Dear CityLight Family,
God lets His children go through trials, and many of you have seen this before. However, one truth never changes. Jesus says: “I don’t want to give you up and never leave you!” We can understand that more and more deeply now.
I had a moment at the market today that I could take a closer look at the people who passed by me. In many eyes, I saw fear and uncertainty. We, too, are facing a test of faith. Do I really believe what I read in my Bible? Or will I be taken by my fear of health risks, financial loss, job loss, an uncertain future for our communities?
Why is it that it is so easy for us to trust God when things go well, but when “storms” come into our lives, it is hard for us to do so? I think it has something to do with the perspective from which we look at the circumstances of our lives. We’re reading Anne Graham Lotz’s book “The Daniel Prayer.” She writes about prayer: “How much would our view change if we did not look at God in the light of our circumstances, but look at our circumstances in the light of God’s character?”
Now is the time when we should take on God’s word in particular, now is the time when we should pray in particular. Now is the time when people around us need the hope that is inside us. Maybe this is the first time that we can help our neighbors with something and get a chance to be a witness. (1 petrus 3,15: “But be prepared to be accountable for everyone.The accountability demands the hope that is within you, with gentleness and deference.”).
It’s hard to be shielded from the many news and rumors. One Hiobian message hunts the next one. Nevertheless, I want to encourage all of us to fill ourselves with the right things. If we feed ourselves all day with Corona Live Tickers, that will come out of us when we are approached on the subject. But if we allow ourselves to be filled with God’s word, then we know how to respond to people and can offer them hope. We also learn hope from God’s word. My challenge to you is: Spend at least as much time reading your Bible as you spend informing you about Corona and the latest news.
During this time we cannot meet as a church for worship and worship. We miss you! Nevertheless, we need each other more than ever during this time. I want to strongly encourage you to meet others to pray! It may not be in one place at the moment, but we have countless ways to contact each other to pray together. Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facetime and you can also simply dial the other’s number :-). In whatever way. Please look for a person or a group from CityLight with whom you pray at least once a week. It is important now that we are not alone. We would like to help you with this, so we have created a form here that everyone should fill out. This is how we can ensure that nobody is alone. You can also use the form to get suggestions on how we can live as a church in this time for the glory of God. You can tell us how we can help you practically and you can pass on your prayer requests. Please register here! https://form.jotform.com/200771968901360
When we pray together, please note the following: it is easy to talk about what is difficult right now and how massively Corona restricts our lives. The whole world is doing this. Let’s not be like that. Start your prayer meetings by talking about what God is doing in your life or around you. I would like to encourage you to begin your prayer time by praising God together for who He is – for His wonderful character traits. Because no matter what our circumstances are, what we feel, what we see – we have to believe that He is GOOD, MIGHTY, PERFECT, etc. Our unshakable trust in His goodness has a great effect on our prayers. Take your time – build each other, pray for each other, and also make sure that you pray for others (neighbors, government, doctors, sick people, families, etc.).
This time brings with it many challenges, but we also have many opportunities. Even if our faith is tested in this time – after this storm our faith will be stronger than before. Let us seriously stand up for our country, for our world in prayer! Let us fight in prayer for this storm to make God’s church shine more brightly and for many people to believe! We have more time to deal with Him and deepen relationships online. We can get to know God and his character better. Buy the time because God is GOOD and does GOOD! (Col. 4.5; Psalm 119.68)
Janos and Anja
