Privileges-His Peace

I am sitting on my front deck, amid an array of beautiful plants as we receive, here in NH a soft, late summer rain. I can hear the gentle tap, tap of the raindrops as they fall on my canvas umbrella. I look out at the birds flying to and from my feeders. They flutter and squawk as they all vie for a sunflower seed. Of course they scattered when I brought out my camera. But if you look closely, there is a chipmunk in the house feeder!

I am reminded of how peaceful the outdoors can be. I am at my most serene here in my garden.

That got me to thinking about being a child of the God Most High. It is not about religion. It is not about what church we belong to or go to. It is about the Creator of the universe sending His Son Jesus to take our place… to take my place and your place on that wooden cross. Jesus alone bore the burden of our sin and disobedience as He died in our place.

It is about a relationship. It is about saying, “Yes, Jesus I need You as my Savior. Yes, I believe You died for my sin. Forgive me. I repent. I believe You rose again and I will rise with You and I can rise above earthly circumstances because You are with me. You share all that is Yours with me. I have an abundant inheritance of privileges from You!

As a believer and follower of Jesus…He offers us privileges that we would not naturally have any claim to. We have privileges that we can “Own” because of His sacrifice and His restoration of our relationship with God.

One of those privileges that I want to mention today so we can lay claim to is… His Peace. Jesus tells us Himself that He gives us His peace.

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 NKJV

He knew we would be disheartened, persecuted and fearful. Again, He encourages us that we may have peace in Him,

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NKJV

There are many more verses that you can look up on peace when you have a few minutes. I want to close with one more.

Galatians 5:22 says that peace is a fruit of the Spirit. As we abide in Christ, we will not only have His peace to deal with tribulation but also have peace in Him as we acknowledge Him as Lord and develop a friendship with Him, but there is more…peace will be a fruit that is produced by the Holy Spirit through us.

May you find His peace today. Claim Jesus and claim His peace in your life!

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God Rejoices Over You

“The LORD, your God is in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV)

The LORD is in our midst! Right in the middle of where you are, where I am. He is all around us, and He is in all things and Creator of all. If you call Him LORD (as I do and and I hope you do!) we, you and I are His children…AND He is in the middle of our lives. When we allow Him to have His rightful place as King of our lives, He is intimately involved, as a Father would be, in our lives. He is aware of everything and is carefully watching.

“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:3 (NKJV)

He first & foremost wants to save us. Salvation comes through God’s Son, Jesus Christ…His death on the cross for our sin (Romans 5:8) , AND even more important is His RESSURECTION on Easter morning! He arose from the dead and gave us the opportunity to share His inheritance and His Father in Heaven! Though we die a earthly death when our time has come, we have a forever home in Heaven! (John 14:1-6)

We are saved from God’s wrath. As His redeemed child, He looks at us with love, compassion and mercy. We are made righteous through Jesus! We are saved from eternal damnation and hell. Did you know that we are also saved from the power of sin to control us? It is true! Satan, the evil one has no power over us. We will still be attacked and tempted because we live in the world, but through the Power of the Holy Spirit living within us, we can resist, we CAN OVERCOME! (John 16:5-15)

Look at the verse again, there is so much more! God rejoices over you with gladness and singing. I can just picture Him…can you?! Gleefully rejoicing over me, rejoicing in all of the wonder of you…raising His voice and singing over you, His beloved child! Wow! I pray that you are letting that sink in. How special you are. How loved, how wanted you are!

One more thing I want you to notice in this verse…“He will quiet you with His love.”

Have you ever been so anxious or worried that your heart is racing—what is going to happen??;

So scared you can’t catch your breath—will I survive this??;

So sad or heartbroken that you can’t think straight and your mind is churning in a million directions like the swirl of a tornado—will this drown me??

Lift your head in hope my beautiful friend!

If you have children or grandchildren, think on this. Remember when they were little and they woke up scared, maybe they had a bad dream and they were unsettled, anxious. Did you go to them and just hold them close, smoothing back the hair across their forehead, whispering words of love and comfort. I bet you did! As they got older, maybe they were sick or were hurt? Older still, an issue at school, breakup, disappointment…a long list of hurts and noisy times in our lives. I am speaking as a Mom and Grammy, however I am sure this is felt by Dads and Grampa’s, as well as many other relationships & family dynamics. I had such love swell up within me for my children, my grandchildren. My pure, unselfish love for them, a love that quieted their anxious thoughts, chased away their fears and soothed their sorrows.

