The Coronavirus and What God is Doing

Hey everyone! I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe during this time. So much is taking place right now, both naturally and spiritually. Due to this pandemic, our lives have been shifted, our plans have been canceled, and almost every sector of society has been temporarily shut down.  

I’m a firm believer that God allows things to happen for a reason. And although this is a very crazy time in our world, God is doing and saying multiple things through this situation.

As I have been watching the news, thinking, hearing other people’s thoughts about what’s going on, but most importantly talking to God and hearing what HE has to say, He put a few things on my heart regarding this pandemic that I want to share with you. I believe that just as in every situation, God is doing multiple things at one time through this coronavirus pandemic.

In this post, I want to share just a few things that God has shown me and impressed on my heart. This is not the end-all, be-all of what God is doing in this time, this is just what He has given me to share with you. I pray that this encourages you and gives you hope in these uncertain times.

1. Do not be afraid.

As believers, we have nothing to fear. Most of us have never experienced anything like this and we probably never expected to see anything like this happen in our lifetime, but nothing can happen in this world or your life without your Heavenly Father knowing about it. It may have caught the entire world by surprise, but it didn’t catch God by surprise. He saw it coming and He continues to cover us just as He did when things were normal.

Yes, use wisdom, stay home, wash your hands, and take proper precautions, but do not be afraid. Our hope is in Jesus, not in what’s taking place in the world, or our governments or economic system. We can be in the middle of a storm and still have peace because we know Who holds us. Whether we live or die, we know where we will spend eternity. God determines when we will take our last breath, not a global pandemic. So, pray over yourself, your home, and your family and friends and rest knowing that God is in charge. Don’t allow the spirit of fear or anxiety to take over you, you are covered. God still holds the world in His hands, even in the midst of a global pandemic.

2. We should be praying more during this time.

This is a time where every believer should be lifting their voice in prayer! The world doesn’t have all the answers, but we know the One who does. The world doesn’t know who to turn to, but we do. Many people all over the world are being affected right now because of this pandemic.

Pray for government officials all over the world – pray that God would lead them on the hard decisions they have to make. Pray for healthcare workers – pray that they would have the strength, guidance, safety, and resources needed to do their job; pray for their peace of mind as things are very chaotic for them. Pray for the elderly – pray that God would protect them, provide what they need, and keep them safe. Pray for parents – pray that they will be patient towards their children and pray for provision for those who have lost their jobs. Pray for the poor and the homeless – pray that God would provide shelter and food for them. Pray for those who suffer from depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and similar issues. Pray for children in abusive homes and those in the foster care system – pray that God would divinely protect them and give them peace as they temporarily do not have the option of using school as a way to escape the abuse and instability.

Pray for families and the proper order of the home to be restored. Many families with deep-rooted issues are now forced to confront those issues while they are in quarantine together. Pray that God brings healing to those families and that the spirit of division be broken. Pray that love is restored to loveless marriages. Pray for pastors and church leaders – pray that while they have more time on their hands that God begins to deal with them about setting things in order in their churches that are out of order. Pray for an awakening for pastors and church leaders who have lost their focus, pray that by the time things get back to normal that there will be a shift in their hearts and their churches. Pray against this virus, pray against the spirits of death, fear, anxiety, terror, and depression.

We should be on the wall interceding. There are so many people and so many things we need to be praying for at this time. If you find yourself bored at home, think of all the different kinds of people in the world and the different situations they may be in, create a specific and detailed prayer list, and BEGIN TO PRAY!

3. God has shut down our idols so that we can return to Him.

I strongly believe that God has disrupted our usual day to day routines to get our attention. He has taken away our idols, the things we depend on, run to, and look forward to, and has allowed the whole world to be shut down to get us to turn back to Him. What’s going on right now is not a coincidence. Sometimes to get someone’s attention, you have to do something to disrupt their usual flow. And just as we are all home to quarantine (cleans and prevent the spread of disease) in the natural, I believe God desires to do the same thing spiritually. He desires to cleanse the heart of the whole world during this time.

This global pandemic has slowed all of us down and is causing many people to really think about the purpose and meaning of life. It’s causing many people to evaluate their life, to wonder if they will live or die and if they die, what will happen after death. It’s causing people to reevaluate the things that they find value in and put their hope in. Many who have heard of Jesus and the end times are picking up a Bible and praying to God for the first time. Many who rejected the existence of God will call upon His name due to this panic. Those who were backslidden will begin to return to God. This a wakeup call to the entire world; it’s a time of self-evaluation, it’s a time to return to the Father. It’s a time of not just physical cleaning, but also much spiritual cleansing.  

