Perfect Peace

Ever since I was little, I’ve loved to walk in the woods, especially if there was a trail to follow.  My uncle liked to go into the woods near a stream and fish.  Back in those days water was safe to drink when flowing along a mountainside, so I loved to take along one of those collapsible cups so I could get a fresh cold drink of water while walking.  I found the perfect spot in a woods near my childhood home to sit and think and pray.  There was a log to sit on, a stump to prop my feet up or use as a table for a lunch or writing, and it overlooked the stream below.  Sitting there in the quiet, listening to the babbling gurgling sounds of the stream refreshed me even as a child.  Just the thought of that even today many, many years later refreshes me.  I often wish I could go back to that spot and take it in for just a few minutes, but the property doesn’t belong to the family any longer.  I try to find places like that in my current area.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Then you will experience God’s peace,
which exceeds anything we can understand.
His peace will guard your hearts and minds
as you live in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7, NLT

Philippians is dubbed as the joy book of the Bible.  Paul (the writer of Philippians) did not exactly have joy throughout his life.  He ran into troubles of all kinds—persecution, shipwreck, illness, prison, and misunderstandings.  But he was full of joy because he was content as he focused on his ministry and life in Christ.  Peace and joy are closely related.  Peace brings joy and joy brings peace. 

One of the things that destroys our peace is worry.  Paul had a lot he could have worried about but he chose to pray about them instead and tells us to do the same.  As we take our worries and cares to God in prayer, peace will replace those worries and cares.  When there are things we need—like money to pay the bills, food on the table, a place to live, and any other need we have—prayer is our best recourse.  Go to God with those requests and be sure to thank Him right away for the answers.  That part is so hard.  I go to Him with my requests and even though I’ve recited these verses probably thousands of times, I still forget to say thank you in advance.  Sadly sometimes I even forget to say thank you after the answer arrives, but I’m much better at the after than the before, and am working on both.

Paul goes on to tell us that WHEN we stop worrying, start praying, and thank God for our answers, THEN we will experience God’s perfect peace…even though we won’t understand it.  We want to feel the peace of God but in our finite minds it’s hard to understand.  That’s why Paul states that His peace exceeds anything we can understand.  If we lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5,6), it will be difficult to accept God’s peace, but when we just lean into Him like a baby leaning onto its parent’s shoulder and falls asleep there, we will experience His peace and comfort.

When you feel God’s peace within you, you have the peace of God.  It’s something inside of you that’s hard to explain.  It’s just a sense of calmness, everything’s going to be okay.

At times thoughts come to my mind like they’re bombarding me from different sources.  Before I know it, it’s like one of those odd dreams where people and places are in the same dream in an unfamiliar fashion.  You know the kind, right?  Everything is mixed up.  Family might be in living in your friends’ house and your friends might be in a totally unfamiliar setting.  You wake up thinking, what?!

Paul says that God’s peace will will guard our hearts and minds as we live in Christ Jesus. I love the comfort of knowing that no matter how mixed up this world is or how confused I may get, Jesus is watching over me and guarding my heart and mind.  So when things don’t make sense or are out of control, Jesus is right there guarding us and providing us with God’s peace.  But as always, I have to do my part which is to live in Christ Jesus which means I talk to Him in prayer, read His Word, and obey what He tells me to do.

I write these posts, save them, and then review them the day I post before I hit publish.  As I re-read this one, I had to eat my own words.  Maybe you do, too, sometimes, but that’s OK as long as you’re learning and moving forward.  Have a great day!

I love butterflies because they are so beautiful and because to me they stand for new life in Christ.  This picture was from a color-by-number app.  A picture of a butterfly that I have on my wall has the caption “Transformed by Grace Divine”.  A butterfly has to go through a lot before it becomes beautiful.  It starts out in a dark, cramped cocoon and then has to fight its way out to become strong.  A butterfly always brings a smile to me,  but also I think of peace because after all the turmoil it’s been through to break free of the cocoon, it is flitting about peacefully.  No matter what you’ve been through in life, you can be transformed and become strong, too, when you fight your way out of sin and into His glorious light.  Then you will be able to enjoy the perfect peace that He brings.

“Submit to God, and you will have peace;
then things will go well for you.”
Job 22:21, NLT

That doesn’t mean that everything is going to go our way nor that we’ll prosper financially.  It could work out that way, but that is not what this verse is implying.  One of Job’s friends was trying to help him figure out what was going on with all the trouble Job was having his his life. When things don’t go well for us, there’s usually a reason.  It may be disobedience, a lie, or some other sin that is getting in the way.  It is only when we submit to God, ask for forgiveness for our sins, and follow Him that we can have peace.  Only then can we hope for things to go well for us as we trust in Him.

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith,
we have peace with God because of what
Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
Romans 5:1, NLT

Peace with God comes through our reconciliation with God is a result of our acceptance of and forgiveness from God through the death of our Lord on the cross.  Peace with God is when you and God are on the same page.  It is not the calmness or tranquility that brings peace with God, but our acceptance of Jesus that brings peace with God because there’s nothing between us.

Think of a friendship that has gone awry.  Think about what caused it to be severed or strained.  Now think about what you could do to restore it.  When that friendship is reconciled or restored, there’s peace and you can enjoy each other again and share all the things that you used to share and will again.  It is the same with our Lord.  When there’s something in the way, the relationship is strained, and we need to figure out what is causing it.  Then we need to take the steps necessary to restore that relationship to what it should be…or if you’ve never had a relationship with Jesus, the first step is to pray and ask Him to forgive your sins and open the door to an ongoing relationship with Jesus…which is the channel for peace with God.

Peace with God is only possible because of what Jesus has done for us.  When we trust in Him, love Him, and serve Him, we can experience perfect peace with God even in the midst of sadness, tragedies, and other things that come upon us in this life.

Peace with God is eternal.  If we have His peace now, it won’t leave us when life gets tough.  It won’t leave us when we die, but will carry us through to Heaven and eternity.  It’s not like a dream that ends when you wake up.  It’s always there.

Are you and God on the same page today?  If not, why not, and what can you do about it?  When you come home from work or in from gardening, the hot bath to soak those sore muscles doesn’t draw itself.  You have to put forth the effort to draw the bath and get ready.  Then you will be able to bask in the refreshing, comforting feel of the water.

God provides in so many different ways every day.  He provides the rising sun to light our day.  He provides food, rest, and strength.  He provides beautiful sunsets to close out our day as we head into a restful evening.  I feel the sunset is the one that most represents peace to me because no matter what took place during the day, He gives rest for the next one, and the quietness and stillness, not to mention the slowing of the sun and the day, contribute to the peacefulness of the moment.  But the sunset is not what brings or makes it peace…it is the giver of that sunset.

When you find a quiet place away from dailiness of life, that is a provision of peace to me.  I love to be with people, but when I’m in a large group of people such as a church retreat or camp, I have to find moments of solitude and quietness to reflect on the peace that God gives in those moments.  I guess that’s why I like to walk in the woods or sit by a stream, lake, or bay—anywhere that it’s quiet and still.  The busyness of the beach and the sound of waves does not give me peace.  It’s the quietness and stillness of a steady stream.

Peace is a feeling like Robert Browning expressed in one of his pieces of literature…

“God’s in His Heaven—

All’s right with the world!”

says poet Robert Browning

Though that’s not Scripture, it pretty much sums up peace in that it comes from God who made Heaven and earth, and He’s in control.  When we accept His provisions and trust Him, He gives us His peace as a confirmation that He’s there and hasn’t forgotten us.

“The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.”
Isaiah 32:17-18, NIV

Israel suffered injustice from evil rulers and was looking for deliverance.  That didn’t happen in their lifetime and won’t happen in the world in ours either.  Christ is the only one who can bring true peace.  We might have periods of peace here on earth and we can always have peace in our hearts, but the peace these verses are talking about won’t happen until Jesus comes again and wipes out all the evil and builds His new Heaven and new earth free of sin.

Without the provision of peace, what’s left for us in this world?  War, famine, anxiety, depression, sickness, hatred, catastrophes, accidents, tragedies…need I go on?!  We need God’s provision of peace in the midst of all these situations we find ourselves in this world.  I couldn’t face any of these without God and His marvelous provision of peace to keep me calm and focused on Him.

“For Christ Himself has brought peace to us.
He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when,
in His own body on the cross,
He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.”
Ephesians 2:14, NLT

So much of today’s world is not at peace with themselves or one another because of differences—physical, emotional, nationality, spiritual, you name it!  Jesus died for those differences to bring us all together in His kingdom.  He wants to see those barriers come down as we come to Him.  I can’t tear down those barriers alone and you can’t tear down those barriers alone.  But together as we each come to Jesus, He tears down the barriers between us and brings us together in Himself.

I am so glad that God is my provider and that His peace is there for me to draw upon in any and all situations of life in which I find myself.  His peace makes it possible for me to keep going and not give up.  His peace gives me strength and hope to move on and keep trusting Him for every step I take.

Best of all, His provision of peace never runs out, never stops, never fails.  The only thing that can short circuit the flow of peace into our heart is if we close our heart to Him and allow other things to cut off that flow.  Accept His provision of peace today and guard it.

An exclusion is basically removing something from being considered.  My definition of exclusion of peace is when there’s noise and commotion around you and you can’t think or concentrate because of the distraction.  The noise and commotion is keeping you from experiencing peace.  If we exclude Christ from our lives, we’re not likely to find much true peace as the verse in the picture above tells us.  (It is a color by number picture I did in one of those coloring apps.)

