Continuing Pastor Kyle's message: Another thing to keep us moving forward in uncertain times is to choose daily peace, or else we will buckle under the daily pressures. The Lord Jesus tells us in John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Peace and joy in life is not how physical social life always goes. But, the truth of experiential grief and sorrows and spiritual joy and peace being simultaneously present is a reality through Christ. If we are His, the Lord offers a “Fruit of the Spirit” joy and an individual gift from heaven of peace in the soul that the human world cannot give to each and every “born again” believer, follower, disciple, child of God, and citizen of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, every single day of our lives.
Psalm 23:4 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” To keep moving forward, we need to choose to walk in the Spirit, experience the outpouring fruit of godly joy and feel peace in our soul that Jesus offers, otherwise we are going to succumb to every obstacle and all the daily pressures of life. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The promise of God is to give us the peace of God, while He protects our hearts and our minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. The word “lord” is defined as: An owner; A master; a person possessing supreme power and authority. In scripture, the Supreme Being; Jehovah. The word “Lord” is applied to Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, and Lord of lords because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).
The Lord Jesus offers us insight into how to obtain that God-given peace that surpasses human understand. He says first, we need to pray. If you are not praying about the issues in your life with thanksgiving in our heart, that God has an over-arching plan in our life, that God is always knows, is in control and is actively at work in the world, then you are more prone to worry about them. We must have the faith that our almighty, sovereign God is going to have everything come to pass exactly the way that He wants it to; expectantly trusting that the Lord has the whole world in His hands and all is going to work out the way that He desires – Thy will be done.
The child of God has the eternal peace of their salvation, called the eternal perspective. The Christian also has the foundational peace that ever-present, all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful Creator God is active in and in control of His entire creation. But, God’s experiential peace that passes all understanding gets activated when we (in our fallen flesh nature) actively pursue it daily by walking obediently in the Spirit (aligned with the indwelling Holy Spirit) and in constant prayer communication with our heavenly Father. The more that we seek the peace of God, the more of God’s secure peace we should find in our lives. But, the more that we seek the things of this secular humanistic material world, the more uncertain we shall be about our life and thoughts begin to wander. The more that we watch or read godless news sources about world issues, the more distracted and confused we will become about things that are going on. But, the more that we read the Bible, the holy Word of God, then the more confident we are going to become about where God has us today. And the more that we fellowship, pray and worship with other Believers, the more we realize that we are never alone and have peace – Blessed are the peacemakers.
The peace of the Lord gives us godly peace in the storms and struggles of life. What makes you not feel at peace in your life? Actively pursue the peace of God. The pressures of life are mounting daily. So, we need to choose daily peace of God, peace of Christ and peace of the Holy Spirit, or else we are going to buckle under these daily pressures. But, what do we do when we do not feel at peace about a decision? First, before we decide about anything, everything needs to be calm inside our soul (mind, will and emotion). If we feel anxious, envious or rushing then that is a red flag warning to pulse, calm the mind and collect our thoughts, while pursuing an inner sense of peace. Second, do you due diligence, seek truth by finding and figuring out the facts from reliable resources and the actual experts for the best information. Third, weigh the Pros and Cons – pro et contra (the arguments for and against, advantages and disadvantages, favorable and unfavorable factors, the positive and negative attributes) about the issue. Most things in life are not “black and white” obvious. Fourth, establish a clear deadline to the decision that you have to make, otherwise it tends to drag on and on. Fifth, pray about it.
This is a good formula for making peaceful decisions that allow us to keep moving forward in life. God wants us to have peace, but there are sometimes more difficult decisions that have to be made using a peaceful process as part of our lives to move forward on our journey on this side of eternity towards glory, transiting from “I don’t know what to do” to “I calmed myself, thought and prayed about this, sought and gather the best information I could find, so based upon my due diligence and data found, I have relative peace that my decision is right and what God wants me to do.” That is where steps of faith begin to operating and having an effect so we can move forward. God does not paralyzed Christians, but desires Christians that are boldly and positively pressing on and moving forward in their walk with the Lord. We must faithfully move forward despite the uncertainty that is around us.
In Christ Brian
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