Kingdom Purposes in These Times

We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be.

Oswald Chambers, Conformed to His Image, 354 L

Throughout the Bible, one story is played out over and over. People are placed in trying situations and are given choices to make about how to respond: Martha in her response to Mary, Lot when Abraham allows him to choose the land he wants, the rich young ruler when Jesus asks him to choose Him over all he holds dear and familiar, and I could go on. Right now, we are being asked to choose Him and to choose to respond to altered circumstances with an eye toward Kingdom purposes. The question is not, “What will I do today?” The question is, “Lord, what would you have me do today?”

Like most of my blogs, this topic has come to me out of conviction that I have not done this well, and the Lord is teaching me. I felt I had submitted my time in the first weeks, but I have now been quarantined longer than most. Over the last few days, I feel I have not used this time as the treasure it is to further His Kingdom or to bring a cold cup of water where needed. I say this to you because we may be facing at least 30 more days of sheltering in place, and I am praying for you to finish this experience well. I am praying that you do not fall into “velvet traps” (as I did) that look good but are not what God has appointed for you to do.

Christians often say that “the good is the enemy of the best.” That is what happened to me this week. The most important relationship in my life is with God, and my first priority should be spending time in His presence. Oh, I have done my Bible study, read the Psalms, and prayed, but in recent days, it has not been that type of leisurely, sweet time spent with an intimate friend or family member. It has not been because there were so many “good” opportunities. I got busy. Four prayers groups I love are now meeting by Zoom or other technology. Getting together with likeminded friends for Zoom lunches or over long text threads has been rich and encouraging. I just took it too far. Just like a slice of pound cake after dinner is good but a day eating a dozen Twinkies is not, I have experienced too many Twinkie-like days in the use of my time. I will continue to fellowship with my prayer groups and old friends in a limited way, but I plan to become more jealous of my time with Him and to quieten myself as I believe He intended with this time. It occurred to me that He did not clear my calendar for me to gorge myself on conversation and visiting. If He wants me to get still and quiet, I am going to have to forego some of the good in order to have my being prayerfully ready for whatever He is wanting to say to me.

He has a mission, a purpose, and a ministry for each of us for every week of this time of isolation as long as it lasts. What is He drawing you to do for the Kingdom or does He just want time with you, quiet and still and ready? The answer is different for each of us. Here are a few encouraging things I have noticed that God is doing as He has called different individuals to do very different things. He may be calling you to join them:

1.    My young friend Trish has started a campaign to encourage the MANY essential employees at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. Brave people work in facilities, events, housekeeping, as well as the health professionals. Thank you! She is asking us to write a note (or twenty) to cheer these people on. Many are in need of encouragement as there are some rough weeks ahead. 

Option 1: Write a note, card, or draw a picture and mail it to the hospital CEO suite: 

Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, ATTN: Kathy Skidmore, 1968 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, GA 30309 

Option 2: Send an e-mail to thankyoupiedmont@gmail.com  (all e-mails will be forwarded to hospital staff and printed) 

2.    Some of the prayer groups I am in are dedicated to praying for The Church with a capital “C,” but some pray for church members or for a specific ministry, and that is how it should be. I have noticed that prayers of all these groups are beginning to beg for worldwide revival. There is a new urgency and awareness that our nation and our world turning back to God has become vital to our survival. If the Lord has put this on your heart, please join in this prayer. If the Lord so leads you, do a conference call or one-on-one phone call with a friend to pray in agreement for God’s transforming power to sweep this world and not leave it as it was before.

3.    Marriages, babies being born into this world, and other major family events are taking place. The pictures I see of simple weddings (sometimes just the bride and groom) are so full of love and sweetness that I don’t see how they could have been better. Others are postponing and knowing that God’s delays are always for our good. Pray for those who are dealing with postponement of a wedding, trying to create their own graduation celebrations, etc. Ask God that all will be able to adapt joyfully to how He has changed their plans. Pray for parents with young children at home. As the weeks extend further, their parenting will be stretched and tested. Pray God will provide all they need according to His riches in glory.  Pray for young mothers who are facing some difficult decisions about whether they should risk taking babies in for routine vaccinations. These are uncharted waters for parents, and there is no template for what the best thing to do is. Pray for those who are pregnant for the first time.

When I began to think of one young pregnant neighbor, God showed me how Mary and Joseph could really relate to the timing of a pregnancy in a chaotic time. Mary was traveling an chartered path through an unusual time in history. Herod and the census were not a pandemic, but there were dangers, and schedules were thrown out the window. Joseph led her and loved her well as best as possible under difficult circumstances as young Christian husbands are trying to do. The birth in a stable may not have been the vision this couple had all their lives, but it was safe, secure, and brought glory to God. He is not unfamiliar with all that these young people are going through. Pray for the health of these new young families. Pray blessings on their roles as mother and father, but also pray for their missions as husband and wife in a stressful time.

4. Your hard working church media team is working like never before to bring sermons, studies, encouraging messages, and other content to you in new ways. In addition to your prayers, consider a restaurant gift card or other encouragement to help with the long hours and much time away from family.

5.    The Lord seems to be telling many of us the same thing: Live out this time in victory because you have an all-powerful always victorious God. Show the confidence you have in the Lord and that you do not doubt His sovereignty despite circumstances that frighten the world. He started my prayer time this morning bringing songs to my lips that I had not thought of when I got on my face. I heard “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God’ come forcefully from my mouth. Like many people, children’s songs about our mighty God are coming to my mind a lot lately. Today it was “What a Mighty God We Serve.”  (Parents and children’s ministry staff and volunteers, make no mistake that when some adults’ hearts are seized by fear, sometimes the only praise that comes to them is a Bible-based song you taught them when they were very, very young.) So sing and praise and tell the Lord how passionately you believe Scriptures such as the following:

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

“But God made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding, he stretched out the heavens. When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.” Jeremiah 10:12-13

The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. Psalm 145:17

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2

May God bless you and may you sense His guidance as you seek His will for how to spend each day. He may be asking you as he asked the rich young ruler to trade all that you hold dear and familiar for something else He has in mind.

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.  Psalm 40:1-3