4. Pray for The Church to repent.

This has been very heavy on my heart. We The Church as a whole have a lot of repenting to do. 1 Chronicles 7:13-14 says,  “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if My people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” We have seen all three of these events take place in the last few months: A drought in Australia which led to fires breaking out all over that nation, locusts in Africa, and now a worldwide plague. If we think for a second that the condition of The Church and all of our wickedness doesn’t play a part in all of this, we are mistaken. GOD IS TRYING TO GET OUR ATTENTION. We as The Church must repent so that our land can be healed.

God has been dealing with me about the condition of The Church these past few weeks, and He has had me praying more for repentance (personal repentance first and Church-wide and global repentance). The Father is not pleased with what goes on and He will not overlook it. As the years go by, we are looking more and more like the world. We have thrown the word of God out of our buildings and we have adopted a gospel that is mixed with our own desires and ways of thinking. Wickedness abounds in The Church. We spit in God’s face and bring His name to a reproach as we misrepresent Him before unbelievers. Judgment will surely begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:7)!

Cry out for repentance! Pray for The Church in America, in Europe, in Africa, in Australia, and all over the world. If you are a true born-again believer filled with The Holy Spirit of God, you see some of the things taking place. Do not be silent, get in your prayer closet and CRY OUT! There is a time for grace and there is a time for judgment. Many Christians think God will always extend grace for our blatant disobedience, but a time is coming (and I believe is already here) when God will bring judgment to the disobedient. The Church is OUT OF ORDER! He is calling us to get back into order, to turn from the false gods that we have been chasing and TURN back to Him. May we ALL repent and be in prayer.

5. This is a ripe time for GLOBAL HARVEST! – Pray for the world to repent.

Now that God has gotten the whole world’s attention, let us pray for global repentance! The world is ripe for harvest! Let’s pray that many unsaved people turn to God. Let’s pray that this time causes them to search out and study who Jesus is. Let’s pray that at this time while we are forced to social distance and quarantine, that God will release His ministering angels into the homes of millions and millions of people to minister to them as they are bored at home. Let’s pray that while people have so much extra time on their hands that they begin to remember how someone mentioned Jesus to them, how they stumbled upon a sermon about the end times, how they passed by that church one day, and that those memories lead them to the Bible and to salvation. Let’s pray for whole families and households of unsaved people to be saved. Let’s pray that as people are panicking and anxious, that they call on the name of Jesus and that they have a life-changing encounter with Him. Let’s pray that the unsaved would use this time to reflect on their life and be convicted of their sins and repent. Let’s pray that as hospitals and health care facilities are in a state of panic, that unbelieving doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers will realize their limited power and humble themselves to the only One who can save.

Let’s pray for salvation to break forth throughout the earth, in every nation, tribe, and tongue! Let’s pray that through this crisis, Hell will decrease, and Heaven will enlarge due to an influx of souls turning from the world and coming into the Kingdom of God. Let’s pray that the world would fall on her knees, that many humble themselves, repent, and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! God desires that NO MAN be lost, He desires that ALL would be saved. Partner with Heaven in this hour to pray for the greatest thing on The Father’s heart – SOULS.

6. We are in a special time (KAIROS) moment in history and in the spirit, seize the moment!

As I was praying the other night, God impressed in my spirit that we are in a Kairos moment. Kairos means “a propitious (favorable) moment for decision or action;the right, critical, or opportune moment; the opportune time and/or place; the appointed time in the purpose of God; the time when God acts.”

I encourage you to press into God to hear what He wants to do in your life (and in the world) at this particular time. We are in a special, unique, and unusual time in history AND in the spirit. (Remember, God does multiple things at one time). There are things — even unusual things — that God desires to do and WILL do in this special and unusual time. Be open to what Heaven is saying and doing. I believe He will even use this time of stillness to reveal and confirm things that He has called some of us to do. I believe He will awaken some of us in the gifts and callings He has put in us and even give some of us the confirmation and boldness we need to walk in things He has already shown us. Don’t waste the free time that you have now, press into God.  

