My Lord, my Lover, “Take me with You. Let’s run away. The King has brought me into His private rooms” (SS1:4)
This pandemic of COVID19 and the lockdown has reveled many hidden things, in our homes and in our churches. By the order of the Government, all churches are to be shut down. As all government authorities are there with the permission of God, it means that God’s will for us, for now, it is to stay at home. I believe it is the loving discipline of God the Father; a form of ‘time out’ for His stubborn children. Discipline is not hatred. It is is tough love! We may not like it, but this is His will for now. We must thank God in all things. We need to quiet our spirits and find God in our ‘lockdowns’. Each child of God must have new testimonies of God’s provision, protection and peace in his home. We are hearing different stories: some families, some marriages are getting better; others are quarreling every day. The lockdown did not bring the peace or the quarrel. God used it to revealed what was there before now, when in the past, the business, the visiting of friends and the church activities were used to cover up for cracks in the relationships. Jesus said: “every house divided against itself will not stand” (Mt 12:25). May your marriage be healed from divisions and may it stand the test of time! In Jesus’ name!
Please listen! God’s first command is to love God with all your heart and strength! The second command is to love others as you love yourself! But sin tries to deceive us. He wants to turn things upside down. Many Christians love people more than they love God. They obey the second command more than the first. Many Christians go to church, not to seek God and His Word, but to meet with friends and to do business. To expose our hearts, God, who knows everything, decreed that for now, we should stay at home and examine our motives for going to His House. Until we repent of religious hypocrisy, the doors of the church will remain shut. The earlier we humble ourselves, repent and change, the faster the day of going back to church shall come. But the ones who refuse to repent, will not be able to come back. There is a harvest in the Kingdom of God. The harvesters are angels. The wheat shall be gathered in the Lord’s barn and the tares shall be burnt! There is a testing and a proving in the Body of Christ! It is not done by man. It is done by God! Glory to God!
For now, stay at home! Read your Bible. Fast and pray! The truth is that if you are not happy when you are alone by yourself, you will not be happy when there are friends around you. Stop pretending! If you are not happy at home, you will not be happy in the church! Find yourself in Christ! Find your calling! Find your destiny! Find your spiritual gifts so that you use them! About the married couples… use this lockdown to revive your romantic godly love! Do you still remember your ‘honey moon’? You wanted the marriage celebration to end quickly so that you go and be alone with your lover! Have you forgotten that feeling? Alone with my husband!!!! Alone with my wife!!!! Do these words not stir some happy memories in you? On your honey moon, you did not need a crowd around you. You wanted to go to an island and be alone with your loving spouse. May this lockdown become ‘a honey moon’ to you! Church activities should not replace a bad marriage. Go back to basics! Go to Jesus and pray for healing, pray for deliverance. Pray for revival in your home! Use this pain well! I am waiting for your ‘romantic’ testimonies! And finally, remember your covenant before God: in sickness and in health, in bad times and good times, Jesus is still our Lord forever! Let’s worship Him!
(In the picture, my husband and I, some years ago)