Peace

P 2241 Now where did I leave my peace again?

/ DVH

Losing our peace is a bad thing. To be honest with you, in the Western world, I am not sure we value inner peace from the Lord enough! Losing it is like opening the door to the bad guys and saying: “Come on in, and bother me with heaps of stuff that is not always true, because I want to live in anxiety, bitterness, turbulence and agitation!” Meanwhile if you turn that coin over you will suddenly discover if you actually have any of those greeblies I mentioned above – guess what? YOU LOST YOUR PEACE. Time to go and find it again!

Let’s start with what the bible says. Peace comes from and through Jesus Christ – however it is not a cessation of hostilities or trouble. Peace comes from the inside of our heart – out. Because we now have peace with Him – nothing else can disturb us. John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that IN ME you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”Yeah, not so much with me liking the tribulation part of that verse(!) 😳 – But we can definitely have peace in the middle of any kind of terrible situation that can plague us in this world – because His peace is spiritual peace. Spiritual peace can be lost – by embracing the problem, and not the Saviour. (Help help!)

Jesus explains to us that the peace He brings doesn’t look like this world’s idea of peace. Anyone who has lived in a country where there is war, the threat of war, or even internal ructions of any sort, knows that this world’s kind of PEACE is not permanent. It often depends on the actions of others. But in John 14:27 it says: “Peace I leave with you; MY peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. LET not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”We can refuse to be drawn into all the guff going on around us – because we know the end of the story! This kind of peace needs to be embraced, appreciated and allowed to flourish. Treat peace as a priority, because a lack of peace is a slippery slide that often leads into doubt and unbelief.

Isaiah 26:3 says “You will keep us in perfect peace, when our mind is fixed on You: because we trust in You.” The biggest snare that leads to losing our peace is that our mind is not fixed. Renewing our minds daily help fix that problem! 😂 We are probably not trusting in Jesus, ALONE.  If we lose sight of our Saviour, and focus on our troubles instead – peace starts to become a vague idea, instead of the place we live in, internally. We might even blame other people for stealing it from us.

In those moments we need to drag our minds away from blame or trying to fix things ourselves. Or even going from one person to another, trying to find a solution. Peace came from Jesus and He can restore it for us. It gets reestablished inside us, first. Then the peace that is established inside us, affects everything outside us. So we do whatever we can, and then turn everything over to the Lord. Christians need to value their relationships with others above everything else but the Lord Jesus Himself, because anger etc. will rob us of our peace. 

In order to wrangle our emotions in desperate or difficult situations we will need His strength. ‘His strength is made perfect in weak people.So – admit your weakness! Pray – “I can’t, but You can.” In 1 Peter 3:11 it says: “They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” Peace does not fall on us – we will have to treat it like a lost treasure and go after it. When we lose our peace, the first place to go is the cross – then PRAISE GOD! We go to the tomb!!

We need to value His peace. It’s a gift as well as a fruit. Romans 12:18 says: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Sometimes it is just not possible to facilitate real reconciliation with someone else. Our job is to manage our end, not try to micromanage everyone else. This means all we can do is to restore our end of the relationship, and make sure we have arrived back at LOVE. Love is not about feelings, it is about being prepared to die for the other person!

Lastly, other people cannot steal our peace – but really motivated ones can give us loads of opportunities…!! 😂 God bless them! However, the reality is – we actually have to give up or relinquish our peace in order to lose it. It’s a choice. My advice is that we need to go back through the day in prayer, and revise what happened where, and with whom. Then repent for not valuing something so precious. Admit you lost it.

To sum up: if you are mad… you’ve lost your peace. If you are scared … you’ve lost your peace. If you’ve mislaid your hope that God is with you, helping you … you’ve lost your peace. That which is lost can be found again. 👋🏻

P 2211 The cross!

/ DVH

The cross is the place where humanity stands totally alone. It is the place where God’s will impacts and challenges ours. That place where Jesus defeated all our stinky self-serving attitudes once and for all – and gave us new soft pliable hearts. We own this new heart bit by bit, as we say no to our own way, and yes, to His.