“There is no peace for the wicked,
says my God.”
Isaiah 57:21, NLT

God said there is no peace for the wicked.  So it stands to reason that if a person is doing wrong or sinful things, there will not be any peace for that person.  If you want peace in your life, you will need to stop participating in certain things, stop going certain places, stop using bad language, and anything else that is not Godly.  Peace is present when we are living our lives so that they line up with the Word of God and His character.  When we are not, peace is excluded.

“They leave a trail of harmful actions.
They do not know how to live in peace.”
Romans 3:16-17, NiRV

I’m sure at some point in your life you’ve watched gangster type shows.  How much peace did you observe in the show?  The bad guys are always getting into trouble because of the things they’ve done.  They run from the law.  They hide and cover up what they’ve done.  Is that peace?  It’s certainly not the way I’d like to live my life.  I much prefer the peace that comes from doing and living right.  The above verse is talking about all of us sinners, me included.  No one is righteous.  Verse 18 of Romans 3 in NLT says,   “They have no fear of God at all.”  That is why there is no peace for sinners.

No one likes to be excluded from events.  I know the heart-wrenching feeling of that first hand, and it takes a long time to get past it, especially when you find yourself spending holidays alone.  Being excluded is not the end, though, and sometimes it helps you to find other activities and people to be with that in some ways are better.

Kids can be so cruel to other kids sometimes, and I know that first hand as well.  I was never one of the most popular kids and always the last one to be chosen for a team.  I often wish I would have just been excluded altogether instead of being the last one with no other choice but to be picked—or assigned.

Have you ever thought of people in the Bible who were excluded or outcast?  Here are a few:

• The shepherds in the Christmas story were societal outcasts but were chosen to receive the announcement of our Savior’s birth.  (Luke 2)
• Children were considered by some to be unimportant and shooed away as being a pest, but Jesus called them to Himself and blessed them.  (Mark 10:13-16)
• Women held a lower place in society than men but Jesus healed them, talked with them, and included them in His circle of friends.  (John 4:7-27)
• Tax collectors were called the scum of the earth because of their bad reputation for taking more than necessary when doing their job, but Jesus saw the heart and called one to Himself.  (Matthew 9:9-13)
• Demon possessed individuals were not ignored by Jesus, but were set free from the chains that held them captive.  (Luke 8:26-56)

Though these and others were excluded by the very people around them, they found peace when Jesus intersected their lives and took away the stigma that held them for so long.  Other were excluded permanently:

• Moses was excluded from entering the Promised Land because of his sin in the wilderness (See Deuteronomy 32:51–52). 
• Some of the virgins were excluded from the wedding feast because they were not ready when the bridegroom came (See Matthew 25:10). 
• Not everyone will enter Heaven—some will be excluded because they didn’t believe and ask Jesus into their lives (See I Corinthians 6:9).

If I was any one of these last mentioned people, I would be devastated—wouldn’t you?  No way would I want to miss out on something I worked and waited so long for only to be told it was too late or I wasn’t ready.  But we will be excluded from Heaven if we are not prepared. 

It’s no different than going on vacation and arriving at our destination only to find out there was no reservation made for us and the rooms are all booked.  Disappointment with a capital D!  Don’t blame it on someone else for not making the reservations.  You must make arrangements with Jesus personally and confirm them.  No one else can do it for you…not your parents or grandparents nor your friends or children.  It’s like the fine print on coupons—only good for certain items (in this case certain people—you!), not good on any other item (or for any other person).

Is the cat in this picture real or an illusion?  I had a lot of people who had to get closer to see for themselves.

Some of the dictionary definitions of an illusion are:

• a thing that is or is likely to be wrongly perceived or interpreted by the senses
• a deceptive appearance or impression
• a false idea or belief

So many times when my kids were little I’d think they were finally playing nicely together without fighting, only to find out they had collaborated and were getting into trouble doing things they knew they weren’t supposed to do.  The older one figured out he could blackmail his sibling so I didn’t find out until many years later when they were adults all the things they did as kids.  So my personal definition of an illusion of peace is when it’s quiet and you think the kids are playing nicely, but it’s too quiet and they’re actually getting into trouble.  Can anyone identify with that?!  LOL

“We hoped for peace, but no peace came.
We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.”
Jeremiah 8:15, NLT

Drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, and many other things can give you the false sense of peace as you participate in them, but it is only a short-lived feeling of peace that doesn’t last, and not the real thing.  Coming down off a high is not very peaceful.  The only “high” I’ve ever been on is a spiritual high when I’ve been away on a retreat and then had to come back to the “real” world where all is not peace and joy.

