Becoming a PeaceMAKER among a Land of PeaceTAKERS

“I am tired of living among people who hate peace. We search for peace, but when I speak of peace, they want war.”

Do you ever feel that way?👆🏽Like your trying to be a peace-maker among a land of peace-takers?

I do - & have - a lot lately. I desire peace & search for it even, but due to the apparent lack of it, I guess I’m seeking it from the wrong source.

Those first 2 sentences are from Psalm 120. It begins with, 

“I took my troubles to the Lord; so I cried out to him & he answered my prayer. Rescue me, O Lord…”

When we’re surrounded by peace-takers, in our home, job or nation, we’ve a choice to make. We can:

1) React to their reaction & further ignite a troublesome situation

2) Clam up & say nothing, but brew like a crockpot of sour emotions on the inside

3) Pause long enough to ask the Holy Spirit how to respond with Truth sprinkled with grace & seasoned with love.

I’ve become a novice expert of 1 & 2 lately & it doesn’t feel awesome.

When we choose to take troubles to the Lord, He rescues us EVEN IF circumstances don’t change & here’s why:

He IS Peace Whose very Presence trumps all struggle & strife.

Here’s the thing, we are owed nothing from no one. The only thing we do deserve is eternal death for a debt of sins we can’t pay. When we turn to our Savior & remember what He’s done, we can’t help but allow His Peace to reign over unsettled emotions & a bruised heart.

It doesn’t mean we don’t address what’s been said or done, but we can do so with the Personhood of Peace Who goes before, hovers over, settles under & envelops the entire exchange! When we cry out to Peace, His Presence allows the fruit of peace to become evident in & through us!

We can search for peace by trying to persuade someone to revelation, but we’ll always come up short. When we allow the Source of Peace lordship, we can become a peaceMAKER, even when it feels like we live n a land of peace-takers.

Father, shift our gaze to our Source of Peace when it feels like peace is robbed right out from under us. May those moments be as a test where we can show what we know: Peace can’t be stolen because Jesus, You ARE Peace. May we remain in You SO THAT Your Peace may remain in us!

#OneYearBible

June 2nd One Year Bible Readings

2 SAMUEL 19:11-20:13

JOHN 21:1-25

PSALM 120:1-7

PROVERBS 16:16-17

Remembering Who God is & Whats He’s Done Makes it Easy to Leave Any Fixing in the Father’s Hands

One year ago today, the Holy Spirit whispered a year-long mission that made me feel uncomfortable. I negotiated the mission to a month, but when June ended, I couldn’t wait to walk out His original marching orders & they were this:

“Walk with Me over the next 365 days, beginning each day spending FaceTime with the Father. The year will be filled with high peaks & deep valleys, both of which will require My Presence to proceed. If you prioritize prayer & praise, allowing Me to prune, you’ll be stunned into a state of peace unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.

Capture our time together & share with anyone who will listen, letting My encouragement, correction & love for you, permeate their hearts SO deep that they too can’t help but desire FaceTime with the Father…”

So, today marks 366 of posting about my time with the Lord…my mom always says that hindsight is 20/20, & boy does it ring true .🤗

As I read about Jesus’s encounter with His disciples after his death & resurrection, I could SO connect with Thomas’s doubt. He had to see the holes in his Savior's hands & put his hand into the wounds in His side to believe. There was no logic large enough to explain Who stood before Him…& yet He did.

Thomas SAW Jesus do MANY miracles in addition to the ones recorded in the Bible, & yet even he struggled to believe.

Y’all, I began each day this past year with My Source of Truth, facing The Word & choosing to take Him at His word, & yet if I’m being honest, I still had moments when I struggled with unbelief…

John 20 ends with a reminder that the Word of God, “was written SO THAT we may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah... & that by believing in Him, we will have LIFE by the power of His name!”

We’ll face countless circumstances that appear impossible to overcome & they ARE unless we recall Whom we serve & what He’s done!

It’s in this daily morning memorial time, that our faith is strengthened & we can set our hearts like flint with unwavering belief in The One Who IS the answer to every single problem we face…

So how about we face Him instead of them? Let’s remember Who God is & what He’s done, & leave the fixing in the Fathers hands?💞

#OneYearBible

June 1st One Year Bible Readings

2 SAMUEL 18:1-19:10

JOHN 20:1-31

PSALM 119:153-176

PROVERBS 16:14-15

Dying with Eyes Wide Open

Today I read about 2 men who died-one who TOOK his life because it didn’t go as he expected, & the other Who GAVE His life for others as He directed.

The “why” behind their deaths couldn’t be further from similar, but the one thing they had in common was they both died with eyes wide open. They saw death on the horizon & approached it without hesitation.

Ahithophel, an advisor to King David, is known for his wisdom & discernment. When his counsel is disregarded, however, Ahithophel returns to his hometown, “sets his affairs in order & hangs himself”!.😳

Jesus approaches His death with similar determination, but a completely different motive. He too “sets His affairs in order” by fulfilling at least 28 of the 300+ messianic prophesies spoken about Him between 6am & 3pm on the day He died!

If only Ahithophel knew the Messiah who was to come, maybe then He wouldn’t have taken his own life?

I’m familiar with the hopelessness, dread, & shame he must’ve felt. They’re the enemy’s playground to lead us to die with our eyes wide open to the facts before us, but not really seeing our faithful Father amidst it all.

Jesus died on purpose, with purpose & for a purpose! In fact, John 19:28 tells us that Jesus KNOWS His mission is now finished, so much so, that His last three words are, “It is finished.”

What is finished?

His life is finished SO THAT ours might begin!

Trading the Messiah’s mission for self-driven success will always leave us wanting for more. We are all en route to our own expiration date, but so here’s the question:

Will we too die with eyes wide open, but not really seeing?

or

Will we die with eyes wide open, knowing that the grave isn’t a finish line, but actually the start of eternity?

Oh, Father, thank you for the visual of Jesus hanging on the cross with His eyes wide open. He directed His life even unto death when He released His own spirit so that we might do the same!

Give us eyes to see that tomorrow is not promised so we may release our spirit to follow the Holy Spirit!.

May everyday this side of heaven be a day of preparation with Messiah-like mission, knowing that our pending death will be the beginning of eternity with You!

#OneYearBible

May 31st One Year Bible Readings

2 SAMUEL 17:1-29

JOHN 19:23-42

PSALM 119:129-152

PROVERBS 16:12-13