There Shall Be Peace

Scripture_Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Greetings: I pray that you are blessed and rejoicing. On this pathway to happiness in the Lord,we encounter trials of life, but the Lord says that we are blessed when we choose the path of peace. We will be called children of God, bearing image, his name, and possessing his heart.

Meditation: In the beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, God created the heaven and the earth.

v2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

v3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

As children of God, we are to seek peace and pursue it. Wit the word of God on our lips and the Spirit of God living within us, we have the ability to speak peace. We have the ability to pray, "Lord let your kingdom come, and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

In Mark 4:35, the Lord told his disciples, "Let us pass over unto the other side." The word us brings me comfort because I know that Jesus is with me, albeit in the process of crossing over, the scriptures tell us that a great storm of wind--not a little one--but a great storm arose. The ship in which Jesus and his disciples sailed was beaten and battered by the waves until it became full of water. Jesus said, "let us..." but he was in the back sleeping. 

In circumstances that seem as insurmountable as the waves on the raging sea, we might be tempted to cry as the disciples. They said, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" Shall I rephrase, "Lord, don't you see this water in the ship, we are going down, and you are just sleeping?" Jesus arose, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace Be Still." I love Him. He just spoke a word of Peace. The wind ceased and there was a great calm. 

In the midst of my battle, the winds of adversity are on every side. As I desire to be a voice of reason, apart from the Holy Spirit, I know I will be swayed, tossed and sinking deep into the midst of confusion. But I hear a still small voice say, Come Away. When I spend time with the Lord in His presence, He speaks peace to the raging arguments and strong opinions attempting to permeate  my spirit.

Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker, yet He says to us, blessed are you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God. We do not learn how to be peaceful on the white sandy beach with the sun shinning upon our face, as wonderful as that would be, but we learn when we are  cast into the sea of impossibility and utter chaos remembering the words of the Lord, Peace Be Still. We too withdraw to the secret place and tell the Father all about it, have a Selah moment, and withdraw strength resting upon His promises. Jesus says to us in John 14:27...

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

Isaiah 26:3 says that God will keep us in perfect peace if we keep our minds stayed on Him. Then the Apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6-7...

v6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

v7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding me that you have called me to be a peacemaker. Thank you for your perfect peace and keeping me in perfect peace when I keep my mind stayed on you. Through it all...please remind me of your promises that you will perfect everything that concerns me today. When the winds and waves of life seem like they overflow the banks of my understanding, help me remember that you alone are  always on the throne. There is no storm you cannot still, no wave you do not control before it flows my way. Help me to rouse you with a song, with faith, and trust. May others see your peace ruling my heart and inquire of the hope inside. Jesus, you are the hope of all glory.

Eternally yours,

Amen. 

Just Thinking

I want my life to be so hidden in God, that others must seek Christ to find me. We encounter one another and see one another from the outside in oftentimes to decide, "Who Is This?" I pray for eyes of the Spirit to go deeper than the outside which can change like the wind.

Beholding God

Scripture_Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 

Greetings: I pray that you are blessed and rejoicing. After a brief rest into this 2012, I am again reflecting on the beatitudes because each one speaks so much. On this pathway to happiness in the Lord, we are reminded that this teaching came after the Holy Spirit led  Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days while He fasted. At His weakest moments, the assaults of the adversary, Satan, came one after the other, but our Lord overcame by recalling and declaring the word of God. We are well into this New Year and no doubt, our faith will be tried and tested. We may be tempted to choose another way than the path the Lord has predestined for us. Sometimes in these times, it is difficult to see God’s hand, and we find it hard to see Him at all. This beatitude shares a little insight on seeing God as I share this with myself and let you in on the conversation. 

Meditation: Our heart is the center of our emotions, will and thoughts. The Lord says, blessed are the pure (clean, purged and made ready, free from mixture, unstained by guilt, corrupt desires, and sin) in heart. To be pure in heart means to be clean with the connotation of having been purged and made ready. I pondered that because no man has seen God, yet it is He who opens the eyes of our spirit to know Him. The Lord took our sin and guilt upon Himself on the cross. He does not intend us to carry it, but to trust that He is all sufficient to cleanse us and keep us. The sense of guilt deprives us of the rest Jesus died to give.   

The Lord says that those of us with a pure heart are blessed because we can see God. If our eye is single, meaning, our eyes are fixed on Christ, we will behold Him. When we behold Him, we become like Him according to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:18…

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

How blessed we are indeed that we are changed into the same image of our Lord by His Spirit as we behold him with a pure heart. We make Him the object, person of our devotion, not merely for reasons of study to attain knowledge and the many benefits of having done so, but  because He is our God. When our eye is single, like doves’ eyes, undistracted by the temptations to seek Him with mixed motivations, we shall see Him.  David said in Psalm 57:17…

My heart is fixed O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.

Jumping ahead in the Matthew 5, verses 14 and 16:

v14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

f16 Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

In Luke 11:33 in the parable Jesus speaks of the lighted candle, he says:

v33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but in a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

v34The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, they whole body is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, the body is full of darkness.

Oftentimes we hear that they eye is the window to the soul. When we see Jesus, who is The Light of the world, our lives reflect that light and others will be drawn to the one we behold, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As one of my pastors often says and I paraphrase, When God said, ‘Let there be light,’ the light didn’t have to think about it. It just shined.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I rejoice in your word and realize that you gave us yourself in these earthen clay vessels, that so easily are broken. Thank you for the privilege to behold you, to see you, to know you, and to love you. There are times when we need you to create in us a clean heart (Psalm 51:10) and renew a right spirit within us because distractions obscure our vision and we fall short of your glory. See if there be any wicked way within us that would cause your light in us to shine dimly. Please cleanse us by the precious fount of mercy at the cross. Thank you for the promise that you are so willing to wash us with clean water and give us a new heart and a new spirit within us (Ezekiel 36:25-27). It is ours for the asking when we confess that we need your help. We love you and thank you. In Jesus' name.

Eternally yours,

Amen. 

Remembering Those In Chains

Scripture_Hebrews 13:3

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

Greetings: Praise God for this day of rest.  As I sit and ponder the things I need the Lord to help me remember this year, I am reminded not to forget our brothers and sisters who worship in unlovely places such as the bush of Africa, prison cells in China, the jungles of Colombia, and in other harsh environments. Let's take a moment to remember those who are in chains in the body of Christ worldwide. 

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, our omnipotent, omnipresent Lord, we thank you that there is not one sparrow who falls to the ground that you do not take notice of. Thank you that your gaze is upon us when it is well, and when life seems contrary. Right now, I present our brothers and sisters in the faith who are worshiping you in bonds and chains. Would you look upon each one and surround them in your embrace? Please be their shield, buckler, the one who goes before them and behind them in every situation. Please remember their families as they have given themselves to take care of your house, Abba, protect and cover their families left behind. I pray that in they would have a divine encounter with you and know that they are not forgotten. As a mother may forget her child, you say in Isaiah 49 that we are inscribed on the palms of your hands. Our walls, our frame is ever before you. I thank you that your Holy Spirit is able to go where we cannot. Thank you that you do exceeding and abundant above all that we could ask or think. We pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen. 

Eternally yours.