“For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.”
I Thessalonians 5:2-3, NLT

You may think you have peace now, but is it the real thing?  Does it sustain you when things get rough?  Does it comfort you and keep you calm?  When a disaster or unplanned event or emergency comes upon you, do you keep it together or do you fall apart?  The above verses are talking about the day when the Lord returns to take those who are His with Him to Heaven.  People are going to be going about their day as normal, enjoying their life, and all of a sudden things will change.  They’ll see people are missing.  A vehicle or aircraft will veer off course because there is no one in the driver’s seat.  If they’ve had any knowledge of the Bible at all, they will realize the Lord has come and taken His children with Him and they are left behind.  Then things won’t be as peaceful and secure as they had thought.  Disaster will come and at that time there will be no peace for those still alive on earth, and no escape.

There are many false teachers who will tell you what you want to hear and who teach things that are not Biblical.  They are giving you an illusion of what they think but not truthfully what the Bible teaches, so be careful.  An illusion may give you a false sense of peace for a time, but in the end the peace will dissipate and you’ll have nothing left, like the icicle that melts when the sun shines on it.  Be wise and discerning of the things you hear, see, and read so that you don’t become illusioned by false teachings.

A good example of an illusion is the tricks of a magician.  They show you one thing and want you to believe it, but they never show you how they did it because if they did it would spoil their presentation.   What you see is not what actually happened in their trick…it’s just that—a trick!  Don’t fall for it…and don’t fall for an illusion of peace.  Ask God for the real perfect peace that only He can give.

When and where do you feel peace the most?  For me it’s first thing in the morning before the distractions of phone, email, and other things vie for my attention.  I love to watch both sunrises and sunsets and enjoy them for as long as I can.  They are calming and a good reminder of God’s creating our world with day and night.

Today I want to talk about the words of a song by Edward Henry Bickersteth which I’ve known for years.  The Lord brought it to my mind this morning while I was having my devotions.  I know I am as guilty as anyone of just listening to the music or singing the words without really thinking about them, but this morning when I searched for it online and really listened to the words, it spoke to me.  So listen to “Peace, Perfect Peace”  here and then we’ll talk about the words. 

1 Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?

The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

2 Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?

To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.

3 Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours?

Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.

4 Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?

Jesus we know, and he is on the throne.

5 It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease,

and Jesus call to heaven’s perfect peace.

https://hymnary.org/text/peace_perfect_peace_in_this_dark_world_o

The first line of the first four verses asks a question, but the second line of each verse answers the question.  Then verse 5 sums it all up by telling us that one day all the things that rob us of peace will be over and gone as we meet Jesus in Heaven and enjoy the perfect peace He’s prepared for us there.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t have perfect peace here on earth. 

1 – Sometimes it seems like this world is so full of sin, sorrow, and trouble that there’s no peace to be found.  Accidents, catastrophes, natural disasters, shootings—all because of a sin-cursed world.  These things tug at our heart and threaten any peace we do have.

2 – The duties of the day call us.  Go to work…pick up the kids at soccer…get to that meeting on time…do the mountain of laundry…prepare the meal and clean up…fix those things on the honey-do list…and on it goes.  Sometimes we are so busy that we don’t even make time to talk to the Lord and read His Word.

3 – You get that call you hope you never do that a loved one has a terminal illness or died.  The peace seems to fly right out the window in such times of distress—at least initially.  God can use those times and situations, though, to bring us closer to Him as well as to help others.

4 – Unknowns!  Wow, I sure know about them over the years!  Losing jobs and not knowing when you’ll have another paycheck…loved ones moving away and not knowing when you’ll see them again…having dreams crushed and trying to pick up the pieces and move on…  I don’t know what your unknown is, but whatever our unknowns are to us, they are known to God and if we trust Him through those unknowns, He will show us the way and meet our needs.

5 – It is enough.  I’ve often said that…enough already!  Have you?  I know that earth’s struggles will one day be over, and I’m looking forward to that day when my body doesn’t have limitations, my mind is clear, and my heart isn’t being ripped to shreds at every turn.

“You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in You,
all whose thoughts are fixed on You!”
Isaiah 26:3

So how can we find that peace, perfect peace in the midst of this dark world, duties, death, unknowns, and struggles?  Look at the second line of each verse.  Jesus’ blood whispers peace because His work was finished on the cross.  When we are doing His will, we will experience more peace than when we are so busy with everything else on our plate that we put Him on the back burner.  Remember that Jesus has already won the victory and has conquered the grave so no matter what happens in sickness and dying, He is there to meet us and comfort us.  He is on the throne and has control of our lives and everything in this world.  When our time on earth is over and He has accomplished His plan in this world, He will call us to Heaven to spend eternity with Him.

Trust in God and fix your thoughts on Him!  That’s the way to find perfect peace.  If you don’t have that perfect peace, just ask the Holy Spirit for His comfort and peace that only He can give, and rest in His loving care.  God bless and have a peaceful day!