We are not of those of the dust anymore. We have met The Son of God, Jesus Christ, and we are now heavenly people.
Read MoreHope is for the future. Faith is for today. I looked up in the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of the word, “Hope” - A feeling of expectation and desire.
Folks, Hebrews 13 verse 5, Jesus promises us that He will never leave us and He will never forsake us. So we are not to lose hope. This hellish virus will leave us as quickly as it came. So, therefore, get prepared for the future.
Plan and pray and speak to each other about the way forward. What are you going to do once you leave your confinement and the lockdown is lifted? Well, according to the Book of Habakkuk, Chapter 2 and verse 3, this is what it says: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, But at the end it will speak, and It will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.”
Hope is a movement.
Hope is the expectation that Jesus is not coming soon.
Read MoreThe power of confession!
We need to forgive one another so that God can heal us and set us free.
As I am talking now, I know there are some people carrying a 50kg bag of cement on their backs. They will not forgive and because of that, that unconfessed sin is weighing you down. Let us confess that sin today.
We have got lots of time to do it.
Lord, I forgive that person for the way in which they have hurt me and Lord, I ask You to forgive me for the way in which I have hurt them. And then put it behind you. Leave it there and move on for God.
If Christ is in you, you will make it.
You don’t have to be afraid.
Maybe you are in that lockdown situation where you can't get out anywhere but you need to trust in The Lord and you need to remember that this season will not last.
It is passing by as I speak to you now because Christ Jesus has promised us that He will never leave us and that He will never forsake us. You see, God is not a man like you and me.
What distinguishes a Christian from those who are in the world?
1 John 4 verse 8 says, “God is love.”
So if you don’t have any love in your heart, you don’t have God in your heart.
Another word for faith is “trust”.
It is a life that you live.
It is an act. It is not just a word. It is a lifestyle.
“My God shall supply all of my needs, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
You know, I think it is a very hurtful thing when we doubt The Lord’s provision.
Are you feeling a little lonely?
Maybe you are feeling a bit deserted.
Maybe you are in that lockdown situation where you are forced to self-isolate, like Jill and I, because you have contracted the Coronavirus.
Well, I want to tell you about a friend today who will take away all your loneliness.
A miry pit is a terrible place to be.
I have worked on many dairy farms as a young man, in Scotland, in Australia, in Zambia and a miry pit is a place where all the slurry from the dairy goes into and then eventually gets pumped out and spread on the fields as fertilizer.
And that is what I think of in my mind - a miry pit - sinking into a miry pit!
When you rest, you get refreshed. You get new ideas and you get new opportunities. Even as you leave your land fallow…
Remember, the only thing that you and I will take from this earth when we go to Heaven is our loved ones, our fellow-man, people’s souls, that’s all - nothing else.
All else will stay behind.
This is an opportunity, lockdown time, to sit down with our loved ones and remember where The Lord has brought us from…
Let us be different from the world.
Let us keep our eyes, like the fish eagle, focused on things above and not things below.
People are watching you at this lockdown time.
Let your words be few, let them be sweet.
Encourage one another because…
We need to spend our lives on others so that we can attain eternal life that no-one can take away from us.
The Lord Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 40, “As much as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me.”
So today if you are feeling a bit down, think of somebody else, write a letter, make a phone call, send a little WhatsApp and I can tell you what - you will feel a lot better after that.
Oh my dear friend, we need to build on the Word today.
We really need to memorize God’s Holy Word.
I am going to give you a scripture verse to start with today and this one is Mark, the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 11 and verse 22:
It simply says:
“Have faith in God.”
Come on now, you can memorize that!
We talk about the coronavirus but I want to tell you about someone much more powerful and much more important!
His name is The Holy Spirit…
Do you feel like you have been sifted?
Are you feeling like you have been put through a combine harvester?
The devil does not have the power to sift you.
Do not allow him one inch in your life.
Today, give your whole life and your concentration on the things of God.