Tag: Peace of God

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Peace Amidst Holiday Grief

Hi Faith Travelers,

In light of the Thanksgiving Holiday celebrated in the United States this week, I pray this week has been filled with gratitude and thankfulness for you and your families. For some that has been your sentiments, but for others there has also been a wave of emotions of loneliness, grief and sadness. This is all too common for those who have dealt with the loss of a loved one and those who are in a place where they feel lonely during the holidays even without loss. You may feel hurt, sad, lonely, angry, confused, or even lost in the midst of the flood of emotions but it’s okay. I know that sounds kind of weird coming from a Christian blogger but I am here to tell you there is nowhere in the Bible that tells you to keep your emotions of grief bottled up. In fact, the Bible tells us in Matthew 5:4; “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” In the midst of the emotions and the thoughts that take us to that unwanted place, we have to realize that it’s okay not to be okay, but we just can’t stay there.

“Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”

Matthew 5:4

It is normal to grieve loved ones who are no longer with us. It is normal to feel a certain way when we are attempting to celebrate a holiday that was once filled with their presence yet now it is not. Remembering the words they uttered when you saw them, the chair they once sat in, the meals they once cooked and even the warmth they made you feel just from being around them can all be a lot to process. It is okay to mourn the loss of that loved one and the very essence of who that person was to you. We just can’t stay there because when our emotions begin to lead over our God given spirit it leaves a foothold to the devil. The enemy would love to take any attempt to bring you down deeper into a state of mind that you once had control over but is now flooded with consuming thoughts taking you into a hole you can’t dig yourself out of. The Bible says in I Peter 5: 8, “Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Therefore recognize when you have those moments, understand you are human and its okay for you to not be okay in those moments, then proceed to ask Jesus to help you stand on His word in faith and receive His perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3-4). This is better described in I Peter 5:9-10 where it states “Resist him(the devil), steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

I Peter 5:8-10 NKJV

After you have suffered in the things you are going through, whether that is grief, sadness, loneliness, confusion, depression, physical pain or anything else not God given, God will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. God will perfect meaning He will mend and restore what has been broken. He will establish meaning God will stabilize and render your mind constant. He will strengthen meaning God will make your soul strong. He will settle meaning God will lay the foundation and ground you there. God will do the work for you, you just have to trust Him and surrender the burden to Him.

For those who are having a difficult time this Holiday season here is a prayer for you to pray over yourself:

Father God in the name of Jesus, thank you for being Lord over all, not just in my high moments but also in my low moments. Thank you for Your love to comfort me in the midst of mourning and for Your perfect peace that surpasses all understanding as I keep my thoughts stayed on you. Thank you Lord for helping me to understand in my heart that as believers my loved ones may be absent from the body but are now present with You Lord and I will see them again. I thank you that my faith and trust are anchored in You and Your power at work in my life. I decree and declare I am more than a conqueror and the devil remains a defeated foe in my life. I decree and declare even in the midst of grief, You are perfecting, establishing, strengthening and settling me in Christ Jesus. And I thank you that I can forever live from a place of peace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

Until the next time…

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Through The Storms of Life

HI Faith Travelers!

By a show of virtually raised hands, how many of you are going through a storm right now? Picture me raising my own hand right along with you.

A storm can be defined as a violent disturbance of the atmosphere; an uproar or controversy; a sudden attack; a direct assault.

If you think of this in the terms of things you may be going through, that violent disturbance of the atmosphere can be sickness in your body. That uproar and controversy can be friction with your family, marriage or relationship. The sudden attack can be on your finances while that direct assault can be blatant unfair treatment towards you at your place of employment. The storm can come in the form of many things, but it’s never about the storm itself, it’s about how you navigate THROUGH the storm. A quote by Charles R. Swindoll states, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” It’s more about how we respond versus what has actually happened to us.

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”

–Charles R. Swindoll

How do you respond to the storm? What’s your attitude, your heart posture; how are you standing in faith to get THROUGH to the other side? I put so much emphasis on the word “Through” because of the meaning and the sheer hope behind the word. Through means “moving in one side and out to the other side of. The other side meaning, healing after sickness, restoration and reconciliation after family or relationship rift, financial breakthrough after a financial drought and recompense after mistreatment.

What does that look like as it relates to the word of God? The bible states in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” This scripture lets us know even when the storms arise and look to be overwhelming, we must first and foremost, Trust God. Trust that whatever the situation is, it’s in no way shape or form bigger than the true and living God. Don’t lean on your own understanding of thinking this issue has the final say or that it won’t end in your favor, trust God who can direct your path through this storm, when you allow Him to by trusting Him over what it looks like. That means walking by faith and not by sight (See II Corinthians 5:7).

