Day Four: PEACE

Day Four ~ PEACE

Key Bible Verse-

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Thoughts to ponder-

We live in a world filled with hustle and bustle, comings and goings, people to meet, things to do, life to schedule, organize and control. Many people try to live at the speed of light, to do more, see more and be more. No wonder we find ourselves overcome by worry and anxiety; lacking tranquility and serenity. God left us an answer for all of that through Jesus Christ. He was the embodiment of peace.

In the Bible, we almost always see Jesus portrayed as taking things in stride, very little ruffled his feathers.  Even when He turned over the tables in the temple, we know it wasn't just that He lost His cool  because the Bible says He took time to make a whip. What happened in the temple was peace and strength under control.  The only other time I know of that we see Jesus under strain is in the garden before His crucifixion when He is praying not His will but the Father's.  He submits Himself to the peace of His Heavenly Father.  When everyone else around Him was anxious, He had the ability to quiet their fears and doubts quickly.  When I read Mark 4:39 where it states "and He said to the sea, peace, be still" I often wonder if that wasn't a command intended for the disciples as well.

Peace is quiet tranquility, mental calm and serenity. But most importantly it is a gift of spending time with God and learning to trust Him.  The more we put our confidence in the Lord for every detail in our life and the more we relinquish control of our life to Christ, the more we purposely shift our focus to the things of God,  the more peace is available to us.

Challenge/Action Step- 

Busyness can often interfere with our rest and therefore our peace.  Take an inventory of the areas of your life that are the most stressful. Would more resting in the Lord bring about a greater connectedness to God's peace? Are you able to refocus on Christ in the midst of a chaotic life? Ask God in prayer today to reveal to you His peace and specific ways you can embrace it in your own life.  

Prayer for today-

Thank you Father for sending us your peace in the form of your son Jesus.  May the activity of life fade away enough for us to be able to rest in your peace. Teach us how to bring our thoughts into submission of your will where peace reigns.  Reveal to us your heart for our lives and enable us to trust you with every part of who we are and what we do.  ~ Amen

Thanks for joining me today as we begin this 

journey to understand and further develop the

fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  Please take a minute to leave a 

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Object Lessons

Object Lessons

Have you ever noticed times in your life when God teaches you something.  It starts with a Bible verse and upon meditating on it you have this nugget of wisdom that you can use and share.  I happen to be a slow learner at times, so God will often follow that up with an object lesson for me. 

I had one of those ah ha moments just this week. God impressed upon me that it is a good trade when we bring our frustrations to Him in exchange for His peace.  So I shared it with others.  And then came the object lesson.  I had been working very hard on a new batch of my mosaic clay crosses for an upcoming craft show.  They are a little labor and time intensive so I was only able to get about fifteen of them completed.  And I had favorites, a beautiful purple and lavender one and a gorgeous green.  The story behind these crosses is that when we bring God all of the pieces of our life, the pretty ones and the broken ones, He makes something beautiful out of them.  I stored them on the table in my home studio and late in the evening, just before bedtime, my cat became overly curious exploring the table and knocked five of them off the table, including my two favorites, and three of them were destroyed. As you probably have suspected, my two favorites were in those destroyed and boy was I ever frustrated.  “All that hard work, all that lost income, all that waste” were the thoughts that began to run through my head. The irony of broken crosses designed to show how God transforms brokenness into beauty stung me just a bit. 

And then God so graciously reminded me of that very thing He’d impressed upon me earlier that same day, “Bring me your frustrations, exchange them for my peace.” I don’t know about you, but sometimes the concepts are so much easier to grasp for me than the practical applications are.  So God gives me a chance to practice what He has taught me.  His peace can accomplish so much more in our lives than a temporary frustrations ever could.  By trading those in for His peace, we are trading sorrow and anger for joy and hope. I would much rather walk out my days in the latter.

My prayer for you this week is that you will see opportunities to exchange your frustrations for God’s peace, that you will hear the lessons He has for you to learn, and when given the opportunity to put those into practice, you will be able to do so easily.

Many Blessings,

Cherry Fargo

cherryscreations.etsy.com