and hearts. Just what if we hunger for more of God and He answers that prayer? What if we repent of our sins and beg for mercy from our grace-filled Heavenly Father? What if the Holy Spirit were to set our hearts on fire and fill our hunger for more?

 

I fear that many modern-day Christians have a pseudo-religion—they have heard about God, read about God, and sing about God, but they have never experienced God. Perhaps a little self-test would help us determine where we are. Ask yourself these questions:

Have I ever experienced the presence of God?

Have I heard God speak to me—do I know His voice?

Do I know Him well enough to recognize when He is dealing with me?

When I read the Bible, does it seem like He is speaking directly to me?

 

If any of your answers are “No” or “I’m not sure,” simply begin to seek God and ask Him to make Himself real to you. He longs to do that very thing. He’s been waiting for you to get to that place where you long for Him, His presence, His voice, His dealing with you. And here in this crisis, we have the time away from the hum-drum of life to get real with God.

 

Our hungering for God will always lead us to a higher place in Him. He will always satisfy our deepest need when our hearts are right. Jesus’ own words tell us to “ask, seek, and knock”2 and it will be given to us. Believe that He will keep His Word!

 

Let’s not let this pandemic crisis slip away from us, but let us use this time of sheltering at home to expand and enhance our relationship with God. He invites us to come and feast at His table. The only prerequisite is “hunger for Him.”

 

Wouldn’t it be amazing if our take away from COVID-19 was a closer, more real and intimate relationship with God? Oh Lord, may “our hearts always hunger for more!” That is my prayer for all of us. ~ Janie

 

1Dawn Rodgers and Eric Wyse, Wonderful, Merciful Savior, 2001

2Luke 11:9

Coronavirus, Encouragement, Faith, Holidays

Being Disciples on this Strange Good Friday

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God is the originator of all good things—so the Bible tells us in James 1:17 (NLT) ~ “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.”  In other words, everything in heaven and on earth that is good comes from the one true God. Even that dark Friday when His Son was tortured, beaten, slapped, cursed, insulted, jeered at, spit upon, and nailed to a wooden cross turned out for our good.

 

I’m sure that Friday didn’t feel good as Jesus’ mother, brothers, and beloved disciples looked at the cross in unbelief. I can imagine thoughts like this going through their heads: What just happened? How did we get here? This is not what we bargained for? This is not how following Jesus was supposed to turn out! Is God anywhere to be found?

 

We’re talking about real human beings here—His disciples. Oh, they were not highly-educated men of position and power, nor honored high priests in the Jewish synagogue. Truth is—each of those men was basically an unknown member of society and a nobody as far as the world was concerned.

 

And on that Good Friday when Jesus died, all their hopes and dreams for being a somebody died too. The hopes that they had found the promised Messiah just got deflated. All dreams of being in Jesus’ official cabinet when He set up His kingdom on earth vanished as well. They were actually in hiding for minutes, hours, and days not knowing where they were in the bigger scheme of things. No doubt they were bewildered. It surely must have felt as if hell had won.

 

Today, on this Good Friday in April of 2020, it somewhat feels the same way for us modern-day disciples. We are hold-up in our homes due to COVID-19 safer-at-home orders spending minutes, hours, and days not knowing where we are in the bigger scheme of things. There is hardly any normal life to be found. It has affected all of us—crossing all lines of division—wealth, race, education, religion—and marginalizing us into one big category—bewildered! And it surely feels as if hell has won.

 

Aren’t we asking those same questions: What just happened? How did we get here? This is not what we bargained for? This is not how following Jesus was supposed to turn out! Is God anywhere to be found?

 

But wait—the truth is that one dark afternoon at Calvary changed everything for Jesus’ disciples then and now. I guess we could say it was a game-changer deluxe! In that fateful moment when Jesus declared “It is finished,” the curse on mankind was broken and the redemptive plan of God was accomplished. In just a few days, that dark moment would yield to a glorious resurrection morning. Great joy would fill the hearts of the disciples when they realized that Jesus was alive forevermore!

 

You see, the time hidden here in this dark moment of a world pandemic is only for a few days. We too will have a glorious resurrection morning and Jesus will appear to us once again. Our hearts will be filled with joy when we understand that just as He had not abandoned His disciples then, He has not abandoned us now. And since we serve a game-changing God, who knows what good will come out of this dark time? Who knows what it could mean for us who believe that He always keeps His promises, and that everything He ever told us will be just as He said?

 

It is in our best interest as modern-day disciples of the Living Lord to trust our faithful Father and believe that this too is indeed a Good Friday! He has never failed us yet!

