Symbol Of Submission

To preface this post, I would like to say that anyone who does not believe the Word is a living document and just as powerful today as it was when Jesus and the apostles walked the earth, will not agree, or understand, what I have to say.

Last week, while putting a mask on for the first time since the coronavirus fiasco began, I felt my stomach drop. To fly you now must wear a face covering, but that didn’t change my feelings of defeat when I positioned the mask over my mouth before boarding the plane. 

When I placed the mask upon my face, I felt small, belittled, obedient to something other than my King. 

God created me, us, to speak, to sing, to pray, so to mute and muddle that ability seems wrong, almost sinful.

Is the mask a symbol of submission? Perhaps not for the masses, but what about for those of us who look to the Lord and the Lord alone as our Guide, our King, our Commander, our General, our Savior, our Healer?

As I sat on the plane with the covering pulled down around my neck I did wonder if masks are a tool used to silence me, take my voice and keep my words from reaching the masses the way my God created them to do.

I do not believe any of this is a coincidence or that all this chaos, virus, riots, anger, resentment and confusion, is happening at random. I believe this is the result of a well calculated and aggressive plan of the enemy which was successful because the church fell asleep at the wheel:

-Flood the world with fear
-Close the doors of churches
-Cause congregations to dread coming together to pray and worship
-Stop one another from encouraging each other face-to-face
-Bring a wedge between people of different beliefs and skin color, resulting in guilt, hurt and anger
-Cover our mouths to keep us from speaking truth

As I drove through a quiet Washington, D.C., and looked at the windows and doors barred with wood panels and passed silent streets, a wave of sadness fell over me. Face masks and six feet distances everywhere, graffiti on walls of monuments people travel from all over the world to see, angry mobs in front of the White House – this is the land of the free, how can it seem as if the land is in such captivity?

2020 is the year of the mouth, a year we, as Christians, are supposed to be singing praises unto our Lord from rooftops, proclaiming His truth in crowded streets and standing upon His Word and nothing else, just as they did in the days of Pentecost, so why are all of us so quick to abide by the rules of the world?

Why are we so quick to forget the promises and decrees given to us in Psalm 91, Isaiah 41:10, Philippians 4:6-7, John 14:27, Psalm 23:4, Joshua 1:9 and so many others?

Why are we in such a rush to look to man to save us when all we have ever needed was God?

I see the mask as a symbol of submission because since when, as Christians, did we start believing we need a mask to protect us rather than standing on the belief that, “no plague shall come near thy dwelling” (Psalm 91:10)?

Since when have Christians listened to doctors telling us how far we must stand from one another in order to not get sick when the Word tells us to, “lay hands on the sick and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18)?

Since when have we expected vaccinations to be our guard against the sickness and disease the enemy brought into this world rather than decreeing and declaring, “no weapon formed against [me] shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17)?

I believe we have been slowly chipping away at the authority God granted us through His Word by gradually leaning more and more on the ways and norms of the world. So, now, while we stand face to face with what looks to be Goliath, rather than saying, “how dare you stand against a child of God”, we are, instead, closing our doors, cowering in our homes and immediately believing whatever lie is told to us from the mouths of supposed “experts”.

I do not imagine this post will be popular and I fully expect the majority of its readers will call me intense, judgmental, and foolish, but, that doesn’t matter because I believe the Word is infallible, which means I am living fearlessly and confidently in the arms of my God, standing securely on His Word and know every promise He spoke through the mouths of the Apostles, Prophets, Priests and Messiah is true.

As I sit here and write this post, I look out my window at the trees God called to rise up, listen to the birds He told to sing and see the mountain miles away standing tall and proud, the way He desired it to stand.

I too will rise up. I too will sing the song He places within my mouth. I too will stand tall and proud.

I refuse to submit to anything other than my Father and will believe nothing other than the Word He has given me.  

No enemy can defeat me, no sickness can touch me, and no demon can pierce me. Why? Because my Lord told me I am called to be more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37).

I will not fear.

I will not be silenced.

I will not submit.

“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” -Hebrews 12:28-19