As we continue to have to deal with COVID-19, I keep asking myself, As a believer what should I do?

Fear not:

People use Romans 13 — obeying the authorities — but they use it as all-inclusive. You can find story after story in the Bible where men and women of God didn’t use it as all-inclusive. Daniel was ordered not to pray to anyone but the king for 30 days. Daniel went to his room, prayed as he always had before, and was caught praying by the authorities. Daniel knew after 30 days he could pray. Daniel could have prayed silently. Unfortunately, too many so-called Christians want us to be silent, even now. I believe the reason for this is that they are afraid. Daniel could have prayed without kneeling or raising his hands. He did none of those things. Daniel chose to pray according to Scripture example and according to his lifelong custom (Daniel 6:10). He was willing to face the lion’s den, because he would not let the government dictate his personal expression of worship.

Guide:

Martin Luther King, Jr. — The Church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the Church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.

Stand:

What’s sad today is that a lot of churches, not all, have become just that. I could name two of the bigger ones here in Albuquerque where the pastors are servants of the state, where they stand for nothing or no one. But let you and me be the believers who stand for something. Stand for righteousness.

Let’s be a light to this dark world and to the authorities. Let them know they are not our masters, and they don’t get to dictate how we serve or worship our God — the only true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus.

Just a thought,

PSS

Choices, opportunities, consequences. God has given us all a free will, which means we have the power to choose.

Choices:

We can choose to make good choices, or to make bad choices. But either way, we have the power to choose. If we choose to do the same old thing the same old way, we will never experience opportunities that can help us in life, bring greater success to our lives, and enhance our lives.

Consequences:

The greatest thing God gave all of us is the power to choose. If you use this power to choose to be a victim or to do bad things, the consequences will be bad. So many use the power of choice to blame others, to blame all their problems on someone or something else. Then they wonder why nothing ever changes. But if we use our power of choice to make good decisions, to not blame anyone or anything for our current circumstances, to choose to better ourselves, learn something every day, and take responsibility for our lives, we can watch the opportunities that will come across our paths.

Opportunities:

Opportunity: a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something; an appropriate or favorable time or occasion. If we make choices to blame and to not take responsibility for our lives, opportunities will pass us by, and we won’t ever know it.

Let’s choose life. Make a choice to live. The power of choice — greatest ability we have.

Just a thought,

PSS

Have you ever felt bored? Have you ever been bored?

Boredom:

Bored is defined as: feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one’s current activity; feeling disinterested in one’s surroundings; having nothing to do; feeling that life is dull. Ellen Parr said, “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” With all the lockdowns in this country, with people told to stay at home, closing down everything so there is no place to go, or fewer places to go (by the way, we are all locked down and haven’t even committed a crime), it is easier to get bored because now, for the first time in our recent history, our activities have been severely limited. So, people get bored.

Prevention:

When boredom happens, we will find ways to break up our routines. Hopefully, find good ways to break them up. Unfortunately, some relapse or get into trouble because of boredom. To prevent this, we need to remember our greatest purpose in this life is to please God, to serve Him. So, we need to search the scriptures to help us stay curious.

Creativity:

We need to find ways to break up the routine of life. Be creative, try things that are outside your comfort zone, experiment with healthy things. They might not be normal to you, but can become exciting so you stay interested in God, your family, and even in yourself. So, if you find yourself becoming bored during this lockdown, look to find good things to do. Develop new interests, read more, pray more. Engage more with your family and friends.

Stay curious, and watch God help keep you strong from regressing to some bad habits.

Just a thought,

PSS

We revolted against the British for less than what is happening to our constitution today and our constitutional rights, which have been set aside for a state of emergency from a virus.

Taboo:

Notice our governor won’t talk about how many babies are being murdered, how many people have committed suicide, and how many have died of even the flu. Why don’t they talk about these things? Because it doesn’t fit their narrative — that they (the state) say the governor is keeping us safe. How sick and misguided these statements are. What’s even sadder, people believe them. We don’t care about all the other deaths, only the COVID-19 ones. We are not talking about how the shutdown is creating more issues than it’s helping. We refuse to talk about that, because of the emergency powers: that these governors in a lot of states, ours being one, have turned these people into little dictators — telling people to spy on their neighbors (this is what happened in Germany under Hitler); how we have been threatened and scolded; and somehow, we are not caring or un-American to fight back.

Stand:

It is very sad when we don’t stand up for our civil liberties against the totalitarian form of government. But people say the governor is only trying to protect us. Is she; how do we know that? We are not allowed to say anything or ask questions, because if we do, we must somehow not care about people.

She doesn’t care about anyone but herself and her own ambitions.

Smoke screen:

Instead of dealing with our governor, we attack good Americans who believe in our God-given rights. Even now, she came out after the president spoke about a phased plan to reopen our country and economy and said, “We are not even close.” Not only should we be close, she should have moved to put our doctors back to work and all those who help and are specialists. You can kill a baby, but you can’t have surgery for cancer. This is so demonic and wrong. We should all begin to protest her, call her office, and shut it down by calling and letting her know enough is enough. We should pray and ask God to intervene.

Let’s fight back and address our displeasure peacefully and with lots of passion for our country.

Just a thought,

PSS

During this crisis that we are experiencing, the greatest thing we need is HOPE — Hold On: Possibilities Exist. HOPE — Hold On: Pain Ends.

Possibility:

Whatever we may be experiencing during this time, we all need hope: hope for better things to happen, hope for our children, and hope for our families. We all need hope to keep going and to look for the possibilities that are out there. Without it, all of this could be overwhelming. So, we need hope in our lives.

Happiness:

People today believe that happiness is about getting what we want, but it consists of learning to be satisfied with what we have and what we don’t have.

Few things are necessary to make the wise man happy, while no amount of material wealth would satisfy a fool.                  

                                                                             — Og Mandino

Uniqueness:

A common mistake is to search outside for happiness. Happiness is unique, depending on each individual. What makes one happy may make another miserable. So, we need to look inside ourselves, and pray and ask God to help us. Because we know He is always with us, we can be hopeful for today and tomorrow, and be happy. If we keep our minds stayed on Him, we will all remain hopeful and happy through the worst of circumstances. No matter the crisis, we will remain hopeful.

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you (Isa. 26:3 NLT)!        

Just a thought,

PSS