One can’t help but think, “Is this a time of judgment?” Have you had this thought? I had a friend ask, “Do you think God sent this pandemic or he is using it?” I immediately thought of one of my recent blog articles, A Time to Reflect, and asked if she had read it. My thoughts went to this article because it encourages us all to take this time to reflect and allow it to bring us to a place of repentance. It is easy for us to look out into the world and judge, and to see how one could easily think this could be judgment from God. It’s not so easy, however, to turn that judgment onto ourselves. We could take some time each day with the LORD, to ask him to search our hearts, and to reveal any place that is not in harmony with him. Another way to say this would be, to reveal anything that is not in agreement with God’s ways. This could simply be, anxiety, worry, fear, greed (idolatry), stress, etc. These are the first that come to mind because they are the most prevalent in our society today. These are all considered sins by the way! We don’t think of them as sins, but they are. Let’s take a moment and look at some scriptures on heaven and earth. The first scripture that comes to mind is, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” – (Genesis 1:1). The second is within what we call The Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” – (Matthew 6:10 ESV). Thirdly, “Heaven and earth [as now known] will pass away, but My words will not pass away. – (Matthew 24:35 AMP). What is the take away from these verses? 1) God created heaven and earth, 2) We can have heaven on earth, and 3) Heaven and earth will pass away. BUT, God’s word will not pass away! This looks like a heaven and earth timeline to me. God’s beginning, middle, and end, if you will. We, if you don’t know already, are in the middle. We are to be living on earth as it is in heaven. You know what’s not in heaven? Anxiety, worry, fear, greed (idolatry), stress, etc. If it’s not a reality in heaven, it shouldn’t be a reality for you on earth! What hits my heart the hardest is the reality that heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s word will not pass away! If we allow this Truth to become our reality, than we would experience God’s Word as living and active. Psalm 29:11 NKJV says, The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace. We are at a crossroads and are accountable for the path we choose. Will we choose to make God’s Word, which will not pass away, our reality? This reality could be strength and peace. Or will we choose that which is not in harmony with God? God is our provider, but will we let him provide? I think of the Israelite's, who God had just brought out of slavery. They were in the desert and needed food, so God provided supernatural food from heaven. This heavenly substance was called manna, which in Hebrew means, “What is it?” We do not always need to know or even have to recognize God’s provision, but we do need to have faith enough to receive it. God’s grace is freely given, it is not earned. All we need to do is mix a little trust into the equation and the result is a little faith. The perfect equation, Grace + Trust = Faith. “He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” – (Matthew 17:20 AMP). I love this verse because it reveals our accountability. It says, you can say to this mountain move from here to there, and it will move, not God will move it for you. All we need is a little bit of faith [that is living], speak to our mountain(s), and tell them to move or go or no or whatever you feel led to say. It’s not a perfect prayer, it’s not magic, it’s not an incantation, and it’s not a certain person that has a special anointing known to produce miracles. It’s YOU, who is a son or daughter of the Most High God, and faith!!! Faith is the activator, but the one who has to activate it isn’t activating! The reason God’s word isn’t being activated is because his children do not have the faith in his promises for their own lives. What??? Yes, I said it! We cannot just sit in our misery waiting for God to show up. It is very common to hear, “Why doesn’t God show up, I am waiting for Gods timing, Why doesn’t God do something, or Why didn’t God heal me?” I also hear people say they have a lot of faith. The thing is, faith is faith, no more or less. Faith is always active. It’s what or who we have faith in that we are activating. We are either putting our faith in God and his Word or we are putting our faith in the enemy’s lies [false doctrine, false beliefs, etc.]. So, what or who are you putting your faith in? Ask yourself, “What is the fruit I see being produced in my life?” Once again, we have a part to play and we are accountable. No more blame game, because God has already provided us with everything we will ever need in his Word. Will we have faith to believe it, receive it, and speak it out over our lives, so that God’s Word will be living and activated in our lives? I challenge you to ask God if or where your faith is being misplaced. Once you have identified this, you can choose to change your mind and your direction. This is repentance! Ask your heavenly Father to help you to have faith in him in this area. It is a matter of the heart. Allow Jesus to clean away what’s in the way. These areas in the heart that may have been there so long they have become familiar and very comfortable. Interesting thought that we can actually get so comfortable with being uncomfortable. I ask that you take a moment right now to spend with the LORD. Close your eyes and imagine you are at the feet of Jesus. Whatever has been revealed to you, that is not in harmony with God and his Word, you put it in