Virus Database Has Been Updated!

What would we do without our computers these days, huh? I have had my current laptop for nearly 5 years. It’s still in great shape, and keeps me working and communicating and whatever else I ask it to do even though it’s not the latest and the greatest out there (I’m still using Windows XP^© and Microsoft Office 2007^©) I think part of the reason I am able to do this is because I regularly use programs like SpyBot Search and Destroy^© to keep it clean and clear of viruses and cookies and spyware and such. I don’t know if that’s the real reason, but I like to think, as Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” I’ve always been one to do maintenance on what God has blessed me with more than I have on doing repairs. It’s as the old TV commercial put it, “Pay me now, or pay me later.” I prefer things on my schedule, so I pay now, prevent now.

One other tool I use on my computer is a good anti-virus software program. The one I use is called Avast! ^©. I like it because it always lets me know it’s on duty very soon after I power up my computer. It has a pop up that comes up in the bottom right corner of my computer, and then there’s this very confident female voice that comes on and says, “Avast!^©, Virus database has been updated!” That’s its way of letting me know that the software has gone out and updated itself with the latest anti-virus updates so it can be sure to “catch” all the “bad” computer viruses that might do harm to my computer. That way, if I go to a website that’s not good, begin to click on a link in an email that is suspected or known to be a virus, or if I open a document that someone sends me it checks everything and then warms me. It works, too, unless I do something such as tell it to ignore what I’m doing and force it to override it’s programming and open something anyway (I’ve done that, and wow, was that a costly mistake!) I feel very confident going through my day using my “old” computer to do what I need to do, because I have Avast! ^© watching out for me with the latest virus database possible to protect me from those bad virus things. I rarely even think about it. I know I am protected, and that gives me a feeling of being at ease.

Thinking about this the other day, God spoke to my heart and said, “You know, I do that for you, too!” Yes! God is our “Anti-virus software”, if you will. (I know, He’s so much more than that, so don’t think I’m being disrespectful of the King of all Kings, God of all gods, Lord of all lords, but just hang on and see this through). You see, God wants to let us know He is there just as soon as we “power up” in the morning. Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us that “It is the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (KJV) He renews us every morning, if we are willing to be renewed. We are reminded every morning that He is on duty, watching out for us, protecting us, keeping us from the evil one, if we will listen and not ignore Him.

What do we have to do to grasp hold of this protection? Just call on the name of the Lord. Take a good hard look at Psalm 119, for instances. If we just spend time in His word, daily, crying out to him, listening intently to what He is saying, and acting upon what He is telling us, well, He’s there! AVAST!

I know this is going to be a difficult pill for some of you to swallow, but take it with a big gulp, in particular God wants us to call out to him as soon as we are conscience in the morning, Psalm 119:147-148 says, “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.” 

When was the last time you woke up and before you got out of bed, you called on Jesus? You didn’t even brush your teeth, comb your hair, have your coffee before you called out to him and sought out His word! I know; some of you are going to say you are not a morning person. I’m glad God is a morning, noon, evening and night God, aren’t you? Call on Him! Let him reassure you that he is on duty, ready to guard you, guide you, love you, and protect you! Romans 8:31b says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (That’s even before that first cup of coffee!) Later in that chapter we read, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

AVAST! He’s there, all the time, if we’ll just “power up” with Him every day and let him remind us – “AVAST! I am here to protect you!

I don’t know about you, but I do know this. I am not going to live this year, 2015, or any year to come with a spirit of defeat and fear that something horrible is going to happen. I’m going to live knowing that my God is the greatest spiritual “anti-virus” we could ever hope to have. My part, simple, power up each morning with prayer and His word and let him proclaim, “AVAST! I am here for you!”