HOW DO WE ENCOURAGE OURSELVES IN THE LORD?

In these days we have witnessed something unprecedented: we have seen virtually the entire globe on lock down for a virus whose potency is somewhat stronger than some of the most virulent strains of flu. This COVID virus and even more so, the media coverage - some would call it media hype and I'd be hard pressed to argue against that - has caused uncertainty, anxiety, panic and selfish, even violent behavior. Loneliness and neurotic behavior due to isolation as well. 

I believe this event has initiated and will propel into our future a paradigm shift in our world; that is, an event that will cause irrevocable shifts in change of society at large that will become permanent, from which there is no turning back.

9-11 is the best example of this; because of this event that took place in 2001 we have the DHS, TSA, the Patriot Act and a 'War on Terror' - and none of these things have disappeared, they are a part of the fabric of our every day lives.

How will this Corona virus alter our lives in a permanent way remains to be seen, but if I'm reading the terrain correctly, it will mean greater Federal and State oversight of our lives, more control for the sake of our 'protection' (when it's actually more about control than protection) and more restrictions: specifically on the church of Jesus Christ, the details of which for now are unknown.

I think we as Christians are anticipating darker days, and this is in accord with what the Scriptures tell us:

From GENERALS to FOOTSOLDIERS of CHRIST: HEAR, PREPARE, ACT - By Greg Reid

From Greg Reid:
HEAR. PREPARE. ACT.

Listen to the radio broadcast from LOVE FOR THE TRUTH Radio with host Cindy Hartline!

THE CHURCH and COVID19—Gregory Reid(Intrv) The Party’s Over!

Dear Friends,

This will be one of the most important letters I have written in over 45 years. 

*** Please read it carefully, and share it with others. ***

We could have never imagined that we would have experienced what we are going through right now. And even as I write this, the future of all this is not clear.
Regardless, this is a moment for the church of Jesus to listen, to learn, to take action. The party is over. The games have to stop. We have to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying in this moment and respond to His directives. More is at stake than we can know.
As new believers in the 1970’s, we were so excited about the fact that Jesus was coming back! We cut our teeth on The Late Great Planet Earth, and Larry Norman’s I Wish We’d All Been Ready. Some went out and got married in the “rapture rush” before He returned.

All these years have passed. And although He has not yet returned, and many have abandoned that hope, I have not. In fact, I believe we are at the precipice of the fulfillment of all things.
Even if we are not, we as the church are now forced to face some harsh realities. The first one is that everything can change overnight.
We certainly got a taste of that during 9/11. But this is more serious, and its consequences may be more long-term and require our prayer and our attention in an unprecedented way.

The RIGHT "RIGHT STUFF"

The new and the former generation of astronauts - all of them with "the right stuff" - it began with Mercury, then Gemini and then Apollo program and it continues to this day. Astronauts fly routinely - if you can call it that - into space these days, but when initial trials commenced to launch a man into orbit, beyond the atmosphere of the planet, it was anything but routine. It began with a Russian cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin who fired from a Soviet launch pad into space well over a year before I was born: 
"On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes."

America was not about to be outdone by the Soviet Union and so 'the space race' commenced! But before an American made space capsule could find itself in the celestial domain, a certain kind of man had to be found, and made into something that never existed before: an astronaut, a 'star trekker', a man with 'the right stuff'. 

JEWELS From The GOSPEL Of JOHN: JESUS KNOWS ALREADY - JOHN 6:1-6

The following is a series of short exhortations, brief commentary and writings to convey thoughtful meditation on God's Word. 

I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject.  I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.

JOHN 6:1-6
After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. 5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.