Could You Use a Blessing Today?

We hear a sneeze and our knee-jerk reaction is to say “God bless you!” I did a little research and found this from the Library of Congress: “In Rome in the 590s, Pope Gregory summoned the people to join together to march in the streets, arm-in-arm, asking God for forgiveness and for an end to the bubonic plague that was ravaging their city. He asked priests to lead people from all seven regions of the city to the Basilica. Whenever anyone sneezed (which was a symptom of the plague), he asked that they immediately say, 'God bless you!' as a prayer to ward off the plague. Their prayers were finally answered and the plague ended." Sounds like that’s something we should be saying to everyone we encounter during this 2020 “plague”.

So, can we be too casual with saying "God bless you"? The words bless, blessed, and blessing are found over 500 times in the Bible. Frankly, I can use as many blessings as I can get! Psalm 103:1 says “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, all that is within me, bless His holy name.” Psalm 103:1

Blessing is the projection of good into the life of another. It isn't just words. It's us willing the good of another person. It always involves God, because when we will the good of another person, we realize only God is capable of bringing that. So, we naturally say, "God bless you!"

Maybe you’re like me and you say “God bless you” at the end of letters or emails. And, for the kind comments from friends and family to my FB posts and blogs, I usually respond with “God bless you for your encouragement.” Earlier this year, for weeks before the pandemic, when we were having our ACTS team meetings, I endeavored to hug each gal when they came in the room. Well, we know how that worked out. And at the end of each meeting, I would speak Aaron’s blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 to them: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Kari Jobe and her husband, Cody Carnes, put those words to such beautiful music. We can sing those blessing words right along with them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiko8DSRMZI

Those words are the desire of God’s heart for His people. He only wants the best for His children. His desire is to bless us.
The meaning of the word “Bless” is to make somebody or something holy. Just by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become holy under God’s umbrella of righteousness. He doesn't measure His love for us by our actions or words. He doesn't have a measuring stick that he pulls back when we mess up. We are in Jesus and that is who He sees when He looks at us.

So, here's today's action for us: Let's open our arms and tell God we receive His blessings and favor! GOD BLESS YOU!

SPECIAL MID-DAY EDITION of MyPeaceZone.Com

Unlike my early (before 6 am) posts each day, I just read this article and felt I MUST post it now. I’ve heard Christians say: “I have faith. No fear here. I don’t need to social distance myself.” I, too, have complete faith in my Lord. I quote scriptures consistently about faith and not having a spirit of fear. But, I also want to obey the laws of my land. Romans 13:1-2 says: "Obey the government, for God is the One who has put it there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power. So those who refuse to obey the law of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow."

Today, I ran across an article from March 16th, 2020 with this title: “Martin Luther actually had some good coronavirus advice back in 1527.” I think we all can draw wisdom from it:

“Back in 1527, a deadly plague hit Martin Luther’s town of Wittenberg and he wrote a letter to a friend explaining how churches should deal with such complicated circumstances. Sure, science has progressed immensely in the last 500 years and we know way more about infectious diseases than we did back then, but the heart of his words still ring true.

“Use medicine; take potions which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence or has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city,” Luther advised. “What else is the epidemic but a fire which instead of consuming wood and straw devours life and body?”

We have a better understanding of medicine, “potions” and the value of fumigation but Luther’s advice about loving your community by avoiding going out is just as pertinent today.
The scientific consensus is that “social distancing”, staying home and avoiding crowds is the best way to prevent the spread of the virus and help those who are most vulnerable. But Luther knew that as Christians, even these precautions have their limits. “If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely, as stated above,” he wrote. “See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”

In other words, be smart. Use discernment. Protect your community by staying in but if someone needs help, remember the Gospel’s call to assist those in need. That may look different for everyone but we can all do something: Call an isolated friend who might be lonely. Check-in on elderly neighbors and family members. Don’t hoard groceries and supplies. Be generous with extra income, remembering that many people will be suffering financially in the coming days. Support medical professionals through prayer and respect of their advice and guidelines.

And most of all, remember that though the war on the coronavirus is one that can be won through wisdom and science, we protect our bodies and the health of our communities through social distancing and self-isolation. We battle not against flesh and blood, but spiritual forces that want to strip us of peace and replace it with fear.

Luther wrote: ”In closing, we admonish and plead with you in Christ’s name to help us with your prayers to God so that we may do battle with word and precept against the real and spiritual pestilence of Satan in his wickedness with which he now poisons and defiles the world.”

May God's wisdom, abiding by the laws of our land with His armor about us, and “loving our neighbors as ourselves” be our mission.

An Old Story That Can Bring Us Hope

It’s in almost every conversation. We can’t help it. The effects of the coronavirus are certainly beyond any plague or disease pandemic that I have seen or heard of in my life. I mean – a pandemic that is causing businesses to send their people home to work virtually; causing schools to shut down and children being homeschooled; causing families to store up extra food and supplies – just in case. In fact, in my own world, a group of 38 women are having to meet through teleconferencing. At the hospital where I volunteer, they’ve suspended volunteering until this crisis is over. In my morning text to my kids, I apprised them that the news says “the elderly (70 and above) should be checked on regularly to be sure we’re okay”. My reply to that is “Watch me defy the odds”. I have no fear.

