Our
wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers of darkness, against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms, (Ephesians 6:12). It is a continuous
battle for every Christian, day and night, but the battle is rather with the
perception of our circumstance and the material world. The circumstance
shouldn't be the focus, COVID-19 isn't the focus. Apostle Paul says we need to
be strong beyond ourselves. We'll need
God's strength for the conflict. It means that as Christians we are soldiers at
war just like a regular soldier in the battlefield.
In that daily encounter we find Proverbs 3:5-6
saying, "Trust in the LORD with all thy heart; and lean not unto thy own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths". The divine intervention is needed against the unseen enemy
described as a roaring lion seeking who it may devour. But again Paul in Romans (8:38-39) tells us
that ". . . neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord".
Case
after case of events Jesus, the King of kings, demonstrated His authority over
disease, nature, demons, sin, over space and time, and authority over death.
Jesus did everything to ensure our salvation and freedom from principalities
and power according to Colossians (2:13-17).
Whereas we'd been dead in sins and uncircumcised flesh, but Jesus has
quickened us together with Himself. He has forgiven all our trespasses by
taking them out of the way, nailing them to His cross. Jesus destroyed the
principalities and powers, triumphing over them and He sets us free from
tradition and culture.
This
is where Prophet TB Joshua and his team in the Synagogue Church of All Nations,
SCOAN, Lagos Nigeria, becomes relevant. Their mission is to evangelize the
world on Jesus' teaching and His Word, making everyone to have the right
perception irrespective of circumstances. They teach that some seemingly
unfriendly circumstances may be to draw people nearer to God. Therefore a
circumstance like COVID-19 pandemic shouldn't constitute the real enemy but our
perception. This, for example, the brethren in SCOAN are demonstrating to the
entire world in multiple ways using "Distance not a Barrier to the Move of
God" and praying for people. We
recall that in (Matthew 8) a centurion came to Jesus on behalf of his paralyzed
servant. The emphasis in that story is on the power of the Word of the Lord
that goes to any distance with equal power, that by Jesus' command the sick
were healed. Another lesson is the faith of the centurion, a gentile. In
particular, communities that can place their trust and faith in Jesus Christ's
healing power like this centurion (Matthew 8:8) should link its entire people
in their isolation centres, in a corporate faith, to SCOAN for Jesus' healing.
Jesus heals effectually and permanently. A vaccine, medicine, food, exercise can
be used to treat but its God that heals ultimately.
The
word of Naaman's maid in 2 Kings Chapter 5 is very relevant here. The young
Israelite taking forcefully to serve as a maid in Syria knew her God and said
to her mistress, ". . . Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in
Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy" (v.3). The maid's
perceived incarceration didn't deter her from recommending the God of Israel to
her captors and masters. Just as when
Joshua stood before the angel of the Lord in a filthy garment, (Zechariah 3:3),
the young maid knew that her master was in a filthy garment of leprosy. It
means Naaman was covered in iniquity that needed to be changed. We all wear a
spiritual garment which is not visible and can either be clean or unclean. The
garment speaks or describes a lot about who we are in the spirit realm. When
our spiritual garment is filthy, it means our spirit in the spiritual realm is
polluted or defiled due to sin. Also, the enemy can put a filthy garment upon
one’s life to destroy the spiritual and the person, preventing the spiritual
ability to achieve or fulfil preordained destiny. Covid-19 is currently the
global filthy garment the devil is distributing around. Nobody needs to accept
this COVID-19 garment nor wear it.
By
the special grace of God in Jesus Christ, our generation also has a prophet in
SCOAN, Lagos Nigeria, not only to help us deal with our infirmities or help to
remove filthy garments but also to help us see God the right way. The Holy
Spirit of God shall give the enlightenment and nations shall perceive by the
spirit the needed divine guidance. The apostles of Jesus of old knew Jesus and
the Holy Ghost. They knew they hadn't silver nor gold (Acts 3:6) but what they
had would make a 40 years old lame man walking and leaping. Those apostles were
baptised and filled with the Holy Ghost. Similar prophet TB Joshua knows Jesus
and he is filled with the Holy Ghost. Communities and nations approaching the
SCOAN should have faith that they will meet Jesus. We stand as the maid who
recommended Naaman to Prophet Elisha and Naaman was healed from wearing a
filthy garment of leprosy. The battle is essentially our perception in the
natural and inability to see and believe the mighty name of Jesus Christ that
heals. Jesus is the Saviour and Redeemer of the whole world. He is still
healing, delivering, and replacing any filthy garments with heavenly attires if
we come to Him. Emmanuel
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