The cross is the place where sin is simply SIN. At that hallowed place, there are no big or small sins. It is the greatest equaliser ever seen. We were given the power to live in obedience to the One Who died to give us the right to stand in Almighty God’s Presence – unashamed. The cross is the place where our Saviour deliberately submitted Himself to humiliation, punishment, torment and death on our behalf and He left us, clean, forever!  

Now we have the utter freedom to choose to obey Him. Before the cross we had no choice. That is a fact that always astonishes me, no matter how many times I read it in His book. All of us know we were not worthy of everything He did for us during that terrible day.

If you and I look carefully at that wooden cross you will see our names carved there into those precious hands that blessed people and healed them. Our names are somewhat obscured by all the blood running down from His face, His side, as well as His hands and feet. There was so much blood that day, His sacrifice spilled all over  mankind – everyone who has ever been born. That cross was dripping with His blood. That’s where Jesus Christ cleansed us and made us brand new people. 

Christ’s blood was incredibly rare and costly, because the One Who had never ever sinned, became our sin. At that cross Jesus’ goodness, grace, love, joy, peace, patience, mercy, kindness and long-suffering, together with absolute and total purity, was drowned in our sins. And hell was let loose on Him – until Christ died from the sheer agony of it.

After truly seeing and understanding that cross, how could we ever refuse to do whatever Jesus wants us to do for His kingdom’s sake? He will not refuse us. He will not turn us away, even though He knew, like Peter, we would all betray Him. He knew before we ever gave Him our lives that we would walk through some of our days acting like His cross was nothing to us – just an historical record. You and I are blessed because we live after Calvary. Calvary is His-story to all of us. 

Whenever I look at Christ on that cross I marvel that Almighty God would so submit Himself to mankind that He became an infant, and grew up here on earth, in a dusty little town. He walked, talked, lived and breathed around among ordinary people like you and I. He allowed others to treat Him like they treated the rest of humanity, with indifference, disdain and cruelty. Jesus Christ let the Jews and the Romans punish Him like a criminal. Yet He died for them too. 

On this day, I want to pause, and celebrate the cross. Someone … God bless them!!!… told me what Christ did for me. Today, I stand there, in my mind’s eye, and look up at Him … I remember what my life was like without Him in it. I remember all the things He has given back to me, those things that I lost with my own careless, sinful, selfish ways. Jesus Christ freely gave us eternal things, the kind of unearthly qualities and attitudes that humanity never dreamt we could have. 

Standing there, I take the time to remind myself that I will never ever be totally alone again. I will never lack love again. The purest love this world will ever know is hanging right there in front of my eyes. The cross shows all of us that it was always Father God’s plan to be One with mankind, and save all of us from ourselves as well as our enemy. Christ’s love heals every wound, every heartache, every painful moment and His hope calls us into a brand new future. The cross is the day our possibilities became endless. 

This was the day Almighty God made the beginning of His dreams for mankind known. Let’s rejoice! We were born on the other side of that terrible wonderful day and we know the end of this story … it’s in the book. He came and rescued each one of us from ourselves and our humdrum little lives, and nothing can snatch us out of His hands. Our lives can no longer be out of control, because now He is in control. 

Jesus and you and I swapped destinies, our destination was hell and His was heaven. So He died that day in an unrelenting, dreadful, painful fashion – then He went to hell and beat up the devil, and purchased our freedom and gave mankind the promise of heaven, instead. Happy Easter! ✝️

P 2201 Don’t leave the fun stuff to the so-called experts!

/ DVH

Instead, ask yourself – what am I here on this planet to do? And here is your answer!! Matthew 5:14-16. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” You and I are here to shine.

So what do I mean – don’t leave all the fun stuff to the so-called experts? I mean doing stuff with the Holy Spirit is FUN, AN ADVENTURE. Take my advice and get over the idea that you can’t possibly talk about your faith to a total stranger. A total stranger is like the easiest person E-V-E-R. You are never gunna see those folks again! Win, win! It’s the easiest way to talk to people. I exhort you to take Jesus with you on holidays. On purpose!

