Each To His Own Home

The Word of God amazes me. It is living and active and reads like the daily headlines because it is so current. I have read the above passage so many times and never really noticed the phrase “each to his own home.” It’s crazy how applicable this is to our current state of sheltering in place isn’t it? There are so many deep and rich truths that Jesus has been speaking to me during this quarantine that they are bursting forth from my heart like a flood. I can hardly type fast enough – but I only have limited space and time so here goes – in random order: 1. This pandemic did not take God by surprise. It was written on His Kingdom calendar. We can trust our Sovereign, Good Father who is in control of the world He created. Maybe you are I are alive “for such a time as this!” Ask Him what His purpose in and through you in this world and in this time. 2. The Church is not empty, it is deployed. The church has left the building! 3. Prayer is our most strategic weapon in this battle. As Ann Voscamp says, “The world needs prayer warriors who don’t see prayer as the least we can do but the most we can do.” 4. Your family is your first ministry. Sometimes, it is much easier to love strangers well instead of our own family. Is that because we know they will not leave so we exercise less control over our emotions? Let’s purpose to show our families the most Jesus love in action today! 5. I believe that we are experiencing a pruning season in the church and in our nation, even in our world! What we have looked to other than God for life, significance, comfort and security is being cut away and trimmed back.

Lord God, helps us to walk through these days of quarantine under Your mighty hand, with intention to fully follow Your ways and emerge victorious and purified as Your Church – the Light of the world.

6. How we respond to God’s discipline and pruning now will determine the quality of the fruit that is produced through our lives in the future. “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:11) His hand of pruning is like a surgical knife; He means it for our healing and to produce a more abundant Kingdom harvest. 7. His peace that passes understanding and His triumphant joy are the inheritance of His children – let the roots of your sweet soul grow deeply down into His faithfulness. He’s got you. He’s got me. He has got the whole world in His hands.