“The living, the living – they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness. The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD.”        (Isaiah 38:19-20)

Are you living? I do not mean breathing, I mean living. A machine can assist your breathing, but it is the Lord who gives you His breath and real life. However, when fear and panic abound, we begin to run and we lose our breathe, our minds get cloudy. This sounds like a great strategy for any enemy to use, don’t you think? But here’s the thing, the enemy we see today is the same enemy that whispered lies in the garden. He is not original and fear is a powerful weapon in his bag of tricks. Thankfully, we who have believed and accepted Jesus, have been handed the victory medal. Your medal, like mine, reads, “Free from FEAR and WANT.” You are free my friend and very much alive. Get to living and stop being afraid!

This morning the Lord drove this point home when I opened my Bible to the book of Isaiah. I read chapter after chapter of what could have easily been written about today. King Hezekiah was being attacked verbally by the Assyrian field commander. I have written about this before, but it bears remembering. The commander also proclaimed threats to the people. He told them not to listen to their king who was telling them to trust the Lord and watch Him deliver them. I love how the people responded to this messenger. “But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded them, ‘Do not answer him.” (Isaiah 36:21). Should we not heed this same advice? Should we not respond to fear?

When King Hezekiah heard the report of this messenger sent from the enemy, he tore his clothes and immediately sought the presence of the Lord. He placed the letter that had been written by the enemy before the Lord and he began to pray. He reminded the Lord of who He was and what all He had made. I love the heart of this king! I think in reminding the God of the universe of who He is, the king was also reminding himself of the power of our God. He then asked the Lord the same thing I am asking Him for today. “Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God.” (Isaiah 37:20). Word came back to Hezekiah from the Lord by way of a prophet. There is a stern rebuke from the Lord against ones that have ridiculed and blasphemed God. Oh and how He calls out pride!! And then the Lord carried out His plans from long ago. “Then an angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp.” (Isaiah 37:36). The enemy was defeated!!!

Time went on and Hezekiah got very ill. It seemed his time had come. The prophet came to tell him so, but as he was leaving, the Lord gave him another message. The king was getting a second chance. He would live! The response of the king is powerful and the words I am claiming over so many circumstances in our family, our city, state, country and nation. “The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD.” (Isaiah 38:20). In fact, I have been practicing songs for sometime now. When I am alone you should hear my praises roar! I know whom my God is and I know it is He who is the only One to be worshipped. I will not bow to fear and I will keep singing in great anticipation.

You see friends, the enemy missed his mark this time around with these fear tactics. I do not have my head in the sand, but my head is held secure in the hands of the One that created the sand! I do believe when the enemy drew back his bow and sent his arrow flying to what would have been my heart, he hit my victory medal instead.

We as believers in the all powerful God should not look like the rest of the world at this time. Stand up for goodness sake! Dust that medal off your chest too and watch and see the glory of the Lord ride in. A virus that causes enough panic and fear to sway markets, close events and isolate people is undeniably powerful. However, the enemy, like Goliath, has defied the Living God long enough! As a nation we have become arrogant and prideful. We have made our own rules and even tried to change God’s truth when it comes to marriage, life and gender. People, we need to be on our knees in repentance, not standing in line for toilet paper and soap. Wash our hearts, Lord, of our open rebellion against You. Lord, have mercy on us and give us another chance for we have defiled ourselves. Open blind eyes, deaf ears and start with our hearts. Strike down the enemy that so loudly is shouting right now. May he sound like a tiny kitten when You, the Lion of Judah, ROAR! Fear, you have come far enough. Watch and see what my God can do. Lord, please show yourself faithful as we humble ourselves today. For the knees that are being stubborn to bend and the tongues that are having a hard time admitting You are indeed God, have mercy. Either they bend and speak on their own, or the day will come when they will have no choice.

We have taken Your Living Word and torn up Your truth in our pride and arrogance for all the world to see. We have traded your glory for our own. Lord, please be merciful. We deserve death, but in Your mercy give us life. And like Hezekiah reminded You long ago, “For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise…The living, the living – they praise you, as I am doing today.” (Isaiah 38:18-19). I can think of no better song that will bring unity to us than “Fear is A Liar”, by Zach Williams. Lord willing, we will be seeing him in concert tonight, along with We the Kingdom.

So, Kingdom people, my prayer for us today is that we get on our knees in repentance and then rise with songs of praise on our lips. May our shouts be heard around the world as we watch and see the deliverance of the Living God! My eyes are fixed on You, LORD. I know You will do something in our day that we cannot even imagine and we will tell our children and their children! Show us your GLORY!

*Picture of our group at Moms in Prayer by Corri Robinson