This pandemic is nothing to make jokes about. People are alarmed and are filled with anxiety. Again, I look at scripture that shows us how to deal with the fear of impending danger. This is the perfect time for us to refresh our memory on how Scripture navigates perils, plagues and pandemics. My mind rushes back to serving at Vacation Bible School last summer.

The whole theme was around the exodus of God’s people from Egypt. But before the exodus, ten plagues were inflicted on Egypt by God to force wicked Pharaoh to let His people, the Israelites, go and be freed from slavery. I loved watching the VBS children acting out the various plagues. God answered Pharaoh’s taunts by saying “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 7:5) Eventually, the Israelites were released and started walking towards the Red Sea. If you saw “The Ten Commandments” movie, the scene that stands out the most is Charlton Heston as Moses, lifting his rod over the waters commanding them to open up. And open up, they did, enabling millions of Israelites to cross over on dry land – but closing up over the Egyptians and killing them all. God provided a way of escape. And He has a way of escape in mind for us in this crisis – those who are professed children of God who know Christ as our Lord and Savior.

What we can easily miss are the details of this story. What is it like to pack up everything you own – your children, your possessions, your livestock to go to an unknown land? What’s it like to wonder if you might lose it all? Sounds like a good parallel to this virus that is seeping across the world and has reached our shores, and we don’t know how treacherous it’s going to be. God is calling us to continue marching forward with a diligence of conquering and overcoming while being very health-smart – following all the rules of washing our hands and staying away from crowds as much as possible.

Waiting well in the face of our anxiety about a coming danger means taking seriously the reality of the danger. Our God takes our lives and our sufferings very seriously, and “He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone” because He cares for us and for the things we care for and He shows compassion – so great is His unfailing love (Lamentations 3:32-33).

In the midst of the clamor, may we pour out our anxieties to our Father in Heaven. May we not allow our hearts to panic over school closings, travel plans, economic downturns, or the potentially infected surfaces we’ve touched! When we are afraid, we turn to Him. We cast our anxieties on Him, because He cares for us. In fact, we can allow handwashing or rubbing on hand sanitizer to become a moment we consciously entrust ourselves and the future of everyone we care about into His hands.

So we do wash our hands, and do what is wise about working from home, or calling our doctor. But we don’t let ourselves forget where our true safety lies. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we do know the One Who parts raging seas and blocks its flow with His blood-soaked cross!

John 14:27 “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.“

(Thank you, CCEF -- Christian Counseling Educational Foundation for some of your excerpts included in this blog.)

Whatever the Mind can Conceive and Believe, it can Achieve

Napoleon Hill authored that quote. I know it's true. This blog comes from the incessant, but, I know, necessary, talk about the coronavirus. From the negative reports, the fears, concerns for the well-being of lives, there is really no place to hide. I loved these words from a pastor: “Wherever we are on earth, we have no rocket ship to escape this outcry or a home so insulated from peril of any kind, but we CAN put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6). God is our “shield”. The plague will not come to our homes; His blood on the doors of our heart shelters us from harm.” (Psalm 91)

My cousin posted this: "At last night's prayer gathering it was mentioned that the word "corona" in coronavirus means crown. This is a quote from a devotional from National Men's Ministries of The General Council of the Assemblies of God: "Health is the crown on a well man's head that only a sick person can see." Standing on the promise of Jeremiah 33:6: "Look, I will bring health and healing. I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security."

There is pure power in our thoughts. What we think about long enough, will actually come to pass – be it a fear of something or a dream of conquering and winning at something. But why is that? How is that the mere concept of something, held in the forefront of our minds, can be brought to fruition through persistent thinking about it over time? God always has an answer for questions like this.

I remember all the talk about polio and tuberculosis when I was a young child. I didn’t grasp what it was all about, but it sounded scary based on the concern in my mom and dad’s voices when I heard them talking about it and how those awful diseases had attacked some of their friends. I could tell that worry and concern had entered into my little corner of the world.

The fact is illness and disease has always been a part of our world. Blame that on the enemy of our souls who comes to “kill, steal and destroy”. Think about the awful plague of leprosy in the Bible that cruelly destoryed people’s lives and families and excommunicated them from their homes and towns. But, Jesus. All of those diseases then, and now, didn’t and don’t phase God. John 10:10 says “The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy, but I (Jesus) came to give you abundant life.” Doesn’t that bring comfort – especially when we conceive it, believe it, and achieve that abundant life?

If we are living in fear about the flu, the coronavirus, cancer, the common cold, heart failure, a pimple or acne, then we better, sooner than later, start getting our thinking right. Go back to that beginning thought “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” I hear people saying all the time “I think I’m catching a cold.” But, when we talk that talk, we aren’t aligning ourselves with the truth of God's Word. "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.( 2 Timothy 1:7). God says: “Him I will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Me!” (Isaiah 26:3). Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” There is a remedy for going rogue in our thinking. The Bible makes it clear that our thinking and our hearts are linked together. What we think, affects our heart, soul and body. Likewise, the condition of our heart, soul and body affects our thinking.

The coronavirus is showing us what we should have known all along: we are mortals in desperate need of God. We need God’s protection in the present and His saving grace for eternity. One way God wants to redeem this pandemic is by using it to turn us to Himself. We need to pray for the sick – those around the world and even here in the U.S. This unprecedented threat is an unprecedented opportunity for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s point others to Jesus – the Great Healer Who changes not. “He is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). I am one of those who has been healed by His miracle-working power. I’m proof positive that there is nothing to fear because Jesus is still here!