It was a long meeting filled with pages of numbers, budgets, requests for funds, and the unspoken implication: "Produce results now!" My reaction? Stress on top of stress. In my first conscious moments the next morning, the Holy Spirit whispered, "Let the peace of Christ rule your heart... live in peace... be thankful!" (Colossians 3;15) Don't you love it when God hands you a prescription for spiritual health? He reminds me that I have a choice in how I respond to the pressure of life, and urges me to choose to receive His peace.
Peace can be an elusive quality of life. Deadlines, pressures, conflicts, chaos, misunderstandings, disappointments; all conspire to give us knotted muscles, furrowed brows, and restless hearts. Most of us believe that peace is circumstantial- that if we could change our place, our position, or our resources - we would find peace.
The Bible tells that true peace transcends our present situation!In the book of Judges we learn that "the LORD is peace." Raiders from the neighboring country of Midian had overpowered the Israelis, driving them into the hills where they hid in caves. Desperation was everywhere! Gideon, who was a farmer, needed to feed his family in spite of the raids and attacks in Israel. So he ventured from the caves, down to the fields. Judges 6 tells that he was hiding out near a winepress, threshing grain, fearing for his life. Suddenly he is aware of a Presence and a voice! "The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!" {Judges 6:12 NLT} Gideon knowing only too well that he was anything but a mighty hero, that he was trying to avoid detection at that very moment, questions that assessment. "Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." (Judges 6:15, NIV) He goes further and questions God's messenger about the desperate times that his people are experiencing. But, when he saw the evidence of God's power and received the promise of God with faith, Gideon's heart changed. "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. (Yahweh Shalom)" {Judges 6:22-24 NIV} The OT word, "shalom" means more than the absence of conflict. Shalom indicates wholeness, restfulness, and satisfaction.
That quality of life is possible in any situation, as long as we are willing to choose to live in the Presence of God. His Spirit produces a serenity that allows us to rise above situations that cause others to panic, be to full of fear, or to fall apart. There are too many moments in my life when I choose to allow life's circumstances rob me of the peace of God. When I attempt to exert control over situations, when I try to impose a 'peace' of my own design, things usually get worse! But when I take time to re-center my soul, taking the offer of the peace of Christ by turning the challenges and problems over to Him with a request for His wisdom, peace follows. Often the situation remains exactly the same, but I am changed.
Don't misunderstand what God desires of you. His will is not that you detach yourself from reality, that you run away from life, or escape into denial. He wants us to be fully engaged with life, bringing order to chaos, healing to the broken, resisting evil wherever it makes its ugliness apparent. We can exhausted, yet serene! Endurance is demanded of us. "Endure hardship like a good soldier," Paul says. But our endurance is not simply borne of a stubborn refusal to retreat! We endure because He stands alongside of us to steady us, to quiet our fear. We are called to be people who live in His Peace!
Today, before you engage with life's challenges, go into the Presence of God. Meditate on His Word, commit yourself and your circumstances to Him. Invite the Spirit to use you as a agent of the Kingdom of Heaven wherever life takes you throughout this day. When you find yourself tensing up, feeling the pressure, breathe a prayer for peace-- "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7 (NIV)_________________
In the presence of Your infinite might,
I'm so small and frail and weak;
When I see Your pow'r and wisdom, Lord,
I have no words left to speak.
And I cry holy, holy, holy God,
How awesome is Your name,
Holy, holy, holy God,
How majestic is Your reign;
And I am changed in the presence of a holy God.
In the presence of Your glory,
All my crowns lie in the dust;
You are righteous in Your judgments, Lord,
You are faithful, true, and just.
And I cry holy, holy, holy God,
How awesome is Your name,
Holy, holy, holy God,
How majestic is Your reign;
And I am changed in the presence of a holy God.
© 1989 Integrity's Praise! Music (c/o Integrity Music, Inc.) / PDIPraise (Admin. by Integrity's Praise! Music) CCLI License No. 810055
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