Suddenly, life in America has taken on a surreal feel. Here in West Texas the coronavirus has shut down schools, churches are going online instead of meeting on Sundays, and the shelves in every grocery store are emptied. On top of that, thirty-dollar oil looms over our area like a dark cloud. It seems to be the perfect storm.
The most obvious thing in the spiritual landscape is the spirit of fear that is attached to all of this. There seems to be no rational reason for people to be hoarding everything from toilet paper to corn flakes, but here we are. This is a time when we need to remember that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual principalities in heavenly realms. I’m not saying that the coronavirus is not real and is no threat, but the fear response is way out of proportion to the reality.
Fear is an open door for the enemy. Demonic spirits smell fear in the atmosphere like sharks smell blood in the water and are drawn to it. As we move ahead, I want to encourage you to bind and command any spirit of fear to leave you in the powerful name of Jesus. In fact, you may want to do that every day or several times a day if you feel it encroaching on your mind.
I also encourage you to command any spirit of infirmity to leave you and your family as well. I encourage you to do so daily. Demonic spirits mimic real diseases and health conditions and so some will be feeling the symptoms of the coronavirus without actually having the virus. When the spirit is driven out, the symptoms will subside soon. Again, I’m not saying that there is no actual coronavirus. There is. We don’t deny reality, but in the name of Jesus we can defy it and, especially, when the demonic is involved. You should engage in spiritual warfare as soon as you begin to sense any symptoms and before you head out to the ER or clinic. If the symptoms go away, you know it was spiritual. If not, go on to the clinic. Medicine is a grace of God as well as supernatural healing….although God’s healing is much better.
One abiding principal of spiritual warfare is that we empower whatever or whomever we agree with. Adam and Even came into agreement with Satan in the Garden and in doing so submitted to his authority. Their agreement gave him power over them. We must be careful to stay in agreement with the word of God now, rather than coming into agreement with the news or the panic on social media. If we come into agreement with fear, we will certainly create an open door for the enemy and not only will fear camp out in our living room but infirmity will likely follow.
The New Testament instructs us to fix our eyes upon Jesus and that is the key to navigating times like these. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth and that authority includes authority over coronavirus. As we fix our eyes on Jesus, we should invite the Holy Spirit to impart to us and his church greater measures of faith, courage, wisdom, and health for this time.
In one of his Messianic prophecies concerning Jesus, Isaiah declared, “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isa.53:4-5, NRSV).
Part of our inheritance in the Lord is health…by his wounds we are healed (I Peter 2:24). Remember that we are to pray, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There is no sickness for God’s children in heaven and so sickness is not his will for his children on earth. John reminds us that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn.3:8). His primary method if evangelism was to proclaim the kingdom of God and then demonstrate it by healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. Sickness then is a consequence of sin and a work of the devil. It is not God’s will for his children.
God’s heart has always been to defend his people from disease. He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lordyour God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you” (Ex.15:26). The psalmist also declares,” Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. David also wrote, “Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you” (Ps.91:3-7).
That was God’s heart for his people even under the Old Covenant and we live under a much better covenant sealed by the blood of the Lamb. Our inheritance is health and healing. Jesus demonstrated healing as a sign of the presence of the kingdom. Peter declared that by his wounds we are healed. James promised that if any believer is sick, he can call the elders of the church to pray over him, anoint him with oil, and the prayer of faith will bring healing. In addition, the Holy Spirit has given gifts of healing to the church and so we know that healing is a blessing that Jesus has purchased for his people.
These are the promises we should agree with rather than aligning our hearts with fear and projections of disaster. We should also remember that these promises are for God’s people whose lives are also in alignment with his will. By his grace, we also have the privilege of praying for unbelievers and seeing them healed by the power and authority of Jesus as an expression of the Father’s love for them.
Let me encourage you to declare these promises over yourself and your family daily and declare that you are healthy and healed in the name of Jesus. The Israelites dabbed the blood of a Passover lamb over and around their doors as a sign of God’s protection. The plague that had been released over Egypt did not enter a door covered by the blood. If you are comfortable doing so, you might even dab anointing oil (olive oil) above and on the sides of your door at home as a declaration of faith that the blood of the Lamb also has power over the enemy and over disease in your house.
Passover is near and we are praying that God will sovereignly end this coronavirus crisis supernaturally and quickly in a way that points people to Jesus. Will you join us in that prayer as we walk in faith and not fear because he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world? Blessings and health in Him.
