Tag: PEACE

The Cross—A Bond of Love

I am sorry to hear of your troubles, but I am sure you realize that you must carry the cross with Christ in this life. Soon enough there will come a time when you will no longer suffer. You will reign with God and He will wipe away your tears with His own hand. In His presence, pain and sighing will forever flee away.

So while you have the opportunity to experience difficult trials, do not lose the slightest opportunity to embrace the cross. Learn to suffer in humility and in peace. Your deep self-love makes the cross too heavy to bear. Learn to suffer with simplicity and a heart full of love. If you do you will not only be happy in spite of the cross, but because of it. Love is pleased to suffer for the Well-Beloved. The cross which conforms you into His image is a consoling bond of love between you and Him.

~Francois Fenelon (1651-1715)

Obedience

In her book Practicing Peace, Catherine Whitmire tells the story of William Dizler, a man who lived in the nineteenth century. It seems that Dizler sensed that God wanted him to use part of his lunch hour to stand near an open window and read the Bible aloud. He did it for several weeks until he suddenly felt that he didn’t need to do it any longer. Sometime later, a clergyman from a local church came to visit him. “I feel I should tell you of an experience of one of my parishioners,” the pastor explained.

Dizler asked if it was anyone he knew.

“I think not,” the pastor replied. “She was a young girl who lived in an upper room across the courtyard from your office. Although she knew she was dying of tuberculosis, she had become bitter toward God and refused to meet with me. Then one day, the voice of an unseen, unknown reader came to her. She tried not to listen. She put her hands over her ears and pulled up the covers. Still the voice came day after day. Gradually she began to listen and she died in great peace”

Dizler could have dismissed the thought that he should spend the better part of his lunch hour reading Scripture out loud in front of an open window. It might have seemed like a silly thing to do. But instead, he listened and a young woman found peace.

Quietness in God

Quietness in God Our True Resource

When it comes to accomplishing things for God, you will find that high aspirations, enthusiastic feelings, careful planning and being able to express yourself well are not worth very much. The important thing is absolute surrender to God. You can do anything He wants you to do if you are walking in the light of full surrender.

Living in this blessed way involves a continual death which is known to very few, but it is in this position that you can be really effective for God. A single word spoken to another person from this restful, abandoned position wi8ll do more to change circumstances than all our most eager and carefully planned schemes. You see, when you speak from this position of abandonment to God, it is the Spirit of God who is then speaking, and the word you speak out of context loses none of its force and authority. Only one word perhaps–but it enlightens, persuades, blesses, and moves to action. We have accomplished everything, and have scarcely said anything. On the other hand, if the old self gets its way, we end up talking forever. We discuss a thousand different possibilities. We are constantly afraid of not saying or doing enough. We get angry, excited, exhausted, distracted, and finally make no headway at all.

I am saying this because I have noticed a tendency in you to talk about problems rather than abandoning yourself to God and leaving them with Him. And you will be better off both physically and spiritually when you quietly place everything in God’s hands.

As the saying goes, “Let the water flow beneath the bridge.” You can’t change men from being men. People will always be weak, vain, unreliable, unfair, hypocritical and arrogant. The world will always be worldly. And you cannot change it. People will follow their own inclinations and habits. And since you cannot recast their personalities, the best course of action is to let them be what they are and bear with them. Do not allow yourself to be troubled and perplexed when you see people being unreasonable and unjust. Rest in peace in the bosom of God. He sees it all more clearly than you do, and yet He permits it. So be content to do whatever you feel you should, quietly and gently and don’t worry about anything else.

Francois Fenelon – 1651-1715

Flourishing Faith

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“May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace” 2 Thess. 1:2

The room was filled with people eager to hear the pastor’s message. His charismatic personality and wit always carried his listeners easily through each sermon. Although not challenged, his flock was certainly entertained. Randolph was very popular.

The sermon, this morning would be different, challenging both for him and his flock. God had penetrated his otherwise charming manner in his prayers and stripped him of all pretense. It was time to share the words of God as that…Words of God!

“My friends we will forego all preliminaries this morning,” he began, “God wants to speak to us from His Word. He wants to remove all distractions so turn off all cell phones, tablets or anything else that rings, vibrates or gets your attention. Yes, I’m not fooling, turn them OFF. I’ll wait.”

