"Peace I leaue with you, my peace I geue vnto you. Not as the world geueth, geue I vnto you. Let not youre hertes be greued, nether feare." ~Yahshua (John 14:27)
Jesus has given you peace. But have you received it? Have you accepted His peace into your reality? Did you feel peaceful reading this almost unreadable 1540 'Great Bible' Miles Coverdale edition? You certainly can. All it takes is a little faith.
Yahweh wants us to have peace like a river, peace like the ocean, peace like He has. He wants you to have peace all the time. He wants you to have so much peace it's impossible.
God was speaking to me about this today. His truth is that there has not, is not, and will not been a valid reason to lose peace. Nothing is so important as to make you break the faith (Romans 11:20). That's really what the loss of peace implies -- it's a temporary loss of belief. The two go hand in hand. God is bigger than your problems!
Peace is also tied in with patience. Peace recognizes and rest in the truth that Yahweh is not slow in keeping His promises (2 Peter 3:9). The battle is His (2 Chron. 20:15), and when it comes, you'll win with Him. Belief is peace.
Showing posts with label Patience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patience. Show all posts
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Monday, May 4, 2015
Snapshot: The God of Peace
Yesterday morning, the Lord specifically lead me to pray for Vanessa's peace. And that got me thinking about the connection between peace, patience, and prayer.
Since we belong to God, we can have His peace always with us. It can be unconditional! That's what Jesus is referring to when He describes His gift--it's not given with conditions, as the world would give. Even then, however, we have a choice. We are given the option to let ourselves be troubled, and we are given the option to give way to fear.
"Now may the God who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus..." Romans 15:5 AMP
Peace begins with a prayer, and so does patience. If we have peace, it will probably lead us to do many things more slowly than we have done them in the past. Peace will lead us to humility and trust. Peace will lead us to patience. If we have patience, then we will be content to let God's will--His plan, His purposes, His surprises--just flow into our future.
If we have been given His peace leading onto patience, we won't be presumptuous. We won't rush into things too fast. We won't become anxious when the next surprise comes. Instead, we will be pushed at the Spirit's pace into the future with peace like a river (Isaiah 48:18). We will take time to be still and wait on the Lord (Psalms 37:7). We will listen to others with humility, love, and godly discernment. And we will bear such good fruit!
"This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.…" James 1:19-1:20
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27
Since we belong to God, we can have His peace always with us. It can be unconditional! That's what Jesus is referring to when He describes His gift--it's not given with conditions, as the world would give. Even then, however, we have a choice. We are given the option to let ourselves be troubled, and we are given the option to give way to fear.
"Now may the God who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus..." Romans 15:5 AMP
Peace begins with a prayer, and so does patience. If we have peace, it will probably lead us to do many things more slowly than we have done them in the past. Peace will lead us to humility and trust. Peace will lead us to patience. If we have patience, then we will be content to let God's will--His plan, His purposes, His surprises--just flow into our future.
If we have been given His peace leading onto patience, we won't be presumptuous. We won't rush into things too fast. We won't become anxious when the next surprise comes. Instead, we will be pushed at the Spirit's pace into the future with peace like a river (Isaiah 48:18). We will take time to be still and wait on the Lord (Psalms 37:7). We will listen to others with humility, love, and godly discernment. And we will bear such good fruit!
"This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.…" James 1:19-1:20
Friday, April 3, 2015
What It Means To Be Long-suffering
"He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53:3-5
Jesus was long-suffering. He moved and lived and walked among the lost, and He felt their pain--He was acquainted with their pain! He felt the Father's heart towards the lost--He understood their hopelessness as sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) Jesus groaned under the intensity of His love for creation, His longing for all of them to see redemption. In many way, it was a burden for Him.
"Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil;
rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth;
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
We need to realize that there is a spiritual need to "suffereth long". That's what Jesus does, and that's what love does. We need to hurt for the hurting, die for the dying, and feel for the unfeeling. We need to long for the salvation of others. We need to bear their burdens--and be burdened by their problems. This long-suffering is what fulfills the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
"But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God."
So to continue on in this kind of love, we need to patiently endure. Endure in what? Endure in hope. Endure in Jesus, who is the hope of salvation, and the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) We need to bear within us the only hope of the lost. We need to carry within us the long--suffering of Christ for others. We need to carry within us the unstifled passion of the Holy Spirit.
Are we bearing all things? Believing all things? Hoping all things? Enduring all things? If the answer to such questions is 'yes', then we have entered into a godly idealism. If yes, then we are fulfilling the law of Christ. And it will be painful! It can and will be painful to hope for others and believe for others what they cannot yet believe for themselves.
To see someone, and know they need Jesus, and to hope and pray and believe that they will find Him, that's long-suffering. We continue groaning on their behalf--we patiently endure their pain. We hope for their salvation; we hope for their redemption. We long to see just one come to know Him, to see just one come to see Him for who He really is. This is what ministry is all about--what life is all about! This is what it means to be love.
"For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse.
But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)"
Romans 8:19-25
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53:3-5
Jesus was long-suffering. He moved and lived and walked among the lost, and He felt their pain--He was acquainted with their pain! He felt the Father's heart towards the lost--He understood their hopelessness as sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) Jesus groaned under the intensity of His love for creation, His longing for all of them to see redemption. In many way, it was a burden for Him.
"Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil;
rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth;
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
We need to realize that there is a spiritual need to "suffereth long". That's what Jesus does, and that's what love does. We need to hurt for the hurting, die for the dying, and feel for the unfeeling. We need to long for the salvation of others. We need to bear their burdens--and be burdened by their problems. This long-suffering is what fulfills the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
"But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God."
So to continue on in this kind of love, we need to patiently endure. Endure in what? Endure in hope. Endure in Jesus, who is the hope of salvation, and the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) We need to bear within us the only hope of the lost. We need to carry within us the long--suffering of Christ for others. We need to carry within us the unstifled passion of the Holy Spirit.
Are we bearing all things? Believing all things? Hoping all things? Enduring all things? If the answer to such questions is 'yes', then we have entered into a godly idealism. If yes, then we are fulfilling the law of Christ. And it will be painful! It can and will be painful to hope for others and believe for others what they cannot yet believe for themselves.
To see someone, and know they need Jesus, and to hope and pray and believe that they will find Him, that's long-suffering. We continue groaning on their behalf--we patiently endure their pain. We hope for their salvation; we hope for their redemption. We long to see just one come to know Him, to see just one come to see Him for who He really is. This is what ministry is all about--what life is all about! This is what it means to be love.
"For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse.
But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)"
Romans 8:19-25
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Snapshot: In Preparation
In the next few days Vanessa and I will be leaving for our mission trip. We'd originally planned to leave yesterday, on Martin Luther King Day, but we've experienced several delays. Just know that God is good! It's interesting, several other people close to us are going on mission trips soon, and they have also been delayed unexpectedly. A friend from our Church even planned to leave for Honduras this past Monday, on the same day as us--and they too were delayed. Not our timing, but God's.
"A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"...If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."
Habakkuk 2:3
I have faith that God's purposes for our trip will be totally fulfilled. Who knows how this delay will benefit the Lord, or those who He will put in our way? In the meantime, let's learn patience. We've stayed busy with other things. But both of us are so excited to get on the road. I'll still be updating the blog everyday, lord-willing, and when we get back, expect a documentary to be released about our trip. Glory to God!
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21
"A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"...If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."
Habakkuk 2:3
I have faith that God's purposes for our trip will be totally fulfilled. Who knows how this delay will benefit the Lord, or those who He will put in our way? In the meantime, let's learn patience. We've stayed busy with other things. But both of us are so excited to get on the road. I'll still be updating the blog everyday, lord-willing, and when we get back, expect a documentary to be released about our trip. Glory to God!
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21
May His Kingdom be advanced though all of us. Let's overcome the enemy with the word of God and the power of the Spirit. Let's fear no evil, and instead work with God.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Snapshot: While We Wait
Two days ago, I saw a vision of a clothes hanger, then saw the word, "Hangar". Right away I had a mental image of a massive aircraft hangar--something like this.
And I realized that each airplane symbolized a believer waiting for upliftment from the Lord. The hangar itself represented God's protective covering, the shelter of the Almighty. Under this canopy, the planes were protected from rain, wind, and anything else that might lead to their decay. God has built this overhanging safeguard just for us. He has stored us away for Himself, so that nothing stands between us and Him.
"The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." Matthew 7:25
"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1
The airplanes under the hangar were waiting for their takeoff. They were abiding under God until He brought them higher, to their next spiritual destination. These Christians were awaiting a sudden breakthrough, a miracle from God. They were waiting patiently in a safe place.
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay." Habakkuk 2:3
Revelation from God will come, and it will come suddenly! We have been prepared to take off. God has positioned us well for the appointed time. Until then, we should wait patiently. We should wait in His abiding presence until He leads us forward!
"But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently." Romans 8:25
Everyone has something they are waiting for. Everyone has a hope for something. Don't get impatient! Instead, say 'yes' to God's timing. Say 'yes' and do not try to hurry God along (Isaiah 5:19 and context). Say 'yes' to God's next move. There is an appointed time. There is a time where God will move. There is a time for fulfillment. Those who hope IN HIM will not be disappointed (Psalms 25:3).
Confirmed: Doves have been a recurring theme recently. Specifically, doves taking off! This has been similar to my airplane vision. God is preparing us to soar! His service is upliftment. His heart is to draw us near. And anyone can come to Him an experience victory. Everyone who loves Him can come up and be loved. Glory to God! He is bring bringing us up higher, above an beyond the high places where darkness dwells (Ephesians 6:12). High isn't good enough! We need to be drawn near. We need to soar.
And I realized that each airplane symbolized a believer waiting for upliftment from the Lord. The hangar itself represented God's protective covering, the shelter of the Almighty. Under this canopy, the planes were protected from rain, wind, and anything else that might lead to their decay. God has built this overhanging safeguard just for us. He has stored us away for Himself, so that nothing stands between us and Him.
"The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." Matthew 7:25
"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1
The airplanes under the hangar were waiting for their takeoff. They were abiding under God until He brought them higher, to their next spiritual destination. These Christians were awaiting a sudden breakthrough, a miracle from God. They were waiting patiently in a safe place.
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay." Habakkuk 2:3
Revelation from God will come, and it will come suddenly! We have been prepared to take off. God has positioned us well for the appointed time. Until then, we should wait patiently. We should wait in His abiding presence until He leads us forward!
"But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently." Romans 8:25
Everyone has something they are waiting for. Everyone has a hope for something. Don't get impatient! Instead, say 'yes' to God's timing. Say 'yes' and do not try to hurry God along (Isaiah 5:19 and context). Say 'yes' to God's next move. There is an appointed time. There is a time where God will move. There is a time for fulfillment. Those who hope IN HIM will not be disappointed (Psalms 25:3).
Confirmed: Doves have been a recurring theme recently. Specifically, doves taking off! This has been similar to my airplane vision. God is preparing us to soar! His service is upliftment. His heart is to draw us near. And anyone can come to Him an experience victory. Everyone who loves Him can come up and be loved. Glory to God! He is bring bringing us up higher, above an beyond the high places where darkness dwells (Ephesians 6:12). High isn't good enough! We need to be drawn near. We need to soar.
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