Personalized Peace

The Lord Jesus’ peace in this scene was a wonderful thing. I note there are two truths which, as they are known, impart to us this peace. The first is seeing Him by faith in the place where he is, where He has prepared a place for us. In a place of evil and sorrow like this, it is an immense lever, lifting us above these influences, to be assured that the One who loved us, and gave Himself for us on the earth, has prepared a place for us in heaven, and that He is in the place that He has prepared.

It throws the heart peculiarly into concert with the holiest and brightest scenes (as with one’s home), because the delight of the heart is there, and everything suited to it is in the place. If He, the Object for the heart, were not there, the heart would not be there; and if the surroundings were not holy and beautiful, there would be suffering from even our personal appreciation of Him, and not unbroken enjoyment of being in His presence.

To enjoy His society and fellowship, there must be nothing to distract or interrupt. I enjoy His love here but partially, where so many things arise every moment to interrupt me, be they evil, sorrow or natural pleasure. I may be much attracted, but yet I am interrupted. The heart is not restful until it is associated with its object. Surroundings are necessary, not merely for comfort’s sake, but that there might be nothing to make one anxious or disquieted.

You seek it with your friend; you draw round the fire in the winter evening, the cold is excluded, the lamp is lighted, the darkness forbidden, the door is closed. There is thus no interruption. The seclusion suits you, and the sense of home is known to the heart. You must say to your heart, amid the din of strife here, and the chaos of everything morally, “I see my Savior where He is, and where He has a place for me”; this gives the heart superiority over this place; and thus you are so far in His peace.

The other truth is, that He manifests Himself to us in the place of evil and sorrow. This gives strength to the heart, as the former gives repose to it. You require both strength and repose in order to be in His path here. When He manifests Himself—a wonderful favor—you feel as if He were beside you. “The Lord stood with me” (2 Tim 4:17). What could ruffle me when He as a great tower, is beside me? “The righteous run into it, and is safe” (Pro 18:10).

You have the greatest and most loving Companion even where you are the weakest and can really do nothing; and you follow Him by faith where He has prepared a place for you, where you have nothing to do but to enjoy His company, without a hindrance. If you would know that He has a place for you in the Father’s house, reckon upon the fact—“hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3).

If you would that He should manifest Himself to you, keep His words (John 14:21); and thus you arrive at His peace. Your roots are in heaven, but your branches are on earth. Here, He is the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. When the roots are in heaven, the branches are sure to be according to His Word; and hence He manifestly protects and fosters what is His own, and for Himself. “My peace I give unto you.”

- J B Stoney




Excerpt from MJS devotional for August 15:

“When our Lord takes us down into an area of processing and trial it seems as though He deliberately takes away our understanding, and we often react as though we had never gone through anything before. One of His reasons for this is that we may receive the full effect and benefit of the child-training.” - MJS

“We should give our consent to our Father when He seeks to lead us through devastating processes. And we need have no fear, for He knows how to apportion our suffering. He exactly matches the suffering to our condition. He measures all things with unfailing accuracy and selects the particular trial suited to our particular need.” – G W

http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/
 
Thats an interesting way of looking at what peace means!

I agree, when you are at peace theres no interruptions or distractions. Everything is in its right place and you feel secure and able to relax.

If I look back and see what my life was like BC i.e before Christ it was pretty much chaos. There was a movie called 'Girl, interrupted' that was about a girl who went mad and got put into an asylum. When your life is chaos its like your whole life is interrupted and you cant do what God wants you to do. The devil takes great delight in trying to disrupt or interrupt lives and destroy our peace. He casts all sorts of doubts and temptations in our way. But Jesus -He calms the storm. He's able to even sleep right through it! I love that about Him.
 
I agree, when you are at peace theres no interruptions or distractions. Everything is in its right place and you feel secure and able to relax.
That's true in many cases but not quite complete. Sometimes God will give you peace about something and yet everything around you is anything but peaceful.
Blessing
 
If you finished reading my post I mentioned that.
Relax would ya...... Lol
I am talking about how at times He will give you peace about doing something that your flesh does not want to do. The peace is short lived and your left with knowing He said to but everything in you does not want to. It's still His Peace but it's not like you were describing which is something all together different. Same Peace but different aspects.
Blessings
 
Ok yep I get you. Well kinda. The peace God gives us is passed all understanding. We understand worldly peace i.e absence of war. But we cant fathom Gods peace because not only is it when theres no war...war may be going on all around us, but I suppose its knowing when you are in Gods will.

Why does it 'pass all understanding' ? I think its because God is so much greater than us humans and sees the bigger picture.

When you talk about the flesh wanting to do something but God wanting you to the opposite, well its because flesh and spirit oppose each other. Flesh wants to eat and eat right, because it thinks it will die without food. But the spirit actually thrives better when we fast, and maybe give the food we could have eaten to someone else that doesnt have any.

The flesh, cos it knows its dying, might tell you ok time to reproduce you not going to be on earth much longer. The flesh wants pleasure and it wants it NOW. But the spirit, knowing its eternal, could tell you to abstain because, God wants to build your character and refine you and treasure what you already have...plus the joy He gives you is a lasting joy not a fleeting happiness.