Seriously, buy some bibles/New Testaments/or tracts/ pass-it-on cards and stick them in the car with the kids’ ball games, stuffed toys, and the blow-up floaties for the pool at the caravan park. Yes I know you also have everybody’s clothes, and your food, and a first aid kit … BUT, those book type things really don’t take up all that much room if you think about it. When you do this you are telling the Lord you want Him to come with you …. and you never know what HE will do! … But IT IS guaranteed to blow your mind! 

OK, right – you are busy – you wanna rest. And when you go on holidays you already have a parent in the way-back seat who is deaf, but they won’t admit it. Plus they have a cane, and they grumble a lot.  And they probably want to do sudoko in the car, but the blamed pen won’t work! You also have 2-4 kids and a dopey dog and they all think that your car is a boxing ring. So they repeatedly say: “Are we there yet?” “How much longer is this going to take?” “I want an icecream! You promised!” “He’s sitting on my side of the seat, tell him to move Dad!” Blah blah blah. You know the drill – you’ve bin there already a thousand times. Plus the road is busy, and you and your spouse are wishing you had stayed home … and here I am saying: “take Jesus with you … in your car?? Lady, HE WON’T FIT!” 😱

Aha! I hear ya. But the Lord Jesus is fantastic, He brings peace with Him. “Great! Fabulous, you say! Now, according to YOU, I have to do all this stuff and you want me to be spiritual as well? Have you lost your mind?” Nope. You are right. I don’t have 2+ kids, a dog, and a grandma with a broken pen up the back. But … I have a husband with one hand, cos the other one was operated on, and I can’t drive. And we both suffer from chronic fatigue. And we have to take our own food because we can’t eat out.

Plus hubby has to get out of the car, talk to strangers, then get back in the car again, drive some more, then talk to more people, give away stuff, and still find the caravan park. Me?? I’m praying. Meanwhile I can’t travel 10kms without getting exhausted – let alone 400 kms per day. Then, when we get there, hubby has to cook our dinner – we don’t eat the same food – as well as unpack the car, and strip and remake the bed with bed-stuff so I can sleep. Then he goes off to talk to our hosts and give them whatever God says, to bless them too! Would you believe this still is his most fav thing to do? Mine too!

I soooo get that you are busy and this is the only holiday you are going to have this year… BUT you have never ever lived until you’ve told a perfect stranger that Jesus loves them so much He sent you to their caravan park to tell them that He loves them and cares about THEIR lives. You see, they also have kids, grandkids, daily visitors, beds to make, rooms to clean, a park to look after, plus the expectation that you and everyone else has that they will make your holiday a happy one. Their lives are busy too. And when we tell them the Lord Jesus loves them and smile at them, we may be the first person in a week who didn’t have a complaint about this, that or the other!  

These people don’t know the Lord. When they are desperate, overwrought, tired and fed-up they go down to the back of the park and sit under a tree. Maybe they have a beer (or ten!) and smoke a pack of cigarettes instead. They do not know that IF they pray, God will listen to them, because their prayers for help do not seem to be answered. But HE did listen … HE.SENT.YOU!

Look, people are not going to grab you by the front of your shirt and demand that you tell them about Jesus. They have no idea where their help is! And we get to tell them that the God Who made heaven and earth sent us to tell them that He has not forgotten them – He loves them. You probably won’t even need the 12 spiritual laws. LOVE WILL DO THE JOB BEAUTIFULLY. Send the kids off to buy that icecream, and park grandma or grandpa under a tree and go and introduce yourself to the people who run the park. 

Nothing is more refreshing or fun than refreshing someone else. Why should our pastors have all the fun?  Most people-who-don’t-know-Jesus think pastors have to talk like that – but YOU … you will surprise them! 👋🏻

P 2161 God is devoted to mankind.