 

May we celebrate this strange Easter as disciples of great faith! Blessings to all ~ Janie

Coronavirus

The Savior and His Little Chicks ~ In Times Like These

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The term “trying times” is an understatement for the day in which we find ourselves—fighting COVID-19. For most of my life I have heard about a future time when things would be out of control and everything would be shaken. It would be unlike anything we have ever seen before, and it would be linked to the end of the world. Whether this time is any of that or not, it is at the very least, a coming storm that shakes us to the core.

Today, after nearly three weeks of sheltering in place—right here in the good ole USA, the land of the free and home of the brave—we are staying home from work, school, church, sports events, movies, vacations, trips to see grandparents, and shopping for anything except the bare essentials. It is a great trial-run for finding out what we can and can’t live without. We also know that unless things improve, there is no end in sight. Welcome to a world with the Coronavirus in full swing.

 

I will spare you the numbers of cases worldwide and in the US, the number of tests done for the virus, and sadly the number of deaths because all numbers are on the rise—every day, every hour.  Makeshift hospitals are being set up at record speeds as this period of time is being compared to a war. And a war it is. A war on humans, on our way of life, on our economy, and certainly on our faith. No one—get this—no one person on earth will escape the effects of this war. We see it and hear it on the news 24/7, and we are growing weary. Unemployment is rising with each new announcement of another company laying off thousands of employees from their jobs. That, my friend, is going to get real—really soon!

 

So, it is war. It is trying times. It is a trial. It could be the end-time shaking that the Bible tells us will come upon all the world. That’s enough to scare the daylights out of most anyone—unless you know who I know.

 

I love this old song sung by George Beverly Shea at so many Billy Graham crusades:

 

“In times like these you need a Savior, in times like these you need an anchor.

Be very sure, be very sure, your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.

This Rock is Jesus. Yes, He’s the One. This Rock is Jesus, the only One.

Be very sure, be very sure, your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.”1

 

Do you have Jesus as your anchor? Is your life clearly anchored in Him? in His Word? in His promises?

 

I want to share one scripture with you that is found in Matthew 23:37 ~ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”

 

Those are the words of Jesus as He stood on a hill overlooking the city of Jerusalem. He is talking about God’s people—the Jews—who had rejected all the prophets of God down through the centuries. Their religious leaders had set up a form of worship, added to the Laws of God, created a set of rules and regulations developed solely by men, and made their traditions what they worshiped. God had sent prophet after prophet to tell them of the coming judgement if they did not turn from their sin and return to Him. Message after message they chose not to hear. And if the messenger became too loud, they killed him.

 

At last, God sent His only Son, Jesus. Guess what? They didn’t want to hear Him either. They plotted against Him and killed Him too. On that day, when Jesus stood looking over Jerusalem, He fully knew what they were going to do with Him. His fate was already recorded in the Old Testament. He would be killed by God’s own chosen people. His love for them was strong, and His compassion ran deep because the Father had tried over and over to change the outcome for this city.

 

Notice the last phrase of that scripture: “But you wouldn’t let me.” And because they didn’t let Him, Jerusalem was totally destroyed in 70 AD. Today, as we see our beloved United States of America reeling in the turbulent winds of a world pandemic, we wonder if she will be able to stand. Will she make it through? Will she survive these trying times?

 

I don’t have the answers and neither do you. But this is do know. Jesus is looking out over America today and offering to gather us—His little chicks—under His wings of protection until this storm passes—if we are willing to let Him.

 

The little word “if” holds gigantic significance here. Why? Because….

It tells us—His little chicks—who gets to determine the outcome.

It tells us—His little chicks—there is hope on the horizon and a rescue is possible.

It tells us—His little chicks—that we can turn this thing around.

It tells us—His little chicks—that He will fight for us when we choose to do it His way.

 

The question to all of us is this: Are we willing? Have we heard His voice calling out to us as a nation, “America! America!” Have we heard His message? His warnings? His pleadings for us to turn around?

 

Perhaps we need to consider a few things: Has America been faithful to God, like He has been faithful to us? Have we stood for life, truth, justice, mercy, and righteousness? Are we a light to the world? Or are we continuing to ignore His pleadings while our last chance is being offered to us in the middle of these trying times?

 

Only time will tell what America is willing to do. Repentance is the key word, and it must begin with God’s own people. I don’t know about you, but I’m running towards those wings of protection and plan to crawl beneath them, hunker down and stay there as long as necessary—until this storm passes or Jesus comes for His little chicks! How about you?

 

In the next few days and weeks, we will look at repentance, what it means to be under His wings and how to get there, and enduring through tough times. Blessings to all ~ Janie

 

1Ruth Caye Jones, In Times Like These, 1943