During the coronavirus crisis, I heard a lawyer make a statement, and it literally brought me to tears. He said, “The church is considered ‘non-essential’ because they failed to make themselves ‘essential’ before the crisis ever came!”
I do not believe God caused this virus, but I do believe this is a deafening wake-up call to the Body of Christ! We have been so gradually allowing ourselves to be contaminated by compromise that when the crisis came, we had no power to withstand it! We were not even considered “essential”, even by many in the church itself! God help us! Lord, open our eyes!
I am not talking about whether or not we should be or should not be meeting in our churches. I DO believe we should ALL be making wise choices when it comes to that virus, but I am talking about the church’s overall swift embrace of fear in the crisis! I am also talking about the undeniable compromise that has been made by the church through the years that has left the church weakened to the point that we have lost the demonstration of TRUE power and effective witness of Christ to the point that in a time of crisis, the world—and even many in the church—didn’t even hesitate to say, “You’re not essential!” That really hit me!
But I feel this is a wake-up call—a “search me, O God, and know my heart” kind of moment—because a turnaround is coming! God’s Word to us has been and is, “Be on the Lord’s side—not just in word, but in intentional, complete surrender to Christ that allows Him to invade our lives, and through us, He will make Himself known! Lights in the darkness are about to emerge!
I think our greatest prayer right now, as Christians, should NOT be just, “God please hurry and get us out of this crisis”, but our sincere, heartfelt prayer should be, “God forgive us, and please do in us whatever You need to do in order to rid us of the contaminants that have made us more like the world and less like You! Rid us of the compromise that reduced us to an instant response of panic as we caved to fear instead of maintaining an unshaken peace and a firm confidence in You in the face of crisis! When this lifts, may we emerge changed! May we emerge as the people who KNOW their God! May we emerge as pure, holy, bold, wise, easily recognizable, powerful warriors carrying the indistinguishable Light of Your Glory! May we emerge as the most ‘essential’ part of society, instead of the ‘non-essential’ status this crisis caught us in!”
This is a moment of great turnaround—for the nation and for the church!
Gina Gholston
April 4, 2020