/ DVH

Isaiah 54:11-12: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, Who has compassion on you.“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.”

There are so many times when we personally need to read and hear statements from the Lord like the one above. When this world and its troubles and sorrows overcome us, we need this kind of reassurance of His steadfastness from the bible. We are His city. This whole chapter of Isaiah 54 is so encouraging, it literally drips with His intentions and affections for us. 

Years ago, I studied a little on the subject of gemstones. Gemstones are amongst the hardest substances on earth, as well as being the most beautiful. Father God is telling us, in a pictorial language, that we may be broken down, and feel totally destroyed –  but He already has a plan to rebuild each one of us with the strongest and loveliest of materials. These verses are not just about decorating us with pretty things – He is expressing how valuable all of mankind is to Him.

God’s covenant of peace is a Person. Once, long before these verses were written down in the book of Isaiah, Almighty God carved His covenant into tablets of stone and gave them to Moses.  Now, He has inscribed His New Covenant onto a PERSON – Jesus Christ. “Though she … ( a mother, may forget her child) … I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands;” (Isaiah 49:15&16) Father God’s amazing love for us has been carved into Christ’s flesh, His very Being. Our God will never forget us, no matter how this life looks, or how difficult it gets. Because when He looks at us, He sees His beloved SON, Jesus Christ – A MAN! He sees the most beautiful thing this world has ever seen – His agreement with us carved into human flesh.

Father God does not look at things like we do – that’s why we have to change and transform our minds! Christ’s death and resurrection are a physical and spiritual reminder of the power and depth of Father God’s love. Human beings who feel passionately about someone, sometimes have that name tattooed onto their bodies. The mystery/miracle of Easter is that our God did this to Christ – to remind us both of the New Covenant. Christ’s Body is a legal contract between God and MAN. He carved the first contract into stone – He carved the second one into His SON. Jesus Christ is the document of Covenant.

Through Jesus Christ, Almighty God decreed His intention to have peace and reconciliation with all mankind, forever. These carvings will remain visible – forever. You and I made those dreadful wounds on Christ’s Body just as surely as if we had crucified Him ourselves. What we might see as an ugly abhorrent thing, God sees as a beautiful reminder of how much His Son loves Him, and how much They love US. That’s how serious God is about us, and the power of His word! 

Finally, I also love that these verses in Isaiah 54 talk about God’s compassion. Jesus Christ explained what compassionate love looks like when He told the story of the good Samaritan. Compassion is not a feeling, it is the practicality of helping someone in need. This parable is not just about someone being kind to someone else – Samaritans and Jews hated each other. In this parable Jesus is illustrating that while we were His enemies His love came after us to restore and heal us. God is incredibly dedicated to our restoration.

This life is full of things that batter and bruise us, however, those things are not sent by God – sin did those awful deeds – our sin or someone else’s sin. Father God has clearly revealed His passionate, committed love toward mankind. All He asks of His Son’s intended Bride is that She be equally committed to Christ. Each one of us is so important to God, He has promised to rebuild each one of us – with a beauty that goes way beyond mere words. 👋🏻

P 2152 “Who do YOU say that I am?”

/ DVH

Jesus asked this question once, and it is a great question to ask the Lord about ourselves. The Lord Jesus is our Saviour, we need to care what He thinks about us and the lives we live. We can all spend a whole lot of time justifying our lifestyles, and not enough time checking that lifestyle out with the King! Who are we in His eyes? Jesus sent His disciples out to work for God’s kingdom. Ya might want to think on that. 

The bible says: we are the light of the world. But, we probably won’t ever stand on a stage and speak to thousands – meanwhile the Lord has already given each of us our own platform. We were never destined to be invisible, because if WE don’t speak, then how can He reach them? Right now, it’s way past the time that we must put ‘our beautiful feet’ into ‘the shoes of the gospel of peace’ and BE THE GOSPEL wherever we go. We have no guarantee about tomorrow – some of us may not be here. 

