Photo credit: The Kneisler Family
Complete silence. As I opened my eyes that morning, I heard nothing in my mind or in my spirit. For the most part, I wake up with a verse, phrase or worship song ringing in my ears. Other times I wake up with my heart racing from a bad dream, but very seldom. At other times I wake up with calmness. But this time the silence was so noticeable that it was too loud to ignore. I felt sadness in the atmosphere and heard no sounds of the birds singing outside my bedroom window. It felt as if nature quieted itself in anticipation of something breaking loose in the heavenly realm. It was six days before this year’s Passover.
With many losing their loved ones, millions losing their jobs, and countless are in a panic from the coronavirus, we will experience a different Passover.
Believers are coming together and learning to “Rejoice always, pray constantly, in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Messiah Yeshua” (1 Thess. 15:16-18).
God’s Word says that ALL things work together for good for those who love the Lord, for those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).
The Good in the Bad
What good can we see in the midst of the bad?
- Families are drawing closer
- The global Church is praying in unity seeking God’s healing for our land
- Christian leaders are leading us to repentance
- As a Church at Gateway, we are on a 24/7 prayer marathon through resurrection Sunday
- We are interceding for the lost with urgency
- We are reading our Bibles, praying it, trusting and standing on God’s promises with great vigor
The pandemic has taken many lives while resurrecting others from spiritual death, a lifestyle of apathy and lukewarm habits.
It has also afforded us the opportunity to:
- Regather and spend more time with our families
- Reprioritize our relationships at home to the level of importance God originally intended
- Reorient our focus on God and things that are eternal
God is the creator of all and the engineer of contrasts:
That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.
Isaiah 45:6-7
We serve a good God who loves us. He is sovereign. And He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Passover Parallels
We have the opportunity to not only recount the Exodus story as the Jewish People do year after year but also renew our devotion to the Passover Lamb, Yeshua, Jesus, who takes away the sins of the world. It’s a time to thank Him for His faithfulness.
Just as God freed the Israelites from 430 years of slavery and out of them birthed a new nation, He will also free us from the current calamity and birth in us new life in Jesus.
Whatever that something is that’s about to break loose in the heavenly realm, let’s pray that God will cause it to pass over our households. Let’s plead and declare the blood of The Passover Lamb over our bodies, our minds, our families and our homes.
Make Passover Memorable
Here are some ideas:
- Prepare a special meal and take the time to recount God’s faithfulness with your family (Use this guide for a Messianic Jewish style)
- Decorate your front door with a red ribbon or cloth or a “He is Risen” wreath
- Anoint your family and the doors and windows of your house
- Pray The 9 Blessings of Passover over your family
Take pictures. Make it memorable. One day, when your grandchildren ask you about Passover 2020, you can say:
It was the year when the world experienced a global pandemic, but the Lord passed over our house and spared our lives.
Dina, Wonderful thought and fantastic images of doors (symbolic of the doors to our minds) to be covered by the Passover Lamb of God. Even the roots of today’s plague could have been averted if the world followed His dietary laws. Until Yeshua, our Salvation, comes again, we will see an inter-mix of good and bad, Holy and common. On these days, we look forward to His Holy and Righteous Kingdom to Come!