Romans 8:16-17 (NKJV) 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together..
It has certainly been an interesting month. Here in the United States we are approaching the end of the “15 days to stop the spread” set of restrictions. There is much concern that if we do not begin to go back to work and restore business, we will see such devastating financial consequences we may have difficulty recovering. This would mean great hardship to real people that could last far longer than the threat we are fighting. On the other hand, the ending of the restrictions we are living with too early could result in an increase in infections and deaths. We need to pray for wisdom for our leaders. Both doing nothing and doing the wrong thing too soon are unacceptable. We need God’s wisdom!
If you are a born-again Christian, I want to remind you that according to today’s verse, you are a son or daughter of God. In John 17, Jesus says that we are not of this world just as he was not of this world. We are called to stay in the world so that more people can come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, but we are not of the world. The world is not the source of life and we have access to a power that the world does not know about. This power is accessed by faith in God. It is blocked by allowing fear to govern our actions and decisions. It is normal to be afraid when facing a threat like this disease. However, we are not just people. We are filled with the life and power of Christ himself.
If Jesus was here today, would he be afraid of the Corona virus? If you know the Lord, I imagine that you, like me, cannot even picture this virus affecting his body. He prayed for lepers who had a disease that was feared throughout the world of his day. They were removed from society so that no one would come in contact with them and the dreaded disease would not spread. They were confined to camps where no one was allowed near them and they could not go near anyone else. (Talk about social distancing.)
Jesus was not afraid. Throughout the Gospels we see him healing lepers. In Luke 7 when John sent a message asking if he was the messiah or if there was another, he tells the messengers to tell John the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the gospel is preached to the poor. That is quite a list, but he includes that the lepers were cleansed. This was the magnitude of leprosy in his day, yet in Mark 14 we see him in the home of a man named Simon known as the leper. This was not what someone afraid of leprosy would do. In Matthew 10:8 he tells his disciples to cleanse the lepers. I wonder how many questioned whether this was wise of him. Nevertheless, lepers were cleansed.
What was it about Jesus that enabled him to heal multitudes of all kinds of sickness and yet never be affected himself? You might say it was because he was the son of God. You would be correct, but what made him the son of God. He was God’s son because of the life of God within him. Romans 8:14 says we are also children of God. In this same chapter Paul makes a powerful declaration.
Romans 8:11 (NKJV) 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
If we have the same spirit in us that was in Jesus, we have the same life in our mortal bodies. That life is the life of God. Let me share one more statement from Paul.
2 Corinthians 4:6 (NKJV) 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The same life that was in the man Jesus is the life that caused you to be born again when you received him as Lord and savior. It is the same power David spoke of in Psalm 91 when he declared that the plague of his day would not come near to him or his dwelling. How could he say that? He could say it because he knew that the life of God upon him by the anointing was an impenetrable shield against disease. That power was upon David’s life, but it dwelt in Jesus’ and it dwells in the rest of God’s children. It is activated by faith.
Jesus was unaffected by leprosy because he was a child of God with the life of God within him. That life protected him from any and all bacteria, viruses and any other disease bearing thing. He never had a cold or the flu. He never got leprosy, malaria or cholera. The life of God simply destroyed them. I have that same life in me and so do you. I choose to believe that God’s life in me becomes my shield against all viruses including this one.
I want to close with a testimony of one of the great men of God in the history of the church. His name was John G. Lake and he lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. You can read about him in the book John G. Lake: His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith, available at Amazon. In this book you will read many extraordinary things that God did through and for this man of Faith. One instance is of particular importance today.
John G. Lake was ministering in Africa during a terrible outbreak of bubonic plague. Since the plague is highly contagious, many workers were dying as they tried to minister to the victims of this awful disease. Lake and his companion spent many days working with the sick and burying the dead. One of the doctors came to Lake and asked how he was able to stay free from infection for so long while coming into close contact with the disease. He wondered if they were taking some wonder drug or using some form of precaution that was keeping them healthy. John G. Lake’s answer was simple. “Brother that is the ‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.’ I believe that just as long as I keep my soul in contact with the living God so that His Spirit is flowing into my soul and body, that no germ will ever attach itself to me, for the Spirit of God will kill it.”
As you can imagine the Doctor was dubious. He asked Lake if he thought maybe he should use the precautions that were available. In response Lake challenged the doctor to do an experiment. They took some of the froth from the mouth of a recently deceased victim and put it under a microscope. It was teaming with the disease organisms. Lake then put some of the froth on his hand. When this sample was examined, all the disease-causing organisms were dead. That is the power of God’s life in a believer.
Is this virus dangerous. Yes, it is. Should we use wisdom and take what precautions we deem necessary. Of course. Should we feel condemned if we fall victim. No, we should not. Should we judge anyone else who does. Absolutely not. Nevertheless, faith activates the power of God and fear opens the door to the works of our enemy. When we read stories like this, it puts our attention on the power of God not the power of a disease. The more we fill our heart with the hope that God can do anything and the faith that his life within us is the solution to all problems, the less we will be affected by it.
More than that, the more we will be able to pray in faith for others. God is a healing God! We can be the channel through which that healing flows. Jesus drew multitudes to himself as he healed and multitudes will come to him through our testimonies of healing. They did in John G. Lake’s day and they will today.
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