However, it is too easy to get hung up on speaking the right words. Everybody feels awkward when they talk about their faith. Yet, so many people who came before us have said to themselves: ‘With the Lord as my Helper I will not be afraid. What can they do to me?’ We must all move out of our comfort zone and into the God-Zone and just do it.  We need to decide, for ourselves, that whoever is in front of us is OUR JOB. It’s not rocket science – simply love the person in front of you. Ask Him how.

Here are some other simple things to remember. We breath in and out, every single minute of every single day. This battle we are in is going to be won by our focus. So minute by minute, breathe IN His love for you … (look at the cross if you’ve forgotten how much He loves you) … and then breathe everything He died to give you OUT into the world around you. Whether the people in front of you deserve it or not. Forgiveness is heaven’s currency. We all want heaven on earth, but we won’t see it if we don’t trade in His currency! Do yourself a favour and stop expecting the Lord to adapt to you, your life, your feelings … He’s Almighty God – we adapt to HIM..

Another tip is to take a big breath before you decide to let someone have a piece of your grumpy mind. They probably don’t want what you wanna give them anyway. 😶 The reality is, we need to hit the pause button at the point of irritation or provocation and that takes self-control. (It’s a fruit of the Spirit.) And then… say nothing. No matter what the other person says – just say nothing. Why? It’s the back and forth niggly comments at each other that get us going in arguments. Here’s something else I’ve learnt the hard way – people can’t hear you clearly when you shout at them … they turn their ears off. Living like this makes room for us to hear what the Lord wants to say in those difficult moments.

Next, value peace. Seriously. I’ve also learnt that nobody can take our peace away, we actually surrender it. Mind you, there are some people who know how to try to insist on stealing it, 😱 but they can’t make us give up what we want to keep. Here are some choices I face when there is a conflict: – “Do I have to be right? Do I actually need to explain myself? Or would I rather hang on to the peace that passes all understanding?”

“A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarrelling is like the bars of a castle.” Proverbs 18:19. Don’t offend people and then get mad at them when they respond in kind! That’s called provocation. “Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.” Ecclesiastes 7:21-22. Yeah. Excellent point.

Here’s yet another tip: We cannot decide to serve God all day, at breakfast, or whenever our quiet time is, and expect that this decision somehow covers the whole day. Do you really think the enemy of your soul is just going to go away and leave you alone because of a decision you made hours ago? To get strong we must repeatedly exercise our spiritual muscles – over and over and OVER again. I tell myself: “For His sake!”(I’m not shutting up for your sake – you just made me mad! 😂) I think the Lord is allowing this day-to-day stuff to badger us because we all need the practice. 

You know, some electronic gizmos nowadays have a default button. When the stupid thing goes whoopsie, you can press the default button and it goes back to factory settings. We need Jesus as our default button. Even if ten minutes ago we were shouting at someone, let’s not write the whole day off, let’s go and find our peace and grab it again! He needs to be our reset button. Go, pray, exercise forgiveness, and repent lots. 

Let other people teach you about your faults. This is very humbling, but instead of dismissing what someone else is saying, listen … take what is said seriously – they cared enough to make the point! Try doing the things they say. Ask the Lord to remind you to make adjustments. What they are saying could be HIM speaking to you. Don’t ever be too proud to learn from someone who seems like your enemy.

Lastly, ask yourself, who does God say I am? And then realise that adjustments may be required – maybe even a reset. I do more praying in the loo, than I do anywhere else. That’s because I need to reset my attitude and align it with His Grace, instead of chasing the wind of my thirst for vindication and revenge.  Bye. 👋🏻

P 2127 The third side!

/ DVH

Joshua 5:13 “Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”  As you can see even Joshua was confused about exactly who was on WHAT side – it can happen to anyone.

That angel/person standing in front of Joshua did actually have a sword and Joshua was a fightin’/praying man ever ready to spring into action. Meanwhile, at that particular moment he desperately needed to know who was on his side and who he was supposed to fight! We can learn a great lesson from good old Joshua. Sometimes, as Jesus Himself told us: “A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.”  The people we love the most, have the inside track to our hearts, and therefore they can hurt us like no-one else can … by jumping up and down on our hearts! We need God’s wisdom to pick our moments.

