The worldwide lockdown has also caused a global phenomenon of fear, anxiety and worry. The lockdown in our homes and our tendency to go to the media and internet for entertainment in our idle time can be used by the enemy to sow lustful thoughts which can wreak havoc in our lives and in our spiritual walk with God. Surveys have also shown that prolonged confinement can cause conflict and disorder in our homes. The underlying cause is that our enemy is at work double time because his end is near. His main mission is to steal, kill and destroy lives and relationships. Peter says:
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings (1 Peter 5:8-9).
In Christ we have the Victory over sin and death on the cross. Christ is seated in at the right hand of His Father and He is praying for our protection and sanctification.
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. … My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world (John 17:11-18).
Our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ are praying for us and in God’s Name they have given us their powerful presence in the Holy Spirit. Even as He leads us in prayer and in the knowledge and obedience of God and His Word which is the Sword of the Spirit, we are now armed to do battle with our enemy.
Follow Christ
Paul in his letters to the Corinthians wrote:
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
Again, Paul exhorts us:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
We can choose in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Thoughts of lust, thoughts of anger, thoughts of fear, thoughts of greed, bitter thoughts, evil thoughts – they are part of every thought that may be and must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
We can choose to follow Christ in listening and worshiping with the Bible and singing Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. We can meditate on His word and pray without ceasing. We can intercede for those in our household who still do not know Christ. We can choose to follow Him in serving and loving the members of our household and serving them as Jesus did in the power of the Holy Spirit.
When our obedience is thus fulfilled, Jesus has said that our faithful endurance in this time of suffering will not only prove our love and faith in our God -- but also demonstrate His love and power to our family, friends and neighbours.
Continue to grow deeper in the knowledge of Christ and to make Him known to all in your circle of influence today:
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
Jonathan Cortes