I also sensed that this is a time of deeper intimacy with God. For many of you, your fire will be rekindled, you will experience an intimacy that you have not felt with God for many years now. You will begin to experience the intimacy you felt and had when you first gave your life to Jesus. For some, there will be a breakthrough in your time with Him and your relationship with Him. Those that have been held back in their relationship with God by guilt, shame, condemnation and sin, and those that have felt a blockage between them and God, God says “I’m breaking it during this time!” YOU WILL BEAR FRUIT! Like a faucet that’s been hard to open no matter what you try, you will flow in the spirit again, living waters will flow out of you again! For those that have been backslidden and strayed away from God, in this time, your relationship with Him will be renewed if you repent (turn back to Him) and seek His face. Now is the time to seek His face like never before. Seek Him for HIM, not for what you want. Seek His face and not His hand! Seek Him expecting to find Him, because He desires to reveal Himself to you in greater ways. He has a deep, deep well of love for you that is unending. He desires to overflow you with His love in the secret place. Meet Him in your secret place, He awaits you there.

(Let’s also be in prayer concerning this word, that the backslidden and those who desire a relationship with God but don’t know how will encounter Him in this time).

7. The end has not yet come, this is just the beginning of sorrows.

Many people are afraid and believe that we are at the end of the world, but the end has not yet come, this is just part of the beginning of sorrows (read Matthew 24 – the whole chapter!). What we see taking place with this virus is nothing compared to what is coming as we get closer to the return of Christ. Things like this will begin to increase as we get closer, but this is light compared to the judgment that will be released when the end comes. We are in the last days, but this is not the end.

This an awesome time to prepare your heart and your mind for when the end comes. Can you still have peace when the world is in greater chaos than it is now? The amount of sick and dying that we see with this virus is nothing compared to what is to come. The way the government and world systems will be in disarray when the end comes will make this look like a test run. Prepare your heart and mind. Some of us will be here when that time comes. Can you still witness and give people Jesus, or will you be panicking with the rest of the world? Can you still pray and find peace in the presence of God, or will you be full of fear? Now is the time to get closer to God and learn to discern His voice. You will need to know the voice of God and the leading of His Spirit for when those times come.

According to the Bible, things WILL continue to get worse. Make sure that your soul is completely anchored in Jesus. This pandemic has exposed the heart of many Christians. If your response to this pandemic has not been good, NOW is the time to work on the things you need to work on. Get deeper into the Word of God, know what the Bible says so you will not be fooled as things begin to unfold. If you have children, teach them the word of God and what the Bible says about the end of days so that they won’t be fooled. Teach them to find peace in God and to get into God’s presence so that if you aren’t with them when those things happen, they are not caught off guard. Be ready, the Word of God WILL unfold before our very eyes!

8. JESUS IS COMING BACK SOON!

This pandemic and all the other birth pains and beginning of sorrows that have been taking place in the world all point to one thing – JESUS IS COMING BACK SOON! Make no mistake about it, no man knows the day nor the hour, but one day soon, God will tell Jesus, “IT’S TIME – GO!” I don’t know about you, but I look forward to His return! I look forward to looking up and seeing Him come down on the clouds with glory. I look forward to hearing that trumpet blow. I look forward to that day that every eye will see Him, every ear will hear Him, and every knee bow and tongue confess that He is Lord. I look forward to the day of our redemption when we all get to spend eternity with Him together forever!

After this pandemic dies down, things may return back to normal in many ways, but please don’t get comfortable or lax in your relationship with God. God will not change His mind, His Son is soon to return. Get your house in order, preach the Gospel, evangelize to as many people as you can warn others – He is soon to return.

“And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”  – Revelation 22:17

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Announcements:

1. Look out for a post on Bible verses about fear. As I said, so many people are afraid during this time, including believers, and there is no better place to turn to overcome our fear than the Word of God.
2. Last month I did a February Relationship Series on YouTube. I shared my testimony and some things I’ve learned over the years. You can watch the entire series here.
3. God led me to do a 14 day #TheChurchMustRepent series on my social media (Facebook and Instagram). Each day He is giving me topics/issues that the church has that we need to pray for repentance for. I’m currently on day 7 today. You can find those posts on my Facebook or Instagram pages. I will create a highlight for these posts on my Instagram page so they’re easier to find later. (Let us truly be in prayer for repentance at this time).