Peace, be still #3

 

Peace, be still #3

We previously have talked about not being anxious about anything. Not fretting and not worrying. Easy to say, right? Let’s get serious and ask ourselves a few questions.

Do I pray in worry and fear? 

Yes, I have. 

Do I pray in faith, then cancel my requests out with words of disbelief?

Yes, I have done that too.

 

Have I gone only through the motions of prayer?

Yes.

Could it be because we have not governed the faith given to us and grown the fruit of peace? If I understand that I love at times by faith, can I understand that God’s peace works in a similar way? 

For example: I know that I cannot hold unforgiveness in my heart towards anyone. I may not “feel love” towards the person who offended me at the time, but what to do? One of the first things I do, is humble myself and ask the Holy Spirit to show me the truth, as to why I was offended. What caused me to react offensively? Was it pride? Jealousy?  Anger? Fear? Maybe all of the above? The Holy Spirit uses our humility to open our eyes to see this test was for me, to see what was still inside of me, not the other person! After asking God to forgive me, I forgive them by faith [the feelings always follow], so I can continue on with the peace of God inside of me. It does not matter, if the offender does not forgive you. If they are a sincere humble believer, The Holy Spirit will work in their lives too.  We cannot force anyone to accept us, love us or forgive us. That is between them and God. What matters is, you decided to humble yourself and walk in obedience and the peace of God is back in your life. 

Faith is doing and when we are obedient, peace comes.

Common sense says:  

If I am watching Al Capone before I go to sleep, what do you suppose I am putting inside of my brain and my heart?  Am I storing up the things of the world or thoughts that promote peace?  Am I taking toxic thoughts captive or pouring roundup inside my heart? Are my thoughts generating fear and despair over encouragement and hope? The one thing we all keep repeating, is what the overflow of our heart brings.

Could our worries borrow trouble? There are no orphans in God’s family. Take the time to think about how God keeps right on giving us more grace.  Could it be, we have not peace because; the applications of the truths we already know are not followed through? 

Paul said: “Finally believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart.”] 

Philippians 4:8 amp.

We are to think continually upon those things. Believers begin to train their thoughts. 

If the world cannot see a believer with a mind centered upon God’s peace why would they be attracted to what you say? What is our mirrored image?

Your challenge:

Take time to meditate upon those virtues in your hearts. Think them, speak them and do them to overflowing in your life. Your old toxic thoughts will be pushed out and replaced by the goodness of God’s word. This brings Gods peace because your mind is being transformed into the mind of Christ. Gods love becomes strengthened, activated and begins to overrule everything in your life to follow though with determination, obedience and time! This does not happen over night, but little by little.

We learn spiritual warfare by doing, not just studying. We have fierce weapons unlike the lasers in the world. 

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience , once your obedience is complete.” 2Co. 10:4-6 niv

We can be a literal wrecking ball, foiling the enemies plans in our lives. If you have the faith inside to believe what the word is saying to you.

If we think about something long enough, we are either going to do it, speak it or pray for it. 

Dr. Caroline Leaf says this in her book, Switch On Your Brain,

“As we think, we change the physical nature of our brain. As we consciously direct our thinking, we can wire out toxic patterns of thinking and replace them with healthy thoughts.”

“When you think, you build thoughts, and these become physical substances in your brain.”

Medical Science is actually proving the Bible more and more. Even science is talking about how our thoughts have substance. Our thoughts do count. They have meaning and will determine your eye view and how you determine to live your life. 

Paul reminds us in the above verse of Philippians to continue on renewing our minds. When we renew our minds, we will have the peace of God that transcends all understanding. I believe we are to be like that of a sponge and absorb as much truth in our lives that we can. 

Ask yourself, “Is my mind stayed upon God?” Not Al Capone, not a soap opera, nor about tomorrow. If so, Isaiah promises to keep us in perfect peace when we do this.

Heavenly Father,

We ask that your Precious Holy Spirit would minister your peace to our minds, our hearts and our souls. Help us to develop new godly habits and throw out out the old ones that belong to the world. Help us to put down anything worldly that takes away from our walk and put on only that which builds up our walk in Christ. We need your peace. We ask that you would continue to mold us with your peace and be the examples of your fruit.  In Jesus we ask amen. 

Praying in faith, will activate you to speak in faith and when you are doing this, you walk in faith. Should you do this enough, you will develop a new holy habit in your life and your prayers will fly through a portal into the holy of holies. You will be living a life of faith, trusting God in every area of your life. You will have that coveted peace. 

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