Peace. I guess the most common thought that come to my mind when I think of peace is the story of the disciples in the boat when the sudden raging storm comes upon them. While they are being tossed to and fro in this storm, Jesus is below the deck sleeping. They wake Him up and say "Master! Don't you care if we perish?!" Jesus walks out onto the deck of the ship and looks at the raging storm, rebukes the wind and says to the sea, "Peace. be still." And the wind ceased and the sea became calm. Then he turned to the disciples and said, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" Here is a group of men that saw Jesus do miracles after miracles every where He went. Yet, when the storms came, they so easily forgot those things and fear set in. Sound familiar? I think that we have all had times like that. We go to church on Sunday and have a awesome service and then comes Monday morning...and nothing seems to go as it should.
Romans 14:17-18 says, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men." The New Living Translation says it this way, "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God. And other people will approve of you, too." The word "in" in the phrase "in the Holy Ghost", means "in,by or with". The power of the Holy Ghost does more than give us that awesome experience during a great service on Sunday morning. It leads and guides us how to live a godly life in this crazy world. You will hear me say it often, that daily communication with God in prayer is extremely important. During that time you connect to that ultimate power source and allow the Holy Ghost to move in your life so that you can face the circumstances of the day at hand. Every morning in my prayer time, I not only pray on the Armor of God (don't forget the "shoes of peace") but I also pray that the Lord helps me to allow each of the Fruit of the Spirit to work in my life. And, I pray each one separately. (Praying the Word is an awesome way to boost your prayer life.) To truly have a peace that passes all understanding in our lives, we must by full of the Holy Ghost. Because it is by or with the Holy Ghost that we learn to live a life of goodness, peace and joy.
Philippians 4:7 says, " And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Once again, the peace of God comes through the Holy Ghost and prayer. The peace of God is a peace that ranks high above,in authority and power, over anything that our minds can comprehend or understand. When we are faced with circumstances that threaten to get us frustrated, upset and stressed, we need to pray for that kind of peace to wash over us. It will guard our hearts and minds against any invasion of the enemy...through Christ Jesus. Here, "through" is also defined as "in or with". We sing the song, "There is power in the name of Jesus, to break every chain". If we begin to pray for the peace of God to wash over us...in JESUS name, just think of how differently our days could be. There is such power in speaking the name of Jesus. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." That means that All power and authority belongs to Jesus over everything collectively. Philippians 2:9-10 says, " Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." Because of the power and authority He has, His name is above all. So much so that just at the mention of His name, every knee must bow down before Him. That being said, when we use the name of Jesus in our prayer time, we invoke that power to start working in the circumstances we face.
If you are needing peace in your life...that kind of peace that helps get you through those tough times...start praying and asking God for it. And, I know that He will grant it to you. How do I know? It's in the Word of God. Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask , and it shall be given you; seek , and ye shall find ; knock , and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." There is a song that has been on my mind all this past weekend, "There is peace in Jesus in a trouble world today." In Him, we can find a peace that passes all understanding. We don't have to understand everything about our circumstances...because He already does and we can trust Him to help guide us through. ♥
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