A Will And A Way

Pandemic 2020 prayer life has taken different directions for many people. Understandably, folks are scared, depressed or anxious at being cooped up for days on end with very little sunshine at times. Some are concerned about shortages of essential food and hygiene items. Others who have not previously had a call on their life to home school children are now being asked to do just that for weeks on end. For me, I really miss working outside the home. It is a part of my God-given personality. I need office-environment work. I am relishing this time with my kiddos to be sure, but having to use prolonged, school-related brain power is not in my wheel house and has me feeling unsettled. Long story short, we are ALL unsettled over some part of this new normal. We are getting through it with uplifting, and often hilarious, social media content and much prayer. Hopefully the latter before the former (cough... talking to myself). Also, Alexa. She is new to us and I can not be more thankful for her right now. Interestingly, her simple ability to set a timer is pure gold in my household. If I tell my children it's time to read for 30 minutes, they look at me as if I were the Enola Gay dropping an atomic bomb of scholastic horrors straight onto their tiny heads. But, if I ask Alexa to set a timer for 30 minutes for reading time, they calmly collect their books and find a cozy spot to settle in for some light afternoon reading. Go figure, but I'll take it. These are weird days.

Some of the verses and prayer themes I have seen shared by friends on various social media sites have included the following:

As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day.

Genesis 50:20

Theme: God can use anything, even the 'Rona, for GOOD!

┅

1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed...

11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, let your glory be over all the earth.

Psalm 57:1, 11
Theme: Find your strength in God Almighty and know this virus hasn't vacated Him from his throne!

┅

Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:7
Theme: Take this home time to grow in your walk, pray more often, read the Word and be thankful!

┅

...for He Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support.

Hebrews 13:5
Theme: God is NOT social distancing, He has us right in the palm of His hand even right now!

┅

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7
Theme: Try not to worry even though it's tempting and hard right now. Pray often and remember thankfulness. God CAN restore your peace even in the midst of COVID-19!

┅

If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:13-14
Theme: Americans... we need to hit our knees. We need a humbling. We need confession and repentance. We need a turning from wickedness. Let's do it and see God heal our land!

Personally, my prayer themes right now tend to identify more with that last verse. I am finding my prayers naturally shifting to my own need for repentance and forgiveness, but I am also seeking repentance and forgiveness corporately for the nation as well. As one who vividly remembers what is was like to live under the veil of spiritual darkness and scarily not have the faintest clue as to my whereabouts, I have a keen understanding of God's supernatural ability to instantly turn on the lights. I remember my close acquaintance with "the muddy clay," "the miry bog" or "the mud and mire" as different Bible versions record it in Psalm 40:2 and God's lifting me out of "the desolate pit," "the pit of destruction" or "the slimy pit." On this side of my conversion, I still find myself awestruck at times when I reflect on the supernatural power of God to even get that done. That just by His gentle tap on the shoulder of a wandering soul would instantly change every norm and turn that soul's entire purpose inside out. That, in a nutshell, sums up my Pandemic 2020 prayer life.

The following verse has been a mainstay for me recently, well before Coronavirus was even a word in our vocabulary.

—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Philippians 2:12-13

There are a couple of monumental themes within these two short verses that have come to my mind often lately.

1) Who is it at work within us? God. Why is this important? Because the Bible also wastes no time in telling us that, left to our own devices, our hearts are rotten to the core. Don't believe me??

The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.

Genesis 8:21

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9

Thank God, literally, that He Himself is willing to take up residence in our hearts to provide an alternative way of being. Talk about your fixer-upper...

2) Notice the two-fold result of God's residency within us:

• When the verse states "it is God who works in you TO WILL," what is being described is God's taking our own stubborn, vastly inadequate willpower and replacing it with His own. In terms of fulfilling His good purpose, here we are being given the "want to obey" attitude. This is vital in order for the next part of the equation to take place.
• The verse continues with "AND TO ACT in order to fulfill His Good purpose." What is the end result of God's swapping out our human will with his Own? Our ultimate ability to not totally screw everything up and to have a fighting chance at successfully fulfilling His good works! Once we are given the "want to obey" attitude, then we graduate to the "actually obey" response.

Does that make sense? First, we have to want to do His good works and then we have to actually do His good works. Why is this so important to my prayer life right now? Well, referring back to 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 above, it only makes sense that we as a nation would even be able to humble ourselves, pray and seek His face and ultimately turn from our wicked ways by the supernatural power of God living within us and replacing our will with His own.

Do we as a nation want to humble ourselves? I have definitely seen lots of beautiful humanitarian aid situations unfolding between friends and neighbors to be sure. But, when this is all said and done, will we as a nation continue in a daily posture of putting our own needs last? Will we live in a continual state of "what's mine is yours?" Ultimately, will we humbly recognize our own insignificance while simultaneously working to bolster God's significance in our surrounding world?

Do we as a nation want to pray and seek His face? For many, prayer is a new thing that has taken on a whole new life for them right now. That is good news! Prayer and seeking the face of the Lord will bring about revival in this country. Then we'll be one step closer to God's promised healing of our land. Once He does, will we continue in our knee-bending or will we check COVID-19 off the list only to start the slow process of bringing about the next pestilence?

Do we as a nation want to turn from our wicked ways? I know it's not kosher to talk about sin in public, but if we don't put a name to the face of what's causing our nation to be wracked with droughts, famines and disease, we might end up blaming them on the POTUS or something. Oh wait...

In order to gain the want to do that will eventually become the actually do, I am praying for the supernatural exchanging of wills in our nation. I am praying that our country will be wrecked by the knowledge of it's own depravity. I am praying for that pixelated image in the minds of lost individuals of the chasm that lay between them and God to become crystal clear. I am praying that the term "Savior" will finally make sense as people become devastatingly aware of their own sin.

What is your prayer theme right now? Maybe it changes daily, hourly or minute to minute. Will you also join me in praying for the sin of our nation? Will you pray with me for God's supernatural power to lift hearts out of the mud and mire and set them down on the rock of truth? Then, will you pray with me for God to work within all of us both to WILL and to ACT in order to fulfill His good purposes?

We thank you, God, for the promise of healing and look forward to that day's arrival soon. Amen.