The Lord said, “My Body needs to remember it has a spiritual immune system--and use it!”
As I began to look at how the Lord designed the physical body’s immune system, God began to reveal powerful spiritual protocols for His Body, the church, and how we can remember to activate our spiritual immune system.
What strengthens the spiritual immune system?
1) TESTIMONY
Now more than ever, we must activate the power of testimony! An article in the ‘98 International Journal of Infectious Diseases cited that as early as 430 B.C. in Athens, survivors of smallpox were specifically recruited to attend to those afflicted with smallpox because their bodies had overcome it and the illness no longer had power over them.
Stop and take an inventory: what have you overcome with the Lord? Spiritually, you have been afflicted with various struggles and attacks over the previous few years, yet you are still standing! As overcomers, it’s time to put a megaphone to our testimonies of what the Lord has brought us through to strengthen, comfort, encourage, and edify the body. Remember what He has brought you through, and let it birth faith in you for what He can do again as well as birth faith in others for what He can do in their lives.
2) COMMUNITY
Did you know (in a study at the University of Virginia School of Medicine) that increases in interferon gamma (which assists the immune system in fighting infection), is linked to social behavior? Literally, God made the body to be connected. In this time of “strengthening the spiritual immune system”, God is calling us not to be an island. He is challenging you to engage in community intentionally like never before. Be prayerfully receptive to people and groups He is bringing alongside you for His purposes. There is a reason this word is calling to activate a spiritual immune SYSTEM. “System” is defined by Merriam Webster as “a group of devices or artificial objects or an organization forming a network especially for distributing something or serving a common purpose”. God is growing, expanding, and breathing on NETWORKS for expanding and serving His Kingdom. Watch for increased moves of God specifically through networking and communication/media.
3) REST
This is a call to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy! Remember rest does NOT mean inactivity. Rest means knowing that there are allotted times to act and allotted times to rest while you let the Lord restore you and fight on your behalf. Monitor your striving and your attempts to make things happen by your own strength. As we intentionally set aside a percentage of our “hustle” to be still before the Lord, watch fruitfulness multiply.
4) JOY
Laughing is a natural immune booster, and the Word even confirms in Proverbs 17:22 that “a joyful heart is good medicine”. Joy has little to do with our circumstances and has everything to do with our FOCUS. For the JOY set before Him, Christ was able to endure the cross. Are you focused on the hope before you? Have you stopped and asked the Lord to reveal to you the hope ahead to give your Spirit its daily dose of joy?
5) GUT
Most of us know that in the natural our gut is a huge player in the strength of our immune system. “Gut” is often a word I’ve heard used by those sensing the urgings of the Holy Spirit but not yet recognizing what it was. We need to become sensitive again to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. At times there’s no visible evidence in the natural to back up those “gut feelings” the Holy Spirit gives us, but we must pray into these inclinations and not ignore these promptings.
6) CHOICE/FREEDOM
The very word “immune” is defined (by Merriam Webster) as “marked by protection, free/exempt, not susceptible or responsive, or having a high degree of resistance”. The Word is filled with reminders of how we have been set free in order to serve the Lord. We must guard against anything that comes against our freedom to serve the Lord or that makes us susceptible or responsive to voices directing us contrary to His commands.
7) POWER
When looking at verses about “immune/immunity”, the Lord highlighted Luke 10:19. It reads, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.”
The word for power (used as “authority” in this translation) is the Greek “exousia”. It can be defined as “operating in a designated jurisdiction”, "delegated power", and it “refers to the authority God gives to His saints – authorizing them to act to the extent they are guided by faith (His revealed word)”. God has given us POWER that we need to remember we have. This power is to operate within the jurisdictions He’s assigned us (pray and ask God for yours!). It’s delegated power- meaning it’s His and not ours- and thank goodness for that! This power is also specifically authorized for us to act in line with God’s revealed Word. THIS is the power we tread on the power of the enemy with.
Interestingly enough, the word for power in Luke 10:19 that refers to the “power of the enemy” is a different word. It’s the Greek “dunamis” which in this context means "ability to perform, efficacy, energy”. When we stand in God’s authority in line with His Words, it literally zaps the enemy’s ability to perform, tramples his efficacy, and depletes his energy. Luke 10:19 tells us that after this, nothing will “injure” us. This “injure” word means “doing wrong (committing injustice), especially to inflict undeserved hurt by ignoring God's justice – i.e. acting contrary to what is divinely approved”.
We have seen much injustice over the past few years. Even things that seem contrary to what was divinely approved. And the solution the Word gives us to zapping the enemy’s attacks of injustice is standing on the revealed Word of God, operating (in an active and not passive way) in the Spirit, and exercising our God-given authority and freedom to serve Him.
Let’s pray and stand together to active the “spiritual immune system” God has given to His body.
Lord, we pray for opportunities, unction, and courage to speak our testimonies. We pray that You move and work powerfully through them. We pray for You to knit together community both as a large body and as smaller networks strategically designed for Your purposes. We pray for wisdom to know when to fight and when to rest and let You fight, and we repent for not always keeping the Sabbath and trying to do too much. We pray for revelation of the hope before us and reminders of the hope behind us to provide a divine infusion of joy. We pray to be sensitive and obedient to Your unctions. We are so thankful that You’ve designed us to be free to choose and worship You, and we stand with You in protection of that freedom. We also pray to receive power from You for Your purposes and within the jurisdictions You’ve assigned each of us in order to stand in the way of attacks of injustice and to move in agreement with Your divinely approved plans. It’s in Jesus’s precious name we pray, Amen.
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