a box, and you place it at Jesus’ feet. Once you have given it to Jesus, ask him to cleanse you, and allow him to renew your thinking – Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes. – (Romans 12:2 TPT). Replace it with God’s Truth; activate God’s Word in your heart. You tell that mountain(s) to move from your heart, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you! There has been an imbalance in the kingdom of God and it is time to bring equilibrium. I believe the enemy gets way too much credit. A common phrase I hear very often is, “The enemy is attacking me!” This statement is just giving the enemy credit for having power over you, when in reality only you have power over you. Satan’s power was stripped from him once Jesus defeated the grave, ascended to heaven and was seated at the right hand of God. It is a finished work, done!! So, if the fruit you are producing in your life isn’t good, than it is only a result of the seeds you have been planting. Again, no more blame game! If, “the enemy is attacking”, than it’s time to turn the scope back to your own heart to see what you are believing that is not in harmony with God’s Word. Multitudes are just handing over their power into the enemy’s hands by believing his lies. We don’t even know the magnitude of destruction being caused by our own misplaced faith. It is time for the disorder to transition into order. We are the head and not the tail – The Lord will make you the head (leader) and not the tail (follower); and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen and pay attention to the commandments [prescriptions] of the Lord your God, which I am commanding today, to observe them carefully. Do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or to the left, to follow and serve other gods. – (Deuteronomy 28:13-14 AMP). Once we, the Church, turn the tables on the enemy, on our disorder of thinking, we will be the catalysts to bringing heaven to earth, as it should be! The pestilence that is wreaking havoc, within the Body of Christ, has got to go! Our transgressions have got to be dealt with. Much of what we believe has been taught and passed down through the ages or generations. The transgressions, meaning false doctrines, false belief systems, false identities, and many false beliefs about who God is and his character. We could all say that what we have been taught from our parents, teachers and/or ministers is 100% correct. The truth is, if we are truly honest with ourselves, it is not. We have to be willing to take a good hard look at ourselves and say maybe, just maybe, not a 100% of what I believe is Truth. It is a must that we come to the LORD, in a place of humility, and ask him for forgiveness of our transgressions. “But he [Jesus] was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. – (Isaiah 53:5 ESV). It is important we do not position ourselves to think we know it all, or what we believe is 100% Truth. We have got to stay teachable! What good are we, as the Church, divided? Standing firm on our beliefs, pointing the finger at each other saying, I am right and you are wrong. Not one, in ALL the denomination or non-denominations, is 100% right. We have got to take a step back, from ALL that we believe, to see the One Truth that we ALL have in common, and that is Jesus! If what we are believing doesn’t 100% line up with what Jesus taught and lived, and accomplished through his death, burial and resurrection, than it isn’t Truth. It starts with the individual. We are accountable, we have to activate our faith, and we have to make sure that what we are believing is Truth, and who we are believing in is Jesus. We can’t just sit back and say I have faith and wait for God to do something. He has already done everything that is needed for us to live abundantly and thrive, or to live heaven on earth. There has to be accountability, and a call to action! What are we believing in? Are we just living day to day waiting for God to show up or begging him through our prayers to do something he has already done? What are we believing in? It can’t just be, I believe in Jesus, I have the Holy Spirit, so I have my ticket to heaven. I mean seriously, what are we believing in? What is our faith actually activating? If you take anything from this article, I pray it is that God’s word will not pass away! Please take this to heart, activate it and live heaven on earth! This is a time to awaken your spirit within. Stir it up. Set it on fire. Rekindle those flames. Because we, as the Body of Christ, are in transition. You are either going to move out of this place of disease, choosing to live life to the fullest, or you are going to go back to business as usual. Let’s accept the call to repentance, change our minds, and turn back to the LORD. Believing, Jesus accomplished it all, God’s answer to his word is yes and amen, and our only job is to believe and activate our faith in ALL of the promises of God! At the beginning of this article I had shared one of my friend’s questions about this pandemic. - “Do you think God sent this pandemic or he is using it?” I pondered this question for a couple days, and then responded, “I feel this is a call to repentance, for sure! Knowing God is our Healer (Jehovah Rophe), and knowing He cannot contradict or take his Name in vain, I am having a really hard time thinking this came from God. He can’t be our Healer and give us a sickness at the same time. I don’t believe any sickness comes from God!” Let us all accept the call to repentance, and move into a place of personal revival! Once God’s Word is activated, by our faith, perfect spiritual order will be carried out with all power! In Jesus name, AMEN!