How this season of quarantine has actually helped the church
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19 NIV
While I’m sure everyone is sick of (no pun intended) the effects of the coronavirus on society and are ready for it to end, the quarantine has actually allowed for some unintended innovation and upgrades to happen for the church. To be clear, I don’t believe that God caused the coronavirus, but I do believe that He works all things together for our good. As Americans, should we fight for our rights? Sure. But we also need to capitalize on this unique time in history. God is doing a new thing!
When God is getting ready to move us into a new thing, He disassembles our “normal.”
When God began to push me into surrendering to the flow of the Spirit in an unprecedented way in my life, my “normal” fell apart. I couldn’t prepare to preach the same way. I still tried to, but it was lifeless. I literally had to just meditate, maybe have a few notes, and just get up there and flow.
It was so different than what I was used to! I couldn’t go back to where I once was. I had to embrace the new thing God was doing in my life. I probably wouldn’t have moved into that way of ministry on my own unless He had made the other options lifeless.
This is what I believe God is doing with the American church in this season of quarantine. He is disassembling our “normal” and pushing us into a new way. We don’t have the option of returning to where we once were…at least right now.
Instead of wasting time complaining, we can capitalize on this unique moment in history and seek God for what He’s doing, saying, and releasing in this hour. He’s doing a new thing!
DISCLAIMER: I don’t say this with an insensitivity for those who are facing dire circumstances through this time. I pray God releases breakthrough, health, and provision to those in need. To be clear, I don’t enjoy the virus’s effects on society any more than you do, but I know God is working in it and I don’t want to miss this unique opportunity.
Here’s a few reasons why this quarantine season is actually helping the church:
1. It positioned us for the “new thing”
Isaiah prophesied that God is doing a “new thing ”(which I believe is a “now” word). But notice the verse above says the new thing will come in the wilderness and the wasteland.
When John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus, he was the voice crying out where? In the wilderness. (Matt. 3:3)
When God spoke of a Door of Hope that He was giving to Israel, He said He would do it where? In the wilderness. (Hosea 2:14-15)
Wilderness seasons always position us for the new thing God is about to do. It’s where we’re stripped of our normal, our comforts, and routines, and we begin to cry out to God.
This is the place where we actually look for the new. Many times we’re not looking for a new thing because we don’t think we need it.
But here we are:
Our normal has been disassembled.
We are vulnerable.
We are desperate.
We are in need.
And in the wilderness, we become aware of it.
Not only that, the wilderness has a way of making us let go of the excess things and hold on to the things we really need. Do we really want to spend time, energy, and effort on things that we don’t need?
One of the ways God helps us to find a NEW way is to disassemble the NORMAL way.
When we’re desperate and in need, we look for an answer. That’s what positions us to receive the new thing.
Every church has been shaken in these last couple of months. But what has it done? It’s caused us to look for new ways to do church. I think many churches were doing a great job doing what they were doing, but even then, there still has to be a better and more effective way! As the old saying says, the message never changes but the method does.
God has positioned us for the new thing.
The prophet said, “Do you not perceive it?” The wilderness positions us to PERCEIVE the new thing.
2. It puts a demand on innovation to come out of the church
There’s a mindset that I learned years ago in Steve Backlund’s book “Victorious Mindsets”* that has impacted the way I see life.
It says this - “There’s a way.”
If you don’t believe there’s a way, you won’t look for it. But if you do believe there’s a way, you’ll go looking for it. And God said if you seek you will find!
When a paralyzed man’s friends wanted to bring him to Jesus to get healed, there wasn’t a way. The crowds were so many that there wasn’t a way through the front door.
“Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.” (Mark 2:4 NIV)
They couldn’t go the normal way. They had to find the new way...if they wanted to see the breakthrough.
This is innovation! They had a mindset that said, “There’s always a way.”
It’s not time for us to long for the “normal” of the past. Its time for us to seek God for the new normal. I’m telling you: there’s new ways!
Right before Isaiah prophesied about God doing a new thing, he said, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” (Isaiah 43:18 NIV) Do we really want to go back to “normal”? Was “normal” cutting it?
It’s time for the church to tap into the God-given creativity that’s built within us and the Spirit of God. We can get frustrated or we can get innovative!
I was at the Taco Bell drive-thru the other day, and the guy served me the credit card machine glued to a shovel so there was less physical contact. Come on! If Taco Bell can get innovative in order to protect from a virus, the church can find new ways to preach the gospel and make disciples!
Think of how many people are being empowered right now because of online church happening in homes. You can’t depend on the leaders to do everything for you (yes, I believe in church leadership and authority). Each home now becomes a mini-church and parents and families are having to step it up in the area of discipleship.
What if the next move of God really is about the entire body of Christ rising up and living like Jesus instead of watching the leaders do it!
3. It helps us stay more dependent and fixed on His Presence
In December last year, I began to hear this verse in my heart:
“...“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before...” (Joshua 3:3-4 NIV)
Specifically the line “you have never been this way before” was highlighted to me.
I’m sure God was speaking to me personally about my own life, but I didn’t realize the whole world would be led into a time where no one had ever gone before.
Joshua told the people to follow the ark of the covenant, which carried the Presence of the Lord. The answer to making it through a time and place you’ve never been before is fixing your eyes on God’s Presence.
“Should we open our church?”
“How do we do church?”
“Where do we go from here?”
“What is the new thing God is doing?”
The answer is found within the Presence of God. His Presence leads us. Israel was led right into the Promised Land by following the Presence.
The quarantine season provides us with an opportunity to be even more dependent on Jesus for every step. More than ever, we need to be fixed on Jesus and His Presence - especially as we navigate into places we’ve never been before.
Not every church should do the same.
The answer to each church, family, or person’s questions will be unique - based upon the leading of the Spirit and the unique situation in their lives. What a great time to fully lean on the Lord and follow the life found in His Presence.
God has positioned us for breakthrough, we have the opportunity to be supernaturally innovative, and now, more than ever, we get to be dependent on the Presence of God leading us into victory.
(Not to mention we also have a great opportunity to be generous to the poor!)
Let’s maximize and capitalize on this unique moment in history.
Question: How has God used this quarantine season in your life to do good?
Let me know in the comments below!
P.S. If you’re looking to learn more about what it is to be someone who carries the life-giving Presence of God, my new book “Carriers of the Ark”* is coming out May 29th!
In the Old Testament, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders, but in the New Testament, the fulfillment of the Ark came to live within the believers - Christ in you, the hope of glory! (Col. 1:27)
Many Christians want to have an external demonstration of God’s power flowing in their lives yet don’t always have the internal fortitude formed through surrender and sacrifice. As a result, many have a hard time sustaining the flow of the anointing, the amount of “kingdom come” is limited, and even their own personal revival is capped.
The world around you needs God’s Presence and you were created to carry Him! This book is a training manual on what God wants to form in you so you can carry more of Him upon you!
Check it out here.*
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