Will GOD Stop Covid?

Last year (2020) in February, when Covid was just starting, some folks anticipated the virus to simply disappear in March or April due to the hot summer temperature. We were told to hung on till then. It didn't happen. Then they said that come 2021, it would be a new, hopeful new year minus the virus. So we excitedly waited for 2021. New beginning. But that too didn't materialize.

Photo above by Emin BAYCAN on Unsplash.

And even if everybody's been praying for a year or so now that God would stop Covid by his mercy (I imagine every church is doing this), Covid is still here, even with deadlier variants at that, effecting faster transmission and increased deaths. What happened to our prayers? Does God plan to stop Covid 19 at all?

Click here for more on "Leaving the Land of Slavery." Before we operate in God's signs and wonders and expect God to back up our prayers for miracles, the church needs to leave the land of slavery first.

Definitely, I believe God will stop this pandemic. The problem is with what we're doing and how we understand prayer. Prayer plus careless lifestyle will never amount to anything. It's like health. Even if we ask God for good health, nothing will happen if we keep living an unhealthy lifestyle. God cannot be mocked. What we sow we reap.

There was once a prayerful guy who kept eating fatty foods, praying that God would miraculously take away all the bad cholesterol. He also rebuked the bad effects of fats using the Name. He died of heart attack. Prayer is not for keeping ourselves safe while living the way we want. We cannot abuse God's promises.

Like proper wearing of face masks and shields. I often ask friends who go out to observe how people take health protocols. They say only 3 out of 20 people in the streets do. Some say 1 or 2 out of 10. I say 1/2 out of 10. Like when I was at the BIR office for processing land tax, there was this guy who wore his shield on the back of his head. He thought it was cool. 

And we expect God to take pity?

Blatant disregard for rules is arrogance and pride. Those who trash discipline do so out of rebelliousness, which closely connects with insubmission. And both are due to self-conceit--feeling smarter (or thinking that only their ideas or opinions matter), an overrated sense of self-worth. And God never sides with the arrogant and proud. He always seeks lowly hearts.

"...a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." [Psalm 51.17]

We also should seriously consider the government's call for vaccination. I respect those who refuse to be vaccinated. It's their right. But believers who refuse should consider what the bible says about submitting to the governing authorities. 

Moreover, no one should think that their decision to vaccinate or not is the smart thing to do and opposing ideas are foolish. I've seen Christians make an issue of this and again divide the church into the pro and anti-vaccine. The pro-vaccine camp looks down on the unvaccinated, and the anti-vaccine camp does likewise. They even curse those not in their camp of suffering dire consequences. This is demonic pride and self-righteousness. This issue should not cause division. Instead, the church should pray for the safety of both the vaccinated and unvaccinated. We're one body in Christ. If one member suffers, we all do. 

Vaccines are good, so are other alternatives. But these are not the real solutions. The real solution is for the church to learn genuine humbleness and unity in the body. We should understand how the body is one--one member suffers, all suffer. One member triumphs, all have victory.

Then GOD takes pity and answers our prayers by his grace and mercy. This all takes total surrender to the will of God and his standards, total submission to his Word in the bible. And if you're not used to totally surrendering to God's will through his Word (and you still rather rely on your own strength and way of seeing things), now is the apt time to start. Because the bible says, this pandemic is one of the signs that we're now in the end-times as Jesus prophesied. 

This is the beginning of birth pains. In the natural, birth pains mean it's just a couple of minutes or hours.

Total surrender to Jesus as your Savior and Lord means a complete life change, turning away from sin as a daily lifestyle and depending solely on God's Word in the bible as your life and doctrine. This is all God's work through the Holy Spirit in Christ, but we need to surrender first. See more below.

Surrendering to Jesus 

Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Then receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord, then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do (not your good deeds or religion of church), but because of God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. In Jesus alone is salvation.

Jesus is:

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His words in the bible.