“If you have a Bible, turn to 2 Thessalonians. If not, close your eyes and listen carefully as God speaks to us through this portion of His Holy Scripture.”

Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering. And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering.In his justice he will pay back those who persecute you.

And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power. When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about him.

So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER TWO

Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

Randolph paused here, looking up from his Bible. He refrained from filling the silence with his usual light-hearted anecdotes. Today was different for him…for them. God was speaking today. He was changing lives, shattering strongholds, encouraging hearts. God’s Holy Spirit seemed tangible this morning.

Randolph said, “Come to the altar, friends. Let’s pray together and allow God to strip away our facades. Let’s wrestle with the spiritual forces of darkness as the body of Christ.” He turned and knelt. Soon the altar was full. A river of tears followed.

The Secret of Peace

 

“You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You.” Is 26:3

Not only in America but all over the world, people seek peace. Peace for their home, their region and their country. Right this very minute, someone is striving to make amends, to bring forgiveness or to forge a way of living that results in peace for everyone involved. Unfortunately, peace treaties have been agreed to, signed, declared with fanfare, and raised the hopes of millions just to be dashed to pieces, shattered on the rocks of deception and greed. Rather than giving birth to peace, these broken treaties breed hatred, fear, anger and bloodshed. This is true throughout the history of America as in most of the world. On his own, mankind seems unable to find and establish peace. That is because the secret of peace is birthed in the bosom of God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, without whom there is no peace.

For centuries, even from the very beginning of the world, anger, jealousy, greed and hatred have corrupted attempts at peaceful coexistence and personal safety. Cain and Abel point to the first example of a jealous rage ending in death and the greedy, traitorous heart of Judas Iscariot shines the light on another, more infamous example of greed and jealousy controlling a man to bring destruction, disappointment, confusion and death.

Philippians 4:4-8 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 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. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Romans 14:17 For God’s Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of the righteousness, peace, and joy which the Holy Spirit gives.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The secret of peace then is not really a secret except to those who refuse to see it. As we can see above, God has done everything for us to have His peace in our hearts. Why then do we struggle so often with our circumstances, grasping for the peace that seems to elude us? Is it because we do not really believe God’s Word; because our faith is weak when our trials are strong? Or is it because we want an external peace, one that is built on an impossible premise of everyone agreeing to “get along” and share equally. That peace does not even work in families, let alone nations. God’s peace is eternal and personal, changing individuals, one by one.

His peace, already prepared, perfected and given to us via His Holy Spirit must be acted upon. To receive a gift, we must reach out for it, take it and make it ours. “When you draw close to God, God will draw close to you.” [James 4:8]

So we can see that we are the weak link in this process of Him giving and us receiving. Praise be to God for Jesus Christ who forgives and sets us back on our feet of faith, time after time.

John 14:27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you—I am going away, but I will come back to you again.”

George Muller Devotionals

 

George Müller cared for 10,000 orphaned children in Bristol during the 19th Century. He never made appeals for money, trusting implicitly in God, he received £1,500,000 in answer to prayer. At present day prices, this would be well over £86,000,000.

Day 1

Triumphant Faith

“Don’t be afraid, just believe.” Mark 5:36

As long as we are able to trust in God, holding fast in our heart that He is able and willing to help those who rest on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and in all matters that are for His glory and their good, the heart remains calm and peaceful. It is only when we practically let go of faith in His power or His love that we lose our peace and become troubled. Remember that it is the very time for faith to work when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith. As long as there remains certain natural prospects for help, faith does not rise up as easily as when all natural prospects fail.

All children of God, whatever their position in the world or in the church, should put their trust in God for everything connected with their body, their soul, their business, their family, their church position, their service for God, etc. And it is impossible to do so without enjoying the blessedness that results from it. First comes the peace of God that keeps the heart and mind like a garrison, and second comes a true liberty with regard to circumstances, times, places, and people.

Faith is above circumstances. No war, no fire, no water, no business panic, no loss of friends, no death can touch it. It goes on its own steady course. It triumphs over all difficulties. It works most easily in the great difficulties. Those who really confide in God, because they know the power of His arm and the love of His heart as demonstrated in the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son, are helped, whatever their trials and difficulties might be.

Compiled and edited by Lance Wubbels. http://www.ywampublishing.com