My son, Daniel, and his wife, Amber, head up Glory of Zion Jerusalem, and have lived in the Land for 10 years. They have made a significant impact during their decade living in Israel and are now writing a wonderful book on what they have learned, Joy in the War. They have lived through two wars and many dire circumstances in those years. The following account from their new book is enlightening. Daniel shares:
“As human beings, we all have something that triggers our deepest, darkest fears. God used [the events related to COVID-19] in my life to show me how He knows what situations will trigger fear, and how to prepare us even from our youth. He knows those things that the devil might use to destroy our faith or slow us down in our pursuit of everything He has called us to.
A spirit of fear itself is our invisible enemy. If you stop and think of most things that cause fear to start taking hold, you will quickly realize that fear of the unknown is at the root of terror. If the devil has a foothold, he will use our own fear responses to create terror.”
I (Chuck) want to pause here on this important point, which is highly relevant for the situation we are now in as a church. Is it normal to fear an invisible virus that has killed hundreds of thousands around the globe? Yes. The question, therefore, becomes, “Lord, how am I to respond to this fear?” Again, here is Daniel with a wonderful answer:
“Our natural response to fear has to do with the way God designed us, and how we respond to situations that present a hazard. Within God’s grace we act to distance ourselves from danger or take actions that remove a potential threat. God designed us with the ability to hear His voice and discern situations that could push us out from under His covering. I love this passage from Psalm 91 as it reminds us that we dwell in the shelter of the Most High and rest in the shadow of the Almighty:
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday” (Psalm 91:1–6, NIV).
We will not fear the terror of night nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness. We must allow the Lord to take away our fear of that which exists in darkness. We take our shelter in the presence of the Most High, and the shadow that covers us is not one born of darkness but the shelter of His wings. As I ponder this passage, God also reminds me of the Passover story when the sons of Israel were instructed to take the blood of the sacrificial lamb and place it on the door posts so that death would not visit their first-born. As the Israelites were instructed to take the action of painting the entrances of their homes with blood, God also marked their homes as shelters from the spirit of death that would come by night.
During any crisis we have to ask the Lord how to find our abiding place in Him. We must allow Him to cover us with the grace of His blood. When God speaks, accept the provision of His shelter and allow Him to mark out your boundaries as a refuge.
Don’t let the devil give you a spirit of fear when there is a provision for your covering.
Excerpted from Chapter 5 of The Passover Prophecies by Chuck Pierce (“First Testing, Then Triumph”) (Charisma House, 2020).
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