How much more does God do that for us! A love not like the world loves. Deeper than human love. A forever love. An all-encompassing love. A love for who you are, right where you are, especially in the middle of your mess, loved unconditionally. A wonderful, life changing love…a secure, warm, constant, sustaining, solid, eternal, comforting, able to quiet your anxious thoughts, able to give you His peace (His quiet) as you face whatever it is. That kind of love.

God quiets us with His love. when the world is tossing us, we need peace. His peace. The quietness within that let’s us know we will get through this.

JESUS tells us “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubles, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 (NKJV)

PLUS, you get God…you have Him in your midst. Oh, what a wonderful God and Savior!

Peaceful Confidence

We are faced with things in our lives that challenge our faith, that bring us to our knees. I have been facing a particularly difficult storm in my life. A valley of the lowest kind. Have you ever been there? When it feels like this is a storm you may not make it through? Perhaps you are there now.

Everything around you giving way. My world twisted & shook. Rocked to my very core, like nothing I had ever encountered. Does it seem like the mountain top just seemed too high to even try to get to, the valley too great a distance to travel? I’m so weary. Are you weary? What could we do? Do we give up?

No. It took some time to figure things out but as God walked with me…I began to have a peaceful confidence.

I have peace, peace given to me by Jesus. Peace given to you. His very words are:

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 (NKJV)

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. (Reference Galatians 5:22) Instead of fear or anger, I choose to have peace reside within me.

I have confidence. Confidence that I will get through this. That you will get through this. Hold on. He will be our confidence.

“For the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.” Proverbs 3:26 (NKJV)

“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

I believe that GOD is well aware of all things and that includes my situation (yours too) and He will protect us.

“But the LORD is faithful, and He will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NIV)

He will give you and I strength to stand up under the pressure of our trials and He will not give us more than we can bear.

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful; who will not allow you be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV)

He will give us His peace as we wait for His timing to restore all things that were taken by the enemy, satan.

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten….” Joel 2:25 (NKJV)

He will equip us to work with Him at what He wants to accomplish through each of us according to His will & purpose.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

I will keep reading His Word. I will keep pursuing my relationship with Him. I will keep praying and asking for strength & wisdom. AND I know this sounds so weird…I will thank Him for this trial, this storm, this thorn in my flesh right now. (Reference 2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

This storm had brought me to my lowest place however, it has raised me up into a relationship with my Lord that I would never had found! The closeness I share I am most grateful for. I am not liking this storm but I can bear it. I am not strong, but He is! I will boast of His strength!

I am enjoying this peaceful confidence I have in knowing GOD is STRONG & TRUSTWORTHY. You can have the same peaceful confidence. Just ask Him. He is a good Dad!

His Peace

It isn’t easy to find peace in this world.  So many cares and so much pain & suffering. We are so busy taking care of areas of our life…children, spouse, aging parents, job, home, and the list goes on.

The world is revolving around us at a pace that leaves me spinning myself sometimes.

It is exhausting!  If we do not find a place to rest and find peace, we are easily overwhelmed and doomed to crash. No help to ourselves or those around us.

Where can we go to find solace…to renew?  The answer is simple really.

Jesus Himself knew the distractions and cares we would encounter. He gently calls us to come to Him…for rest, for peace.

JESUS says, “I leave you PEACE; MY PEACE I give you.  I do not give it to you as the world does.  So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”  John 14:27 (NCV)

On this Friday morning, I understand you have troubles and I am not belittling that.  You are exhausted from all you have to do.

You are amazing! You CARE so much and you DO so much.  Wouldn’t you like to share the load with the Author of your life? Let Him have it…spend time with Him and receive His amazing gift of peace.

Yeah, the world is still spinning around us and problems will continue to pop up, HOWEVER we can release that problem or person to Him and KNOW HE CARES and WILL HELP US THROUGH. Life seems a little brighter and it is that glimpse that renews us to face another moment.

I am praying for you.

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