Pastor Steve Abraham: “How to face uncertainty?”

OXNARD—“A lot of us are feeling uncertainty.  We’ve lost a job.  Will we get another job?  Will someone get sick?” said New Life Pastor Steve Abraham during a Sunday livestream service.   “We had Y2K.  We had 9-11 but neither of those two have hit us with what we face with the coronavirus.”

 “In 2 Chronicles 20, we see a battle against King Jehoshaphat (fourth King of Judah, son of Asa) where three armies from the North, South and East were ready to attack.   Like King Jehosphaphat, we didn’t see it coming.  We didn’t see this virus coming.  We didn’t see losing our job.  We are alamred, we are terrified.  We are badly shaken because of uncertainity.  We have financial uncertainity.  People have lost thousands of dollars in the stock market.  We have relational uncertainty.

“How can we face the uncertainty of these times?”

• We need to pray.

“King Jehoshaphat inquired of the  Lord and then proclaimed a fast for all the people of Judah to seek Him (the Lord) in prayer (2 Chronicles 20:3).

“Though we can’t meet together, physically, no one can prevent us from seeing the face of the Lord.  Our President called for us to seek the Lord.  God is trying to get our attention.  Money was not the answer for our life.  (Look at) the stock market.  Education is not the answer.  Our schools are shut down.  Religious institutions are not the answer.  They are shut down.  God is the answer.

“Set aside 20 minutes each day and ask God to stop the virus and watch over your family and your needs.” 

• We need to stand. 

“We have no power to stop the coronavirus but God does.  We feel powerless in this situation.  Powerless in our marriage.  Powerless in our job.  We can’t fight this.  We don’t know what to do?

“Our eyes are on Him.   Our eyes need to be off the virus.  Our eyes need to be off fear, off anxiety.  Our eyes need to be on Jesus.  What does the Lord say in 2 Chronicles 20:15:  ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s…You will not need to fight in this battle.  Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you’” (2 Chronicles 20:17).

“The Lord is saying to stand in the victory that is already won…to stand firm and see the deliverance of the Lord.  His job it to fight, our job is to stand.”

• We need to worship. 

 “The people of Judah fell down and worshipped the Lord with a loud voice.  We need to have faith in the Lord, our God.  Faith is believing God can do anything in my life and expecting He will.

“We need to sing to the Lord, to praise Him for His splendor…to give thanks for His love.  We have a choice. Will we worship Him or will we worry?  Will we walk in the peace of God, or will we walk in fear? 

“We need to carve out some time each day (15-20 minutes) to praise Him.  We need to praise God even before we see the victory.  We tend to worship only after we see something good happen.  As the people of Judah praised God and sang, the three armies began to fight one another.  Not one of their enemy was left.   It took three days to plunder all the goods (left behind).

“We need to pray, stand, and worship.  Some positive things have come out of this coronavirus.  Not going to the theater, to restaurants, to church has given us more time to pray, to worship and read our Bible.

“We need to pray like we have never prayed before.  We need to stand in the victory of Jesus Christ who at the Cross declared it was finished.  We must not panic  We must choose peace.  We are going to worship (Him).”

(Editor’s Note:  New Life Oxnard is hosting three livestream worship services each Sunday at 9 and 10:45 a.m. and at 12:30 p.m.  Today’s 9 a.m. livestream service had 674 watching.  Go to:  https://www.youtube.com/user/newlifeoxnard/live.)

Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Get CitizensJournal.us Headlines free  SUBSCRIPTION. Keep us publishing. – DONATE