Peace
Philippians 4:7 And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Nahum 1:15 Behold! upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings [telling of the Assyrian’s death], who publishes peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; perform your vows. For the wicked counselor [the king of Assyria] shall no more come against you or pass through your land; he is utterly cut off [Then the prophet Nahum sarcastically addresses his message to Nineveh:]
Shalom meaning completeness, wholeness, peace, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony ; the absence of agitation or discord. Shalom comes from the root word shalam, meaning to be complete, perfect and full. Thus shalom is much more than the absence of war and conflict; It is the wholeness that the entire world seeks. The word Shalom occurs about 250 times in the Old Testament. God takes delight in His form of shalom, the wholeness and well being of His servants. In Isaiah 53:5 the chastisement necessary to bring us to shalom was upon the suffering Messiah. The angels understood at His birth that Jesus was to be the great peace-bringer, as they called out, in Luke 2:14-17 “Glory to God in the Highest: and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
A key test of faith for God’s people comes when God judges the nations around them. For Christians, this can mean that God may judge the nation in which they live. He is able to protect and spare His people from judgments that fall even on their neighbors.
We must:
- Trust that God is good
- Hear and accept as fact the good news of deliverance from our soul’s enemy through Christ Jesus. Romans 16:20 And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) be with you.
- Accept that He is a place of safety for us when we are in trouble
- Never doubt that He is faithful to care for those who trust Him to do so.
- Know that He will eventually stop any attack upon us.
- Simply Believe that God is willing and able to deliver us from any bondage
During our trip to Hungary the Lord showed me how to walk in His peace the peace that passes all understanding the peace that is shalom, Shalom meaning completeness, wholeness, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfect ness, fullness, rest, harmony; the absence of agitation or discord.
It was not an easy lesson for me to learn it was born of stress and strife, fear and anxiety and none of it was mine. It came from the authority that was over us. I experienced what I describe as God’s salvation. Most people think the salvation process is God looking down into a pale of drowning puppies deciding which ones He will save, yet in reality it is God reaching into a pit of vipers to save those who are biting at Him.
Of course this was my perception whether it was reality or not is beside the point, because our perception is our truth. So here I am reaching out to honor the authority over me and getting what I felt was abused.
It was decision time. How do I respond to what I think is going on? Do I do what my flesh wanted to do, and that was, to fire back? Pick up the spear that King Saul threw at David and hurl it back. To me David had every right to pick that puppy up and see what kind of aim he had, but he didn’t. He respected the authority over him and he honored the dishonorable.
I had a choice to make a bad situation worse or do what logically made no sense. When you are doing the right thing, when you are following the precepts of God, staying in His word doing what you believe He would have you do, and the other person is obviously not, the natural thing to do is to fly into righteous indignation telling them how far off they really are and showing them in the word that they are doing the wrong thing. Having experienced that in my 27 year Christian walk, and finding that, that type of attitude does nothing but bring more anger and frustration I decided to do what I am going to ask each one of you to do when you feel as though you are absolutely right about something and the other person is absolutely wrong. I am going to ask you to ask God to change you. Lord I feel as though I am right in this situation and the other person is wrong, but I would prefer to humble myself before You, and ask You Lord to change me, change me, change me Lord. I give up my right to be right. If I ask You to change me, then I am humbling myself at the foot of your throne and you say Lord if Your children humble themselves you won’t have to, and further more You will exalt the humble and push down the proud. So here I am to worship, here I am to bow down and humble myself before You Lord and as I do that I untie Your hands to fix it, or fight my battles by crushing my enemies, get them saved or whatever You choose to do, because you know what is right. You my Lord are just and righteous and I am not. So have your way in this entire situation.
I prayed that prayer continually as we allowed the Lord to minister through us and in spite of every obstacle, every hindrance and every restriction God set the captives free. When I deliberately laid my flesh down the Lord filled me with shalom, meaning completeness, wholeness, peace, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfect ness, fullness, rest, harmony.
It takes humility to ask God to change you when you think that you’re right, but if you are looking for a miracle then this is the direction you need to go. Try it, you will really enjoy the results that you get.
Say it with me just for practice God change me, God Change me, God Change me!
Pray, Aim High, and Keep your Focus
There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old high powered bear rifle and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out and kill something for dinner.
As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit and he shot at the rabbit and missed it. Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it. As he went further, he saw a wild turkey in the tree and he had only one bullet, but a voice came to him and said “pray first, aim high and stay focused.”
However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better kill. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him-so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattle snake. Still, the voice said again to him, “I said ‘pray, aim high and stay focused.”
So, the man decided to listen to the voice. He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey. The bullet went straight through the turkey, ricocheted off the tree and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, he lost his balance and fell backward into a pond.
When he stood to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and turkey to eat. The snake (Satan) was dead simply because the man listened to God. Bottom line:
Pray first before you do anything, aim high in your goals, and stay focused on God.