You give me peace……

Hi friends!

What a week its been! I came out of our annual church

conference! It was amazing!! It started on Wednesday and

finished yesterday. It has also been a busy week. It’s always

busy for everyone at this time. There is so much work to do.

So last week in my busyness I was asked a question that has

haunted me till now. This is what was asked,

 

“Why do you get stressed so easily?”

 

I was running around like a headless chicken prior to the

question being asked. After he left I couldn’t shake the

question. I tried to defend myself to myself and even

justify myself but he was right, I do get stressed easily.

Shucks!!

I want to be that person who stays calm when everything

is falling. I just want to be calm!

That got me thinking about peace……Can I be at peace when

everything is

going wrong? Can I be at peace when the mountains shake?

That is when God gave me a scripture that helped me that

I hope will help you!

 

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give you and

bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. 

Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither

let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated

and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful

and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

John 14:27

 

I was thinking about the peace the world gives versus the peace

Jesus gives. The peace the world gives focuses on the external.

No war means peace, living in harmony, avoiding confrontation is

seen as keeping the peace.

Then there is meditation, clear your minds they tell us.

So as you can see, the world’s peace is very different.

The main thing to keep in mind about the peace the world

offers is that it doesn’t have Jesus as it’s source and a peace

without Jesus at it’s core is not peace at all!

Without Jesus you will never have peace!

 

The peace that Jesus offers is inward focused. When everything

is collapsing around us, the peace Jesus gives us keeps us steady.

When it looks like the enemy is going to win His peace gives us

hope that things will turn around.

The peace Jesus gives us is dependant on Him!

When we know He is in control, we have peace!

 

So I was challenged to stop stressing so much. The word is

very clear, we must not allow our hearts to be troubled,

we must stop allowing ourselves to be agitated and disturbed,

We must not permit ourselves to be fearful, intimidated

and cowardly in the face of danger, pressure, and so on…..

It’s a decsion to be at peace!

 

This is not just about me having peace at work but this post

is about having peace in hard times. It’s about having peace

when there is so much fear in the world. When my friend asked

me that question I realized later on that, God wants me to walk

in peace, period! Being agitated, stressed and anxious is not from

Him. As I end I would like to share one more story with you from

the word.

 

“And when Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord,

Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the Angel

of the Lord face to face!

The Lord said to him, peace be to you, do not fear;

you shall not die.

Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it,

The Lord is Peace.

To this day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the

Abiezrites.

Judges 6:22-24

 

Gideon’s fear was real. He thought he would die because he

saw the face of God but God told him not to fear. I think

something more happened when those words were spoken.

I think Gideon saw or felt something, something that had

to be told to the generations to come! What ever he saw or felt

compelled him to build an altar and name it, The Lord is Peace

(Jehovah Shalom)!!!

I want to walk in that peace everyday, the peace Jesus gives!!

 

Whatever trouble you are going through remember,

to not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid,

stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed, and do

not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated, cowardly

and unsettled!

He is our Peace! Things may be falling apart around us but

we are at peace because He is with us holding us up!

Amen….

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

The warrior’s cry!

I wait quietly before God,

for my victory comes from Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will never be

shaken.

Psalm 62:1, 2

 

There is no doubt that David was a mighty man of war.

He killed his tens of thousands. He also had a crazy army.

Men who killed giants, killed lions, took on a whole army

single handedly……! David and his army were feared in the land

but as we look at the scripture above, David doesn’t rely on

any of that. For the scripture to make sense let’s look at

the context:

 

So many enemies against one man –

all of them trying to kill me.

To them I’m just a broken-down wall

or a tottering fence.

They plan to topple me from my high

position

They delight in telling lies about me.

Psalm 62:3, 4

 

So get this, there are people who want to kill David.

And it isn’t just one man but many! They are telling lies

about him behind his back and they want to topple him.

He is in some very serious trouble. Life threatning stuff

but instead of using his strength and power to take on his

enemies, he waits quietly before God!

 

He waits silently before God!

 

The enemy is strong, very strong but instead of

fighting, he waits silently before God!

Was it easy for him to wait? I don’t think so.

 

Let all that I am wait quietly before God,

for my hope is in Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will not be shaken.

Psalm 62:5, 6

 

Another translation says,

Patiently wait for God alone, my soul!

For He is the one who gives me confidence.

Psalm 62:5

 

You can almost feel the battle he is fighting on

the inside. There is the one side that wants

to do something, to fight, but he silences that part.

The warrior sees more benefit in waiting silently

before God than resorting to his weapons and fighting!

His waiting reflects his incredible faith in God! It takes

a lot to wait instead of fight.

 

Can you picture it?

There is David, waiting quietly

before God even though there are men trying to kill

him!

Lies are flying behind his back but he

waits silently before God!

The enemy has gathered together, planning his

dimise, strategizing how to take him down but

David quietly waits before the Lord!

His conviction is strong:

 

“my victory comes from God,

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will never be shaken.”

 

“My victory and honor come from God

alone.

He is my refuge, a rock where no

enemy can reach me. “

 

His conviction is our conviction and our truth!

We may be in a dark place, a hopeless place but we

need to wait quietly before God.

The victory is coming!

The enemy may have us surrounded, too strong for

us, but instead of fighting back in our own strength

we need to quietly wait before God.

He will deliver us from our strong enemy!

In the storm know that God is with you. He has

not abandoned you. Don’t lean on your own understanding

but lean entirely on Him!

Our victory comes from God and only God!

Amen!!

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

 

When I Don’t Know The Right Path To Take…..

How many of us are in “situations” but don’t know what to do or don’t know which path to take? That was me a for a couple of days. Its actually almost been a week. I would like to say I was strong and never panicked and everything was OK but it wasn’t.  I was worrying and fretting. A weight came over me and stayed! I was carrying a burden but didn’t know what to do with it. I knew I should trust God but I didn’t. I also knew that I should not worry and be anxious for nothing but I was. I knew it was crazy and something needed to give. There is a promise in Proverbs that I hold on to when I am confused or just unclear about stuff and I would like to share it with you. It has helped me in this turbulent time. I hope it helps you..

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight and understanding.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.                       Proverbs 3:5,6   (Amplified)                

This is a well known passage of scripture but people are only really familiar with verse 5. Verse 6 is what I would like to focus on. There is a promise from God. There are so many things that try to get us to panic and worry and fret but God is saying, if we in those times acknowledge Him and recognize He is in control and if we know He is for us and He has our back, He will direct, make straight, and plain your path. The path you were not sure about will be made clear, things that seemed confusing will become plain and those crooked paths will be made straight! If you want direction in a situation that you confused about and you don’t know which path to take then you need to acknowledge, know and recognize Him!

My situation is much better. It hasn’t all been solved but God is solving it. I am learning to trust Him more and more. As I keep on holding on to the scripture I shared God is bringing more and more wisdom. The path is getting clearer and clearer, straighter and straighter and I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be. If you are in the same boat then realize that God doesn’t want you to be confused. He wants you to be clear about your life and about where you going. He wants you to bring those situations to Him and leave them with Him and He wants you to trust Him. He is in control. I like the way “The Message” says it:

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the One who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God!   Proverbs 3:5

Rolain