I finished my year long fast at the end of February.
I knew revival and persecution would come in 2020.
I didn’t see the Coronavirus coming.
I recall, right before the Olympics in Brazil in 2016, there was the Zika virus.
Fear makes people do weird things. I won’t give into fear. Because we didn’t succumb to fear, we saw such low hanging fruit in Rio, that all we had to do was tell about Jesus and people would accept Christ. Over a thousand accepted Christ.
So when I heard the Olympics in Japan this year were in jeopardy, I knew the schemes of satan. Same tactics, different year. Same fear that would prevent people from going. I knew that the 1% Christian nation of Japan needed Jesus. And I prayed the coronavirus will not prevent us from going.
That’s my hope for any plagues we face in America and the world. That our hearts will turn back to God. That we will run to revival. And not flee in fear.
That revival will come on the heels of suffering.
Persecution and the spread of the gospel rode tandem in history.
Why would it change now?
My greatest heroes in the faith would be deemed “crazy” in 2020.
That brings me comfort.
The more I obey, the more I get the deer-in-the-headlight stares when I entrust my journey with others. The questions. The doubts. The concern.
That makes me want to do 2 things.
1. Stop sharing with others what God is telling me to do. Quote to myself “And Mary treasured these things in her heart” for justification purposes and how we don’t “throw pearls to swine.”
2. Get frustrated with logical people’s “wisdom” of the world and become bitter instead of better.
But instead, I choose love and faith. Love wins every-time.
This morning, as I flooded my mind with the Word, to renew it to reality, I heard the Lord say read Galatians 5:6. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
That’s all that counts. TT having faith and expressing that in love.
So, what do I do? I draw closer to Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith.
I don’t let the world or it’s influence, even Christians, frame my mind. I let the author of my faith renew my mind EVERY morning so I can think straight.
The Lord told me last year that He’s proud of my faith, but I got nothing on Isaiah and Ezekiel, that He would call me to crazier things.
So, technically, people will only think I am crazier.
It’s fine.
What freaks me out is NOT obeying Jesus….not whether or not people think I am nutso.
I can see why basing your whole life on what God says could be hard for those who have never seen Him or heard Him. But I know Him. And it’s the most logical thing to do, if we want to talk logic.
You see, we have this Bible with all these stories that we “think” are cool
until someone lives them 21st Century.
Let me paint a picture of my heroes and what their current mental status would be per the worlds’s standards in 2020.
1. Jesus. His own inner circle…i.e. Peter….wanted Jesus NOT to do the VERY thing that would save the world…to die for us. Jesus rebuked him and said “Get behind me satan.” (Mt 16:23)= today Jesus would be considered suicidal.
2. Paul. Encouraged BY HIS PEOPLE to not go to Jerusalem. Even a prophet came and warned him. Yet, he said he was not only willing to be chained but to die for the name. (Acts 21:10-13)=today Paul would be considered “unwise.” (I’ve seen how Christians talk poorly about martyrs dying for the faith….sounds righteous but it’s wicked.)
3. Moses. He was the ONLY one out of a million who didn’t bow to the golden calf made out of their earrings, including his mouthpiece, Aaron. (Ex 32) He went up to a mountain and fasted 40 days to get instructions. (Ex 34:28) =Today he would be scolded for not taking in wise counsel. Who was he to think he was the only one out of a million with the truth? And he might even be deemed to have an eating disorder. No food or water for 40 days?
4. Noah. It had never rained and homey is spending YEARS building some structure for something that has never happened. = Today, he would be considered paranoid.
5. Joshua and Caleb (my heroes). Went with LEADERS into the promised land and came back. 10 flipped out in fear. Joshua and Caleb believed that God was given them this land, they just had to face some giants. Fear is contagious, so all a million or so, were like “we ain’t going into the very land we have been waiting to head into for 40 years.” That seemed logical to fear. Faith said we can do it! = Today, Caleb and Joshua would probably be sued for not caring about the emotional well being on their people, leading them to get PTSD and anxiety disorders.
6. Isaiah walked around naked for 3 years as a prophetic act. (Is 20:3) = Today, he would be arrested for indecent exposure and probably confined to a mental institution for a while.
7. Ezekiel laid on his left side for 390 days to bear the sin of the people of Israel. (Ez 4:5)=Today he could be considered to be isolating, on the verge of depression and possibly not prophesying good things like it talks about in 1 Cor 14:3. Like “Hey, Ezekiel, that’s not very comforting or encouraging now!”
8. Joseph. Decided to bloom where he was planted whether being sold (Gen 27:38) or in prison (Gen 39:20) on false accusations. He chose to turn the other cheek with his brothers. (Gen 50:20)=Today, he could be considered “weak,” needing to have better boundaries with those who have hurt him and not standing for his rights.
9. Abraham and Sarah. They wavered, but God brought a child when it wasn’t humanly possible. Sarah was about 90. (Genesis 17:17) I can only imagine how people treated them for 25 years while they waited for the promise to be fulfilled.= Today, people would think Abraham was nutso, like “you had a word “from God” about your descendants being like the stars….as they call a nursing home for a possible Alzheimer’s patient.
10. Abraham and Isaac. Obeys God and takes the promise he waited for for 25 years to slaughter him on a mountain because God said so. (Gen 22:2) = Today DSS would be called in a hot minute and Sarah would get custody rights with Abe maybe able to see Isaac through a glass window on supervised visitations in prison.
And this is our Hall of fame in the Christian worldview. But how many of us are really willing to take that risk and do whatever “crazy” think God has called you to do?
It concerns me, the more and more I follow Jesus that I don’t have a peace about even “bouncing things God tells me off of people.” I am not sure who is even listening to God. My concern is we, as Christians, are deceived and are really living a prosperity gospel with all decision made on what will be make us healthy, wealthy and wise.
Not what would be crazy, risk taking, maybe life taking and bold.
We live in such a fear filled, logical, keep me and yo kids safe, disease free Christianity, that if I say “Hey God is calling me to do this wild thing….” I might be discouraged from doing it.
So who do you ask for wise counsel? Who did Jesus ask? Who did Paul ask? Who did Joshua and Caleb ask? Who did Noah ask? It certainly wasn’t their inner circle. Or even their leaders.
I guess they asked the Father. Call it Daddy issues, but they knew who had the answer. They knew if He said it, it was gold.
My hands are raised in worship, not in surrender to the fear of man.
Looks like the same position, but different heart posture.
Hands raised in honor of the applause of heaven. If we live for the applause on earth, we won’t get the applause of heaven. If we live for the applause of heaven, when we reach heaven, the applause on earth usually starts.
Hence, history has shown with all the trailblazers and forerunners of the gospel.
Our 2020 judgements of the “foolish” who walk out Biblical Christianity will only be books later on entitled “Heroes in the Faith.”
We hardly ever have 20/20 vision in the now, but more in hindsight.
Hebrews 11 was written in hindsight.
I wanna have clear vision as it is happening and the only way I know how is to consult with Christ on the daily. His consultations are free. He assures me I will be crazier. And since He’s writing my book, I can sit in his chair and glean from Him and the ones before me…those heroes in the faith.
Living for His applause,
TT
