Indivisible.

In the last half of this year, our world has been doing all it can do to manage the side effects of the COVID virus. Although it's a serious issue, it is not the real issue.

For thousands of years, civilizations have faced difficult times and provided us many examples of what to, and what not to do. Without giving a history lesson, here's the bottom line:

Whenever a person or society is put in a position of great difficulty, their response to that adversity is the evidence of their belief system. If they humble themselves and turn to God, seeking His wisdom and ways, they not only become more focused on the real source of life, but they ultimately receive God's wisdom and overcome the challenge. Their other choice is to turn to man, to science or the systems of this world where fear creeps in, and those who seek power will leverage that fear to take control.

If we don't know how to govern our own hearts, someone or something else will do it for us. Our Father gave us only two rules to live by - Love God and Love Others - but because of our inability to live by those two rules, we have created thousands more. Our democracy was to create a land filled with free people. Free to worship their God...their Jesus. It was to be a land where our government protected our freedom. True freedom means yielding to the government of heaven, loving each other with the kind of love that only comes from God. This is not a religious belief system. It is life yielded to the power of God in obedience, and empowered by Him to love with purity.

This pandemic has exposed many areas of weakness, with a national culture that is looking to our government to fix the problem. Although this is part of the role of government, it is not within human power to fix what a virus has exposed. The virus has exposed a segment of our society that is godless, insisting that all our problems are someone else's fault and resulting in a great divide between our people.

When people use fear as a means to manipulate and escalate issues, they are partnering with dark forces that can only influence those who agree with them. What we believe matters. This season of adversity is a great opportunity to really consider what we believe about who we are, and who God is.

Are we still one nation under God? Do we still believe in liberty and justice for all? If so, then it's our duty and privilege to publicly declare our allegiance to our God and our people. I can only control my response...that's how real freedom works. By controlling oneself and loving without fear, we become the ground shakers and world changers that are modeling the Kingdom of Heaven.

All kingdoms will fall, but only the Kingdom of Heaven will last forever.