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 This was a sign of the times we are in.

• Matthew 24:7 (NKJV) – For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

There is something more powerful than the virus – fear.

• Deep rooted fear is worse than the virus itself – 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) – For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
• Job 3:25-26 (NKJV) – For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. ²⁶I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.”

God has been preparing His people for just such a time as this.

• God had prepared Esther for this – Esther 4:13-14 (NLT) – Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed.¹⁴ If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

The Church, the Ekklesia, was found wanting and in need of a divine reset.

• Repentance looks like something – Matthew 3:8 (NKJV) – Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.
• Judgment begins in the house (your house) of the Lord – 1 Peter 4:17 – Judgement & change begins with us!
• The Lord is continuously transforming us – 2 Corinthians 3:18. We are to be in God’s continuous improvement process.
• This was a season of pruning – John 15:2.
• Again, we are not to come out the same way we came in – Ezekiel 46:9

A new era is coming.

• We are called to lead during a crisis – Deuteronomy 28:13a – And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail
• Isaiah 43:18-19 (NKJV) – “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. ¹⁹ Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
• We have an infallible purpose in Christ to fulfill – Hebrews 6:19 (NKJV) – This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil…

 Trust/faith is the only way to survive and prosper in this new era.

• Psalms 91:1-3 (NKJV) – He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” ³ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.
• There are 2 ways to look at things spiritually/worldly – 2 Corinthians 5:7– For we walk by faith, not by sight.
• But the enemy will fight back – Matthew 11:12 (NLT) – And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.

 * The audio corresponding to this post is under “media” on this site – dhfirstag.org – and is available on Monday