Cant say that the peace God gives you is 'shortlived' if you are still listening to your flesh. Yes we are still in the flesh but because of Jesus crucified the life we live in the flesh we live by faith in the son of God who,loved us and gave his life for us. Therefore, we just reckon ourselves crucifed with christ. This is why we 'moritfy our members' why we undergo baptism to BURY the old man. We dont bring the old man to life and walk around like christian zombies..Lazarus in graveclothes? Nope we loose those rags! . We put on the new man and are clothed in Christ.
 
Ok yep I get you. Well kinda. The peace God gives us is passed all understanding. We understand worldly peace i.e absence of war. But we cant fathom Gods peace because not only is it when theres no war...war may be going on all around us, but I suppose its knowing when you are in Gods will.

Why does it 'pass all understanding' ? I think its because God is so much greater than us humans and sees the bigger picture.

When you talk about the flesh wanting to do something but God wanting you to the opposite, well its because flesh and spirit oppose each other. Flesh wants to eat and eat right, because it thinks it will die without food. But the spirit actually thrives better when we fast, and maybe give the food we could have eaten to someone else that doesnt have any.

The flesh, cos it knows its dying, might tell you ok time to reproduce you not going to be on earth much longer. The flesh wants pleasure and it wants it NOW. But the spirit, knowing its eternal, could tell you to abstain because, God wants to build your character and refine you and treasure what you already have...plus the joy He gives you is a lasting joy not a fleeting happiness.

Cant say that the peace God gives you is 'shortlived' if you are still listening to your flesh. Yes we are still in the flesh but because of Jesus crucified the life we live in the flesh we live by faith in the son of God who,loved us and gave his life for us. Therefore, we just reckon ourselves crucifed with christ. This is why we 'moritfy our members' why we undergo baptism to BURY the old man. We dont bring the old man to life and walk around like christian zombies..Lazarus in graveclothes? Nope we loose those rags! . We put on the new man and are clothed in Christ.
Good word!--and amen on the reckoning. Every believer is given the same provisions which accompanies salvation (2 Pet 1:3), but it's the "reckoning" that appropriates them into use--by the Spirit. Concerning God's peace, I find it best when resting my sufficiency in Himself first, then His provisions. The one I find the most useful concerning our difficulties and infirmities is remembering that whatever occurs in believer's lives we can know it has already been arranged for our "good" (Rom 8:28), which I believe relates mostly to growth in our faith.
 
When I was going through a tough time with infirmities and afflictions and nothing was changing...for ages, my circumstances were that there was no end in sight, Gods words spoke to me 'my grace is sufficient for you' 'my power is made perfect in weakness' . Even when I was suffering everyday and couldnt get out of it, like Paul had a thorn in his side that he asked God to remove but God didnt. Why because His grace is enough. That grace saw me through. In those tough times I learned to depend on God. Its not only in the good times that I praise Him. He was there even in the hard times, and even when I was weak God did not fail me.

Another time when I was out of work for a few years and had no idea if I would ever find a decent job (i have to earn a living, I was not born to privelige like some women are or blessed to marry a wealthy husband) my bible teacher prayed for me everyday and often I would feel frustrated not being called to do anything and getting nowhere in job interviews she gave that scripture romans 8:28 of all things working together for the good of those who Love God and are called to his purpose. See God was preparing me to do His work and His purposes. I just did not see it at the time. God answered that diligent prayer on His timing and now I get to do His work everyday...and be paid for it!

I think He does these things because if we could claim that we did everything on our own strength God would not get the glory for a true miracle. If people could claim they stayed healthy because of their own diligence, special diet or good genes or they got a job because they were the cleverest or whatever, or their wealth is due to working hard (but robbing the poor, becuase you are hoarding it all, having when others have not) where is thanks to God for that. If the jews could claim they were chosen cos they were the best most holy people, the strongest well where does God come in then. but God says you do not choose me I chose you first. And He chose them not because they were the strongest or best looking. But simply because He loved them.
 
When I was going through a tough time with infirmities and afflictions and nothing was changing...for ages, my circumstances were that there was no end in sight, Gods words spoke to me 'my grace is sufficient for you' 'my power is made perfect in weakness' . Even when I was suffering everyday and couldnt get out of it, like Paul had a thorn in his side that he asked God to remove but God didnt. Why because His grace is enough. That grace saw me through. In those tough times I learned to depend on God. Its not only in the good times that I praise Him. He was there even in the hard times, and even when I was weak God did not fail me.

Another time when I was out of work for a few years and had no idea if I would ever find a decent job (i have to earn a living, I was not born to privelige like some women are or blessed to marry a wealthy husband) my bible teacher prayed for me everyday and often I would feel frustrated not being called to do anything and getting nowhere in job interviews she gave that scripture romans 8:28 of all things working together for the good of those who Love God and are called to his purpose. See God was preparing me to do His work and His purposes. I just did not see it at the time. God answered that diligent prayer on His timing and now I get to do His work everyday...and be paid for it!

I think He does these things because if we could claim that we did everything on our own strength God would not get the glory for a true miracle. If people could claim they stayed healthy because of their own diligence, special diet or good genes or they got a job because they were the cleverest or whatever, or their wealth is due to working hard (but robbing the poor, becuase you are hoarding it all, having when others have not) where is thanks to God for that. If the jews could claim they were chosen cos they were the best most holy people, the strongest well where does God come in then. but God says you do not choose me I chose you first. And He chose them not because they were the strongest or best looking. But simply because He loved them.
Eventually we learn that it's not us holding on to Him but Him holding on to us--always taking us through without fail (Rom 14:4; Jude 1:24; 2 Tim 4:18).
 
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