Category: peace

Peace Candle

Shalom

Shalom and PEACE to you today!

Not only does our Saviour’s birth bring Hope, but His birth and very presence usher in a peace that passes all understanding! Let’s light that peace candle today.

The peace he gives is a peace that transcends the dreadful fear of “What’s next?” or ‘What’s going on?” It’s a perfect peace that the world can’t give or take away, no matter what this crazy world brings to our table. So yeah, really, as serious as this old world stands in its political balance and as controversial as issues may seem and as frightening as the world news is, it all pales in comparison to the sweet, gentle Peace that our Saviour offers to the very soul of us in our deepest distress. Because it’s all ok anyway, isn’t it? If we know this one born to deliver the world from its sin, we know we’re in good hands in His safekeeping, and as His divine prophetic plan unfolds before our eyes, it surpasses any crazy plan the world and its top leaders have in store for us.

It’s a generous gift from our Lord to us. Yea, Jesus, Our Prince of Peace, came to share Peace with us, and His sweet peace is not as the world gives but rather a sense of well-being welling up within ourselves. A peace that comes from our willingness to change and repent and do a turnabout of direction. A peace that accompanies our choice to walk with Him in His way of salvation and in His ways of abundance. It comes from simple trust in our Prince of Peace, the sweet Saviour of the broken and hurting and those beaten and scarred and torn up by sin’s choices.

So today, “Shalom”, my friends, and may His favor rest on you today as you seek Him during your Christmas festivities and find healing in Him for such a time as this.

“The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace ”

Numbers 6:23-26

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An Eye for an Eye

Yeah, I know, so often don’t we just want to rip through those who have shoved us under the bus for no reason? Ahh, Just to settle the score would make us feel so much better wouldn’t it? It would just make everything so right in our own eyes to give back what we were given? Just do what they did, only maybe find a bigger bus to shove them under. Sadly, that’s the way of the world and the thinking behind so much violence that happens around us today.

Jesus condemned that practice of personal retaliation when He stood on the Mount of Beatitudes, a hill in Northern Israel on the Korazim Plateau, and preached to the twelve apostles, and as Matthew 4 states, ‘A great multitude of people’. He preached to a large crowd of listeners to guide them in a life of discipline based on a new law; a law of love, even to our enemies, rather a law of retribution.
He spoke to them and to us today when he preached the words in Matthew 5: 38 -42,

“You have heard that it was said, ” An Eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”

Now, Jesus wasn’t talking about harsh, evil, and abusive behavior here. The ‘slap on the cheek’ is a figure of speech, to simply portray letting the offense go! However, harsh, evil, and abusive behaviour is the work of darkness and Jesus condemns it in Ephesians 5: 11-13. Emotional and physically abusive treatment calls for clear thinking and immediate action. Make sure to seek help if you find yourself in such a dark place. You are not to blame for the treatment you receive. Rather, you are so very valuable in God’s eyes and He places you above that kind of wicked and disorderly conduct.

Ahh yes, and back to the simple offense, as much as we feel the need to lash out, being obsessed with retaliation will only make us bitter! It will eat away all the good, hiding deep within our soul and eventually, it will destroy us.

Perhaps, as the season of Advent approaches an appropriate preparation for our own hearts, would be to simply forgive the hurt, let it go, and let the healing begin, so that the Love that was born that night long ago, can rise up within our soul and bring us the peace that our Saviour brings. What a transforming Advent prep for us to consider before the fun, family festivities begin.

by Categories: Advent Season, Bible, Food for Thought, peace, Soul note to self, Soul Nuggets, ThinkersTags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Be Still

So today, maybe we all just need to inhale God’s grace and exhale His praise. Maybe we all just need to sit still in His presence and recognize who He is and what He means to us in all of our ups and downs, highs and lows, in and outs, faults and all.

Yeah, so maybe it’s a hard day of j nothing but “All gone wrong” and everything seems so misshapen and out of sorts.

Where’s the joy when the world’s in a mess and your world follows close behind in its messed-up footsteps? The joy you knew yesterday took a dive into the deep and it kinda seems like it’s gone forever. Here in this dreadful “now” moment, you’re emptied of emotion and the pain felt in the heart can’t feel the hurt anymore because it’s just too weary to feel anymore.
Where do you go when worries have numbed your spirit and hung your beautiful soul out to dry? Where is your refuge when your world hangs by a thread, and the thing you feared most has taken its position? The Psalmist in Psalm 46 tells us,

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though it’s watered roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

Beautiful one, when all is lost, the Psalmist goes on to bring words of hope to the reader,

“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the Holy Place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day…Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Oh, what comfort for our crumpled spirit and our broken world. God is in charge and He will be exalted in your situation and in your circumstances if you rest “Still” in Him and know that He is sovereign overall. Rest then today ~ right now ~ you who are broken, and shattered in your brokenness, just be still in Him.

“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold.”

Psalm 46:10 

by Categories: Bible, Broken And Loved, Little Thoughts For Big Days, Love Note, Love Notes, peace, Soul note to self, Soul Notes To Self, You Are LovedTags: , , , , , Leave a comment

In A Fog

It’s foggy out there, isn’t it? I mean with opinions and ideas and so many questions without answers?
It’s like murky water, a little frightening, a little unnerving and we wonder what’s lurking in the unseen and the unknown.

So when we can’t see past the fog and the smog in this crazy life, what do we do? Fog’s no fun and It’s not a bad idea to sit and wait for it to lift before choosing our options, but it might take a while. The foggy places are those places where steps of faith are necessary for our survival. They might be small at first; little baby steps until we get our grounding, but the pierced hand of our Saviour reaches through the fog, ready to catch, carry and guide us through the density of perilous times.

When the fog is heavy and the confusion chaotic and overwhelming, rest quietly, take His hand and let Him lead. You might need to sit quietly for a time in order to hear His word to you, but listen to the still small voice in your ‘soul’ ~ that deep inner voice, not your heart, and not your head as those voices could lead off track! Today, for this time and this season, listen with soul ears! That conscience deep within that God uses to direct us into the proper path! To lead us in the right way into divine wisdom. To keep us from evil, from temptation! From going the wrong direction! From there faith will become stronger as we press in closer to God in the journey. So yeah, beautiful one, Don’t move out into the fog until you hear with Soul ears!

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Isaiah 30: 21

“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”
Psalm 25:9

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”
Isaiah 42:16

#Soulnotetoself#safeinahardplace

by Categories: Bible, Hope In Hard Places, Inspirational, Love Notes, peace, Safe In Hard Places, Seasons of Life, Soul note to selfTags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment