Pslams

P 2953 Peace.

/ DVH

In some versions of the bible, Colossians 3 says: “let peace be your umpire…”  However, I like the translation in Colossians 3:15 Amplified bible: “Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always].”

I’ve learnt a lot about peace in the past few years. I don’t honestly know why it has taken me so long to learn this truth, because it is one of those foundational factors that hold everything else in place! Maybe some things are harder to grasp than others, I guess. Today I want to share a bit about what I’ve learnt — bearing in mind that God’s word is multi-faceted and I only have one tiny view!

Peace can be a glorious feeling, but the idea of nice, juicy, happy and content feelings should not govern us – the Word of God does that. Sometimes, if I am upset, I read the Psalms until He speaks to me, and my busy mind and frantic feelings quiet down. That’s what listening to our Heavenly Umpire looks like. Getting this right is not the point … sinking into His peace is what is desired, so avoid pressure because doing that is the antithesis of what you want! Try not to second-guess yourself, instead give it to Jesus, and leave it with Him.

Peace is also not the absence of conflict. I think in our busy, sometimes frantic and frenetic lives we live today, true peace – His peace, has become scarce. We get glimpses of it, only to have it snatched away by some crises or other. Those things that regularly turn up, right outside of our ability to affect them. But in our day to day walk with Him, because of His purposes and plans for us, we need to know that we know, that certain basic facts that have been written down and are absolutely established. The minute I know I’ve lost my peace I know I can start restoring it by praying: “I want whatever You want Jesus, Your ways are much better than mine, I yield to Your better judgment, please help me I need Your peace.” Amen.

As we choose to love one another… in spite of the circumstances and obstacles that this life can put in our way — that will also help us to focus on the things that last forever. When we choose LOVE instead of our own justification, we pull focus into the things of God. Then we progressively lay aside all the worldly things we’ve used in the past to help us deal with the difficult times that come at us. Those external things that have previously helped us cope. And we deliberately remind ourselves of what He has already said. Our human resources need to be put down in order to lean on Him in faith, and grab hold of His peace. This new way to live is part of our God-given inheritance. 

As I said before, I like the idea that God’s peace is like an umpire, because an umpire is a pretty good illustration of how it works. We could say that sentence like this — God’s peace in our hearts, needs to be the deciding factor in how and when and why we move forward. So if we haven’t got His peace then we are not going anywhere until we have it!  Expedience is a poor motivator! We need to learn to wait for Him to show us any impediments to living in peace that we have picked up along the way. I ASK for it. It is covered by the “ask and keep on asking..” verse.

At the same time we can still have multiple problems to the right and left of us. Stop. Breathe. Tell yourself “God is bigger than this!” Even though disaster is thumping on the front door and chaos is trying to sneak in the back one. That noise is trying to distract you from your goal – glorifying Jesus with your obedience. We are standing on something that is far bigger than the intrusive things that demand our attention and try to thrust their way into our lives and hearts. 

We are standing on what Christ has already done and what He has promised us, in His Word. If we have no peace, then we should stop every bit of self effort, and ask the Lord to help us! Losing our peace means we have somehow lost track of the things in this life that are most important. So we stop, repent and wait. At the same time there is always a chance that we’ve actually given our peace away trying to figure things out with our own understanding. Whatever has happened a simple “help help, please Lord” will focus us again. He.Will.Help.Us. That’s in the book too!

Peace with God, has been given to us by what Jesus did. It’s ours! Just like salvation is ours – so is peace.  Let go and leave whatever it is with Him.  Walking with the Holy Spirit is part of our birthright, and it is not an insurmountable task. Jesus has already done all the work to make living with His peace ruling our hearts possible. We simply need to use our faith to believe what He said is truer than our day to day upsets, circumstances or feelings. Faith is the Way into Peace. 

Often, if we are busy we can end up settling for the absence of conflict … instead of seeking out His peace. I’ve found if I do that, then I need to repent and turn around and go back to what is “good, right and profitable”  and start  “letting my mind focus/dwell on Him.” This is how we become acquainted with HIS PEACE, because Jesus is the Prince of Peace!! So we live in an incredible kingdom! Then we begin to know what peace is, and what it isn’t! Plus you get to know what it looks like when you have it. Bye. 🕊️

P 2276 Mercy starts with US.

/ DVH

Mercy is like a well, sometimes we can run dry, and at that moment …we often let fly!  When that happens, repent quickly, fix it, and go and get alone with Jesus as soon as you can. Then ask for a fresh infilling of His love and grace. We extend mercy to ourselves when we do that instead of beating up on ourselves. However, at the same time, we are not absolving ourselves of the need to repair, and re-connect with the other person. 

Self flagellation and self accusation is not profitable, we need His grace first before we can begin to analyse what happened, and we need to look through His eyes at the current event, and not ours. We need to choose to look at whatever happened from His POV and not the world’s. His POV of restoration is far more important than us yelling at ourselves for getting it wrong.

We need to rush to our mercy seat, Christ, and sit down with Him. The bible tells us when we run toward Him, He runs toward us. Just stop and think on that. The God of the Universe rushes toward us and the Holy Spirit is on point and totally engaged on our behalf as well. He is ever-listening and ever-present to carry out Father God’s wishes. This is the exact moment that we need to remember Whose child we are. 

There is also no room for shame either! Jesus took our shame, sin, guilt and blame with Him to the cross.  “There is …no condemnation etc . etc.”  We need to get to Him as fast as we can. Then we prayerfully override our feelings of despair about what we did or said, and start reminding ourselves of how much we are loved by Him. He is the source of healing. Healing is not just about bodily ailments, our souls can be sick …it’s in the book.

I am not talking about ignoring our own personal responsibility to fix things with other people. Father God is the place where we get the grace to forgive others. The way to get a clear conscience is to deal with the matter. Don’t get tied up in who is to blame, or who said what. The point is we have to get back to Jesus, throw ourselves on the mercy seat, acknowledge our own fault, and don’t just start raving on about what the other guy did or said and  how much it hurt you. There is no value in that. It’s like yelling at the bus when it’s already gone, all the yelling in the world won’t bring the bus back.

Condemning yourself is a bit like adding fuel to the fire of your own hurt. Take a breath. Remind yourself that our precious Father loves you no matter what and He doesn’t change … “in Him there is no shadow or turning…” Now turn and look at the cross! It’s empty!! We live in the other side of the resurrection there is hope there! The Holy Spirit knows how to turn that mess we are in around.

Don’t try to fix something while your own emotions are in turmoil. Just breathe slowly, tell the Lord you’re sorry, ask Him to forgive you. Wait for Him to speak. You need instructions. If your toaster is malfunctioning then you will probably need to look at the instructions or check out the guarantee. The bible is God’s personal instruction manual for human beings. It is His guarantee IN WRITING! So when we are malfunctioning we need to go back to the word of God, and start reading. 

When I’m in a tizzy emotionally, or in in my mind, OR both! I find reading a Psalm calms me down. I rediscover my humanity by reading about what the psalmist said.- I like to go to one of the Psalms David wrote. Pick one where David is cranky at somebody or other, so he wants to kill them, and tell God they died. And I keep reading because I know that by the end, he will have calmed down and started turning his thoughts back to God. And that’s what we need to do too.

If you need to cry, cry. BUT – our God does not take sides. He only has one side – HIS! Remember the angel asked Joshua ‘who is on the Lord’s side?’ There are no winners or losers in Father God’s plans because when the Lord is in charge …everybody wins!  He loves us all. His aim is for every single human being to know Him and trust Him. We need to actively learn to have mercy toward ourselves. However that does not mean we are right or wrong, or that He favours us over someone else. Everything hinges on us treating the other person with His grace because our relationship with Him cannot go forward without active grace. Grace for us and grace for them. 

The Lord has already forgiven mankind – as His family we operate by His agenda now. Forgiveness is the hallmark of Who He is, and now, it has to be the hallmark of who we are. Focussing on our flaws magnifies them – this is why it is destructive to our faith to focus on someone else’s flaws. Our focus is always on the Answer – JESUS. 👋🏻