John 14.26-27
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
The coronavirus is a problem, and the danger is real. But fear doesn’t help, because it distorts and exaggerates the problem. The Lord calls us to respond with faith and wisdom, which empowers us to understand the reality of the threat and find practical solutions.
Trusting God doesn’t mean ignoring the threat of CV19. It means seeing it with clarity and responding with wisdom. Trusting God also means having the discernment to recognize the fear-mongers, manipulators, and alarmists who try to weaponize the pandemic for personal gain or political agendas.
Faith is a condition of the heart and mind. So is fear. Whether we operate by faith or by fear is a matter of what our heart/mind focuses on. Faith and fear are opposite ways of thinking. The mind of faith focuses on God’s presence, principles, and power. The mind of fear focuses on self and circumstances. Fear restricts and narrows our perspective. It distorts our thinking and produces poor decisions. Faith expands and widens our perspective. It clarifies our thinking and produces wise decisions.
It is a timeless principle that I am going to repeat through the this week: Where your mind goes, you go. For this reason, when we begin to fear, it is imperative that we recognize that our mind is focusing on the wrong thing, and then do the inner work of redirecting our mind to focus on what really matters. If we continue to dwell on the negative, we simply feed our fear.
I have seen this play out again and again in people’s lives. I have experienced it in my own life. Something happens and we are confronted with a difficult or dangerous situation. But rather than trust God and focus on what we need to do in response to the situation, we fixate on the problem and fail to find practical solutions. As a result, we get anxious or angry or afraid, which causes us to make bad decisions, which only causes us to be even more anxious, angry, or afraid.
It’s a doom loop.
The forces of darkness in our world do not give up easily; therefore, the agents of God’s kingdom must be relentlessly persistent. We cannot lose focus, and we must be prepared for the attacks of the enemy. When we focus on self and circumstances, we experience a disruptive emotional state that weakens us. When we focus on God and trust his word, we experience a productive emotional state that strengthens us.
“I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” (Psalm 18.1-3)
When we are threatened by something sinister or dangerous, the Lord calls us to stand strong and trust his presence and power in our life. He calls us to live by faith, not fear. So remember:
- The enemy wants you to walk by fear. God wants you to walk by faith.
- We give the enemy access to our life through fear. We give God access to our life through faith.
- Where your mind goes, you go. If you dwell on self and circumstances, you feed your fear. If you focus on what the Lord and what needs to be done, you feed your faith.
- Courage is not the absence of fear. It is trusting God so that your faith is stronger than your fear.
In response to any situation in life, trust God and focus on what needs to be done. Remember: How you feel is not always a good reference point for what you should do.
“The Lord did not give us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1.7)