The bible mentions enemies many times and it is fair to say that we could easily have people in our lives who hate us … accidentally, or, on purpose! Even family etc. and this can cause what I call a spiritual compound fracture. These compound fractures can be hard to heal. The best healing method ever, is the oil of the Holy Spirit poured in, and then ‘ask, and keep on asking ‘(!) for God’s gift of supernatural love for the perpetrator. When people are mean, I’ve found that you can run out of human love pretty quickly! I’d start by blessing the people responsible for deeply wounding you and I wouldn’t stop … until they do!

We need to reconcile in our hearts that we also learn about God’s love, desires, and purposes, as well as stuff about ourselves, because of difficult people. Difficult people and their criticism hold up a mirror and show us what’s really on the inside. Well, goodie goodie gumdrops! 🍬The Lord Himself does not take sides, like Joshua shows us, because … HE IS ON HIS OWN SIDE. Ergo, we need to find His side and stay there! Personally whether I am right or wrong, I just say ‘sorry’ – it saves time. Sometimes, I don’t even wait to calm down. Then I deal with my feelings with Him afterward. He can fix anything even my stinky attitudes.

After I bawl my eyes out for a while and I forgive whoever it is … PS hubby does that way faster than I do and that is sooooo annoying! 😶 Then I pray and ask the Lord if there was any truth in the other person’s accusation. That’s when He very gently takes my tightly clenched fist – which was totally ready to punch them on the nose 😱  …and He explains that I am not perfected, just yet … And maybe we could fix what the other person brought up? I often have to think about that for a while. 🙄 Our God corrects us because He loves us dearly, and that right there … is an even bigger thought!  Whatever! Enemies are really useful people. They keep us on our spiritual toes. When someone is attacking you, suddenly a whole lot of things become clearer. And they often expose the very things inside us that we are hiding from ourselves.

The sad fact is that the people who act like enemies probably don’t  understand us, or they have some preconceived idea of what we should be like. They think they have their own very good reasons. If we do not take God’s side, His POV, in these situations … we can end up polarising our own thoughts, to prove to ourselves, that our ideas, actions, attitudes are right, and the other person is wrong! Here is a word of caution, remember, we can’t hear the Lord very well, when we are justifying ourselves. Peace is not a feeling – He is a Person. A Person Who will leave when we start justifying ourselves and judging others. When He leaves, wisdom and insight leave with Him.

Moving on.. the Apostle Paul had something he called “a thorn in his flesh,” Was he sick or disabled etc? I dunno! I actually think a person, or even a people group, can fit into the thorn in the flesh category too. After all people can hate others because of their nationalities – like anybody can help where we were born!? 😳 We simply must put aside the kind of thinking that categorises people into good people and bad people, and see ourselves, as well as others, as human beings who all need salvation and redemption! Love doesn’t categorise – it simply follows the Lord through the circumstances – to achieve HIS desired outcome.

His desired outcome does not always mean we will always have happy families or untroubled friendships etc. However, having people who don’t like us, provides us with an opportunity to see ourselves as others see us, and to check with the Lord about what to do with all that info! Difficult people reveal US to ourselves far more clearly than anything else and they do it by annoying the living daylights out of us!  🥳 yay. 

I want to conclude today by talking about Jonah. He is my go-to-guy about practically everything. I love THAT guy. He was so-oo-oo honest with God! The Lord tells him to go to Ninevah … and Jonah, with no hesitation, says: ‘no!’ He’s God’s prophet and he doesn’t even pray about it! Then he runs away in the opposite direction just to make his point. Meanwhile hiding from GOD in the bottom of a ship seems pretty D.U.M.B. stupid. 😳 But I adore the way the Lord used this man’s intentional disobedience to save a boatload of unredeemed sailors. THAT’S THE KIND OF GOD WE SERVE.

