God's Peace

God gives us the choice to use our life to either serve Him, self or Satan (John 3:16-18). We human beings search for peace all of our life, usually exploring all the wrong places, until we find Christ. When God's Spirit reveals the reality of Christ to us, we turn from the dark life of separation from God to the spiritual walk of light and life (Romans 8:9).

There are two types of spiritual peace. One is peace with God, and the other is the peace of God. Both of these transcend any earthly peace we experience. They are true and present within us, regardless of our outer circumstances. God's peace blesses us in every area of our life.

Peace with God comes when we surrender our life to Christ and trust Him to save us from our sins. He leads us in His daily will for us as we reject the influence of the world, the flesh and Satan (1 Thessalonians 1:9; John 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:10). God wraps us in His wisdom and strength. As children of God, we receive all the benefits of adoption into God's Kingdom through our unity with Jesus, God's Son and Heir (Acts 26:18).

The peace of God is a fruit of His Spirit, which we receive at salvation. It manifests in us as we rely on His Spirit instead of our human strength and accomplishments. We allow the peace of God to rule in our heart and to affect our body, soul and spirit (Colossians 3:15). We live by the faith of God's Son, who dwells in us by His Spirit, and we trust Him to work out everything in our life for our good (Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, we can never receive more of You than we have at Salvation, because You move into our spirit with all the attributes and power of the Trinity. However, we can enjoy more intimacy with You in correlation to how much time we spend with You each day. The more of our flesh, which we surrender to the Cross of Christ, the more of Your fullness we experience (Ephesians 3:19). We can never control life, but You always work things out for our good (Romans 8:28). In the midst of the storms of life, Your peace keeps us calm within and gives us wisdom for every situation, which we face (John 14:27).

Thought for the Day:

As His Word dwells within us, God's peace, which defies human comprehension, guards and rules in our soul - our mind, choices and emotions. - Colossians 3:16; Philippians 4:7

No Idol Will Stand

What irritates you? What is your pet peeve? What steps on your last nerve? That is an idol in your life. Okay, maybe you do not daily worship at the altar of that idol, but when you are feeling that stress and negative emotion about that issue, you are. Anything that distracts us from peace with God is an idol. Lay it down at the altar.

King Jesus is the Lord, and it grieves Him for us to give our entire focus of attention to another person, activity or thing (Isaiah 42:8). Once we surrender that issue to God, His Spirit helps us to change our focus about it, or to let go of our penchant for worrying, complaining and being distracted by it.

When it stops bothering us, we see the Lord exalted on His throne of our life, and His holiness and glory will fill our life (Isaiah 6:1). As we recall the abundant goodness God provides for His children, our heart bursts out in song; and the petty grievances that once robbed us of our joy seem insignificant. God's new mercies meet us every single morning and give us His strength as our stronghold.

In times of trouble, He is our refuge. As we elevate our loving God in our life, our heart is filled with praises to Him (Psalm 59:16-17). With His good name and His reputation as our main concern, we walk in His ways and wait for His direction for our day (Isaiah 26:8). This prevents us from thinking about, speaking of, or walking in any unrighteousness at all.

Prayer:

Father God, You chose us to witness of Your love and to serve You. Your counsel and wisdom for us in life are absolutely wonderful (Isaiah 28:29). You are the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end (Isaiah 44:6; Revelation 1:8). You already ordained every day of our life on this earth. 

Your purpose and pleasure are the only aspects we perform, which will stand for eternity (Isaiah 46:10). When we think about Your mighty works both for Israel and for Your Saints throughout all generations, we realize that You are God and there is no one like You (Isaiah 46:9).

Thought for the Day:

We understand and believe that Jehovah is our Almighty God and that no idol ever comes before Him or will ever come after Him. - Isaiah 43:10

Standing in the Gap

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

“Our new life in Christ is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. – 2 Corinthians 5:18

One of Paul’s favorite topics is God’s message of forgiveness and the ministry of reconciliation. The word reconcile in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 is the Greek word, “katallage”, which means to restore to divine favor. In other words, reconciliation means to transition an enemy to a friend. While sinners, we are God’s enemy; but through Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary’s cross He makes us consecrated friends with God (James 2:23). Then, God entrusted us with the ministry of reconciling others to Him.

