A PANDEMIC OF FAITH

A PANDEMIC OF FAITH

Covid 19 has revealed the enormous control the systems of this world have over our lives. As these systems become more and more influenced by the humanistic, atheistic world view, the world becomes increasingly hostile to believers. However, as always, God is using this negative for good. He is using this as an invitation to faith.

Faith, by definition, is looking beyond the world systems and the natural order to the goodness and mercy of God. When we live by faith we lose our fear. We lose our fear of death because If we die we don’t really die we are promoted to a better reality. We lose our fear of poverty because we know nothing can separate us from the love of God. We lose our fear of tribulation because God uses everything for our good. We lose our far of the future because we know He is preparing our future for us. If the world systems collapse the ‘everlasting arms ‘ of Our Heavenly Father’s loving care is always there.
“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms;
He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’” (Deut. 33.27)

As the weakness and the uncertainty of the world systems are exposed, God is speaking loudly - inviting the whole world to come to faith in Him. He is calling out with urgency to everyone to come to Him. And He is rousing believers to trust Him even more.

Revelation 18 describes the fall of Babylon. Babylon, in Revelation, is a symbol of the humanistic world order that dominates so much of our lives today. It describes great rejoicing among God’s people when it ultimately collapses. We are told to come out of it. But how? Are we supposed to hide in caves or remote locations? No. To escape Babylon does not mean that we physically change our location, fight our governments, seek a revolution, stop engaging in legitimate commerce, refuse to pay taxes or comply with ethically neutral laws. We have to continue to live in the world’s culture but, as people of faith, we can look beyond its systems to the throne of God who made us . We are to see the Kingdom of God as real, powerful and above all, and we are to relate to it with real, living and practical faith.

The way to leave Babylon – to come out from the domination of the world systems - is to simply live by faith. Faith is looking to God. Our churches in general have taught us to look to God for salvation when we leave this world but now we must learn to look to Him for EVERYTHING while we are still on earth. Though we live in a world dominated by these systems we do not have our minds and hearts controlled by them.

The second part to coming out of Babylon is to refuse to take (what revelation calls) ‘the mark of the Beast’. To refuse the ‘mark of the Beast’ is to refuse to embrace or live by the values of the world order in which we physically live. Those who “take the mark of the beast” are those who allow the world systems to control their thinking, dictate their values or set their agendas. To have the mark of the beast is to have the values of the world. The antidote to it is to have the mind of Christ and to be transformed by the renewal of our minds through the word of God. As the world system expands its control, we are aware that there will be more situations where we may have to simply refuse to comply with or submit to its demands.

In these days we are experiencing intense pressure to submit to the hedonistic, immoral values pedaled at us through much of the entertainment industry, much of the education system and through many ungodly politicians. To refuse the mark of the beast is to leave the value systems and measurements of the world around us and deliberately chose to follow Jesus. It is to live dedicated lives, with a keen awareness that we are “not of this world.” We look upward, beyond the second heaven (where the ruling spirits of this present age vie for control of this world) to the throne of God. We live in a different place and from a different place - the realm of God’s love, truth, life and purposes. We don’t have to fight these spirits but we do silence and resist their thoughts. We look beyond them to the throne of Heaven. “Looking unto Jesus the Author and the finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12.2)

Much of the church has been in captivity to Babylon for a long time. We have been tied to its values and measurements. God is calling us to consciously and deliberately break with Babylon and its values and measurement and to choose the ancient paths of the bible the way of obedience, absolute surrender and dedication to the values of the King and His kingdom. It is to walk by faith and put off the old ways of thinking programed into us by the world and be renewed by receiving the mind and values of the Messiah and His word.

Breaking with Babylon means a life of simplicity and trust. We are lifted from the strife of man, and we pray and work that the people of the world who still cannot see beyond the present governmental systems of this world may look up and see this better kingdom where God rules, God provides, God gives life, security and real peace. This is what we pray for when we say, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” As we consciously, deliberately choose to leave the values of the world, and choose instead the values and ways of the Kingdom of God and the life of faith, something wonderful will happen. We shall experience personal renewal and pave the way for a global great awakening - a new Pentecost - a pandemic of faith!