Which kind of proves my point today, we never know what the Lord will teach us about ourselves, through the people we don’t like. Or even what He will do for others while we are learning! His POV is the third side! 👋🏻

P 2124 Ambassadors of peace.

/ DVH

Living aware of His Presence, creates a peace zone … all by itself. At our house we do our best to protect that zone. Hubby and I have experienced what it is like to live that way, and today I want to talk about the results of that zone, so you can be encouraged that this also happens in YOUR life too. I’ve included some thoughts and tips about welcoming and hosting His Presence and peace in your own house. Learning to trust Him, no matter what is happening in our lives, is one of the best secrets to keeping and maintaining peace. We all need peace, the bible tells us it is our umpire!  His peace, or the lack of it, shows us where we need to back up and rethink our attitudes. Along with Hope, PEACE is one of our most powerful weapons in our daily lives.

Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.” Romans 12:18 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Hebrews 12:14 says that thought like this: ”Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

It is unfortunately, way too easy to blame our lack of peace on someone else. Our failure to take personal responsibility can open up already difficult situations into even worse misunderstandings. We need to do everything in our power to treat honesty about our own limitations and motivations, as a priority. Today in our society, it is almost an unspoken agreement that there are good guys and bad guys .. and WE, of course, are not the bad guys! Here’s red hot flash for you, we can all be the bad guys to someone else. So we need to make peace our personal treasure.

Nothing can be gained when we make a mutual problem someone else’s problem. I exhort everyone reading this blog to remember that blame is deadly – to both parties. The bible says that we are to be ministers of reconciliation, not judgment. Speaking for myself, I not only apologise to others, whether I think it is necessary or not, I also actively ask people I trust: “Do I do this?” We must remember, that feedback from others is really important, sometimes it gets very hard to see around the LOG in your own eye! 😊 So I look at me, first. This means I need to actively revise my own behaviour, and stand back and look at it from a distance. Sin can trip us up, but we have no reason to hide that junk from ourselves, or others – anymore. We have a Saviour! Glory!! 🙌

Actively or inadvertently hiding from reality is tempting but it is also a dead end street. Rather, exposing ourselves to the truth, opens windows and doors into His kingdom. And welcoming His kingdom means welcoming His peace. I have also found that this sort of open, honest attitude, takes time – maybe that is why many people avoid it.😂 In another version of the above verse – Hebrews 12:14 says: “Pursue peace …” I take that to mean – run after it! When, or even if, we cannot hear the Lord clearly – a lack of real peace can often be at the bottom of the matter. We need to value His peace more than we want to make our point or win an argument – or justify behaviour we don’t want to change – no matter how right we seem to be.

Jesus’ peace is not this world’s idea of peace. We can live in HIS peace in the middle of total chaos, because we know Who holds the future! Plus peace is an inside job. Here are some things hubby and I have noticed that show that there are signs of His peace in and over our lives. When people talk to us, they don’t want to stop – strangers tell us their life-stories. That’s a distinct hallmark of Christ within anyone – it is most definitely not our stunning personalities!.🤣 People are attracted to Him. Anyone who does not live in peace actually values it when they experience it, even if they don’t know what it is.

At our house, we are often quite naturally silly and lighthearted – hubby is like that far more than I am – he tells the most woeful dad jokes! 🙄 Laughter is another valuable tool in our fight against losing our peace. It is good to learn to laugh at yourself. I take myself way too seriously at times, and it can border on trying to control the atmosphere. Laughter removes pressure. I think it helps other people relax too, and they feel free to be themselves, because the need to pretend is taken away. Remember, peace is fragile, we must watch over it.

A number of visitors have commented on His peace in our house as they come through our front door. Like I said before, we know it isn’t us! It has to be the Presence of Jesus, because He is the Prince of peace and He is welcome in our home. We value His presence more than we value our rights and opinions. We intentionally make room for Him. Plus when any of us value His peace, which goes right round our minds and soothes our hearts, we can become ambassadors of peace for others. 2 Corinthians 5:20. 👋🏻