The eternal destiny of every soul depends on whether or not he/she is reconciled with God. This should stir us to eagerly take part in this ministry of reconciliation with everyone we meet. This is not a difficult task. We simply tell people, “God took Christ, who knew no sin, to represent our sin and to receive the punishment due for our sin in His death on the cross. So that we, who were enemies, alienated from God by our own sin, might be reconciled back to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).

We see a pattern for reconciliation in the story of the Prodigal Son. His rebellion against the Father leads to his ruin. Then his repentance leads both to his reconciliation with his father and also the restoration of his position in the family (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus’ sacrifice paid our debt, reconciled us to God and brought to us the restoration of our position in God’s family. Jesus made peace between God and mankind through His blood, which He shed on the cross (Colossians 1:19-20).

Another aspect in our ministry of reconciliation is that we settle differences with our friends, relatives, associates and neighbors as well as with God. If someone has something against us, or if we are harboring an offense against someone else, then God wants us to reconcile with that person (Matthew 5:23-24). We do this by asking forgiveness for our misbehavior against them, and by forgiving them for their transgressions against us (Matthew 6:14-15). When we reconcile, we remove the wedge Satan planted between us to prevent us from loving one another as Christ commands us to do (Matthew 22:37-40).

A third aspect of reconciliation is that even Creation is eagerly waiting for the restoration of all things that will take place once the sons of God are revealed Right now, Creation is subjected to frustration because of the choices made by Adam and Eve on that fatal day in Paradise. Creation is groaning in pain, such as women experience in childbirth. All Creation waits for its liberation from bondage to decay; so that it also can once again experience the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:19-22). We do not realize how much we and Creation lost with Adam’s sin. However, because of Calvary, we have the confidence that everything Satan stole in Genesis, Jesus will restore to us and Creation at His revelation with His Bride in the end times.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Your death on the cross opened the door for all mankind to be reconciled to our Heavenly Father. We thank you for Your transforming love that heals our wounds, which divide us from one another and for forgiving our sins that separated us from You. We recognize the power of Your grace and mercy in our lives and we come to You in humility, presenting ourselves to You as a living sacrifice. Give us the humility to reconcile with our family, friends, neighbors and associates. Then use us according to Your will to bring reconciliation between them and You, so we may all enjoy eternity in Your presence together.

Thought for the Day:

As flawed humanity, if we place our faith in God, He freely forgives our sin and reconciles us to Himself.

 

 

Clay Jars

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." - 2 Corinthians 4:7

When Paul wrote this verse about jars of clay, he referred to the common jars of his day. They were everyday vessels, usually chipped, sometimes cracked or possibly broken around the rim. Many were even flawed from the beginning due to an error in their construction. Paul refers to Christians as common clay jars, but then he reminds us that we are filled with a priceless treasure, which is the all-surpassing power of God.

The significance of Paul referring to us as jars of clay is that it illustrates the fact that we are ordinary and defective and have no power or strength of our own (2 Corinthians 4:8). In spite of our shortcomings, however, God chooses us as His vessels of honor anyway. He fills us with His power to accomplish the ministry He calls us to perform. This power also enables us to influence a change in other people, as we share His gospel with the lost and dying world around us.

When we surrender to God, He makes all things new. We are not perfect, but we are forgiven (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul’s life is a good example. He was less than perfect. He started out opposing the Kingdom of God. He even had an infirmity, which He begged God to remove. He had the faith for a healing, but God chose to use Paul’s life as an example of His grace. Through God’s refusal to cure him, Paul learned the lesson that God’s power is made strong in our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9). God uses our weaknesses more than our strengths, because when we are weak in our own abilities, then we are strong in Him and His abilities (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

When we are frail, we are more likely to depend upon God rather than our own gifts and talents. This forces us to center our focus on God instead of our capabilities. This also takes our focus off the flaws in the people around us. When we see our own glaring imperfections, we have more patience with the defects in others. We have more grace with their shortcomings, because God has grace with ours. Then we are more apt to allow the fruit of God’s Spirit to flow through us to the world around us.

Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need; and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. - Matthew 6:9-13 (NLT)

Thought for the Day:

Through a lifetime of loss and tragedy, our search for peace with God only comes by faith in our reconciliation with God through Jesus on the cross.