As we venture farther into "pandemic" mode in this unusual world today, like it or not, we are being forced to evaluate our entire "belief" system. Without God we better believe that our healthcare system is going to help us, that our government is looking out for us and that our family and friends are strong enough to survive. But with God this should be different, right?
Churches around the globe have one by one closed their doors. Some closed up shop before it was mandatory because they were heavily monitoring the guidelines for group gatherings and were not interested in law suits. Others shut the doors only when it became law (mandatory) and others still, have yet to comply. So what have we learned from this? How have the people with God conducted things differently than anyone without God?
Peel all of the layers back and what you will find at the center of ALL THINGS is either TRUTH or LIES. We know the bible as the TRUTH. We know God as TRUTH. So it MUST be then, that anything that isn't the word of God or God Himself is a LIE. Let's read that again, anything that is not directly from the word of God and anything that is not God Himself, is a LIE. Think about what that means for a moment. If the bible says that ALL THINGS ARE YOURS (1 Corinthians 3:21), that IS the truth and therefore, anything that says CONTRARY to this is a LIE. If the bible says that BY JESUS' STRIPES YOU WERE HEALED (Isaiah 53:5), that is also the truth and so anything that is opposite that position, is a LIE. In concept we agree, don't we? We LOVE these scriptures and any other scriptures that make us feel good and strong. We quote these scriptures on the way to the doctor's office because that cough is making us nervous. We confess these types of scriptures as we get dolled up to meet with the banker in the hopes that our loan application will be approved. These scriptures give us a confidence in the world that we live in. The only problem is that these scriptures were not designed to assist you in the world in which you live, these scriptures are meant to BE THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.
In EVERYTHING there are two elements that determine the outcome or take away. There is the TRUTH (not just any truth, THE truth) and there are LIES. In fact, in all of Jesus' ministry He proposed this simple breakdown whenever a teaching moment arose, or when He was dropping off hints for His disciples. His parables all point to this, miracles all exemplify this and even on the cross He displays this so beautifully as He exposes His human experience and rises up from the Spirit with God's WILL being the TRUTH of the sacrifice that He was in the very middle of. In fact, some of the people who truly captured His attention as He went about the Father's business were people who recognized the TRUTH over the lies that they were experiencing. The woman with an issue of blood, touched the dirty bottom of His clothing because she could see so clearly that this act would match the TRUTH that Jesus was preaching, all authority had been given to Him from His Father in heaven; and with that she knew the TRUTH would prevail over the lie of the disease which had plagued her for years. The Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal His servant clearly understood the TRUTH that Jesus spoke of, to the point that he knew that sickness & death did not stand a chance against the authority and power that Jesus operated within, so much so that he didn't even need a point of contact because he recognized Jesus' word to be all the TRUTH he needed. Even Jesus Himself, refused to bow down to the lie that His friend Lazarus was dead and had passed the point of no return, upon hearing the news He stuck with the TRUTH that sickness & death were no match for His Father, and instead of immediately rushing to the urgency of the situation, He waited a few days and forced the situation to line up with the TRUTH that He is THE life and the resurrection.
As we look around these days we see lies disguising themselves as truth. We see sickness professing to be bigger than the TRUTH that our God has provided us with divine health. We see lies working together with fears and worries to convince people we know and love that they have no hope outside of the hospitals or medical science. The TRUTH that we must not lose sight of now and always is that the word of God is THE ONLY TRUTH we need and we MUST choose God's word to be the world we live in, even in the midst of the world around us losing it's grip. If the bible says that Jesus bore our pains and carried our sickness and disease and by His stripes we were healed (Isaiah 53:4-5), then it is NEVER God's will for people to be sick. If it is not God's will for people to be sick then sickness can NEVER be TRUTH, it is ALWAYS a LIE. One of the most profound things that Jesus said stands out over everything else, SO BE IT UNTO YOU AS YOU BELIEVE (Matthew 8:13). In the context that He was speaking this TRUTH was to a Roman military man who understood "kingdom authority", so when we come to realize that the bible is full of God's words, and all of those words are a fixed point of reference called the TRUTH, whatever we believe about the TRUTH becomes our reality of the truth. As this is true, so is the opposite. If we believe the LIE it becomes TRUE for us. The lie can never become the TRUTH, it can only become our true reality if we CHOOSE to believe it, accept it, receive it.
Most all of us have been indoctrinated to buy into the concepts, perspectives, and even facts set forth as "the truth" by some of humanities smartest people, while at the same time these wonderful finite thinking humans have diminished the value of what the Almighty, Creator of Everything has stated as THE principles to live by. We say all of that to say this, simply put, it will take some time to undue a lifetime of indoctrination. Let's get busy and start listening to God so we can displace our limited thinking and replace it with His immeasurable and unstoppable TRUTH of our authority over all things through Him. Are you ready?