Trusting God also looks like Matthew 6:34 MSG where it reads, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes”. God is with you always so no matter the trials, circumstance, or situation, you can count on Him to help you walk through it to the other side.

Now that you are trusting God with that situation, your heart posture has to match by choosing joy and being at peace in the midst of the storm. James 1:2-4 NCV in God’s word says, My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need. Once you decide to choose joy in the midst of the trials, God can then make it joy because of the act of your faith (See Matthew 17:20).

My husband shared this story with me about the time he was driving one of our church leaders out of town to a conference. As soon as he got on the highway ramp towards the destination it started pouring rain to the point he could hardly see the road. He could have pulled over to the side of the road but he knew that was dangerous and could have led to another car hitting them due to lack of visibility. He preservered through the drive and before he knew it he was on the other side of the storm where the sky was clear and sunny with a rainbow reminder of God’s promise (See Genesis 9:13-16). As he looked out the rear view mirror he could see the storm behind him where it was dark, cloudy and pouring rain but coming THROUGH the storm on the other side didn’t look like what he had been through.

On the other side of the storm

That’s what it’s like walking with God through storms and trials. When you trust Him, count it all joy and walk in faith with Him through it, He will bring you out on the other side of victory, where it won’t look like what you’ve been through.

Until the next Faith Story…

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Peace Be Still

Hi Faith Travelers!

Today, I am not surprised that the Holy Spirit chose Peace to be the center of the topic. There is so much going on in the world today, seen and unseen, that peace is what most of us are striving for, trying to hold on to, or in the act of maintaining. The dictionary defines peace as “Freedom of disturbance; tranquility; the state or period in which there is no war or a war has ended.” War in this context, can be considered to be a battle or conflict. If we are being honest, some people reading this post are dealing with internal battles and conflicts at this very moment. Whether it’s the news disturbing your peace, social media comparison, family drama, relationship issues, sickness & disease, finances, or even grief; there may always be things that come to disrupt your peace, but that doesn’t mean we have to allow it. Let me explain…

In John 14:27, this scripture states, “Peace I leave with you , My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” In the context of this scripture, Jesus is sharing with His disciples that He is going away (See Luke 24:51) but God is sending His Holy Spirit to be with them, teach them all things, and bring to their remembrance things that He has said (See John 14: 25-26 NKJV). This message was not just for the disciples then, it is also for us, as believers in Jesus Christ, now. Because of this written promise in God’s word, we are being told that the peace of having faith in Jesus brings perfect (complete; absolute; without fault) peace. This isn’t to say we will have an easy life with no troubles; yet its to say that Jesus is promising the perfect peace that calms you in every circumstance and gives you courage and strength to every challenge (See John 14:27 AMP).

Peace I leave with you , My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 14:27 NKJV

This is the kind of peace exemplified in scripture when Jesus was sleeping on a boat in the middle of a violent storm. In Mark 4:37-41 NKJV, the Bible states, “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they (the disciples) awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!””

Remember when I said, there may always be things that come to disrupt your peace, but that doesn’t mean we have to allow it. Well I ask you the same questions that Jesus asked His disciples:

Why are you so fearful?

How is it that you have no faith?

This is not to come off as insolent, this is to challenge you to know what you have in your possession when you are a Believer. The Bible says in John 14:12 NKJV, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” Guess what this means, the same way Jesus commanded the storm to be still and cease, you have the same authority to speak to any disturbance to your own peace, no matter what it is. You can command that news report, that issue with comparison, the family drama, those relationship issues, that sickness or diagnosis, the financial issues, and that grief to all cease and calm in the name of Jesus Christ.

I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

John 14:12 NLT

I’ll share a quick story with you. I was on a plane flying home from a work trip recently and the plane’s AC wasn’t working properly. On top of that, we started to have some turbulence due to the weather we were flying into. Because I hate being hot beyond my control in public places, I got up and went to the restroom. When I entered the stall, the turbulence began to get worse. As I held onto the handle in the stall I commanded the winds and the rain to cease and Peace Be still! I also declared that the AC will work properly in Jesus name. When I got back to my seat, I noticed the plane was cooling off and the turbulence had literally ceased. As I got comfortable in my seat to take an in-flight nap, I thanked Jesus for His faithfulness and for His promises that are always Yes and Amen (See II Corinthians 1:20).

God is no respector of persons (See Acts 10:34), He is a faithful Father who is ready to fulfill every promise in His word for us if we only believe. So the same authority that I walk in to receive God’s perfect peace, you have the same authority to walk in these same promises, you need only to have faith.

Until the next Faith story…

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