1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.
Never was there a more appropriate time for this verse, at least in our own lives. The world has suffered many challenges throughout history, but the coronavirus has touched almost every country in the world and that is big. This is our time. Wherever you live in the world, your nation needs you to pray. For once we do not have the excuse of being too busy. For once, we have time to spend with God.
Before too long, we will look back at this period in history and we will either be able to say we excelled and grew, or we wasted the time we had. I have made a personal decision to make this a time of personal improvement and acceleration. Rather than give into convenience foods, we have decided to come through this crisis having eaten well, exercised and weighing less. It would be the easiest thing in the world to use this predicament as an excuse to live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cereal. It would be just as easy to use the extra time I have in my calendar to feed my flesh. My household has decided to feed our bodies and our spirits wholesome food and use this time to grow in the Lord. I will be better at praying than ever before.
What are you going to do with your time? Are you going to spend it on Facebook and television? Today is the day to decide. If we are not careful, we will slide, unnoticed into apathy, wasting our time on frivolities when we could be nurturing our spirits, bodies and minds. We could be positively affecting the globe and our neighbors.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think you are going to need some down time, whatever that means to you. For me, it usually means exercise and computer games. That is okay. These are stressful times and you need to know what destresses you. However, prayer is the absolute best thing you can do for your spirit, your soul and your body. They all feed on the connectivity with our Father. Your country, state, province, county, town, village, etc. needs you to have time with your Father too. We all need you praying. I need your prayers.
We can overcome coronavirus, and we can even come out stronger on the other side. I hope your spirit is sensitive to the loss of life and human suffering that are facts of life right now. Let it move you to prayer. Pray without ceasing. Never in your life has there been so great a need for believers to call upon the Father of all. The entire world needs us to stop talking about being Christians and get down to the serious business of being Christian. Cry out to the Lord with a loud voice. He is listening. He is waiting. Pray without ceasing. It’s what Paul told the church at Thessalonica. It is good enough for us too.
What will the world say about Christians when we look back? I hope they will see a faith filled group of praying people, people who believe in the saving power of their God.