Tag:

peace

Grace and Peace

by TerryLema

This past Christmas our family decided to forego giving Christmas gifts and decided instead to create Christmas Memories. I liked the idea at first.

Finances have been a struggle for Bob and me throughout many of our years together. Living on a fixed income amid inflation has not done anything to alleviate that.  So, replacing the expense of gifts with the expense of memories was very appealing.

Until Christmas came and we had nothing to give those we loved. Then it felt a bit empty.

Christmas is all about giving and sacrifice. God gave His Son for us. His Son sacrificed His life for us. The Holy Spirit was given to us to remind us of God’s giving and Christ’s sacrifice. And God in Christ continues to give and give and give.

Paul understood that. Almost all his letters begin the same way.  “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The world is harsh, at times cruel. Animosity among people and nations abounds. The enemy of our soul assaults. The world seeks to seduce. Our own flesh often fights us.

If there is anything we need in this world, it is God’s grace and God’s peace. We need them moment by moment, every hour, every day.  How comforting it is to know that God loves giving us His grace and His peace in abundance.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Peace

by TerryLema

I am spending the month of November thinking about and thanking God for the many gifts He has given us. Grace. Salvation. All Good Things. Courage. Mercy. So many!

It is a Saturday morning as I write this. Bob is off to breakfast with a friend. It is raining. I am sitting in my rocker. While I write I am staring out my glass front door. I see the leaves on the trees are changing colors and that many have already lost all their leaves.

The thing I am enjoying at this moment is the quiet and the peace in the house. No television blaring Bob’s westerns. No radio. No noise except for the sounds coming from the laundry room. Today I am grateful not just for the peace around me, but also the peace inside me.

I am eternally grateful because I have peace WITH God. I am no longer waring with Him. I still fuss and sometimes it takes me awhile to get where I need to be, but I am not in open rebellion with my Creator as I once was.

“Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Romans 5:1 HCSB]

And I am also eternally grateful because I also have peace WITHIN my own heart. God’s peace guards my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. I may have moments (some that last longer than a moment) of anxiety, but God always returns my heart and mind to His care and concern for me … and when that happens, my peace once again rises to take its rightful place.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:8 HCSB]

Thank you, LORD, for peace. Amen.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Prince of Peace

by TerryLema

“Wonderful Counsellor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace.” [Isaiah 9:6]

 Jesus came, and He preached peace. He preached peace, Paul says in Ephesians 2, to those who were near (the Jews) and to those who were far away (the Gentiles). He removed the divisions between people.

He brought peace between God and man by removing the barrier caused by sin. “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  [Rom 5:1-2]

And when He left to return to the Father, He left His peace with us. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” [John 14:27]

The world’s peace is temporary, dependent upon the desires and demands of man. It is often an enforced, false peace. It can disappear as fast as it came. How many peace treaties have we seen in the Middle East alone in the last 50 years? While greatly celebrated, they have mostly been broken and are no longer in effect.

The peace of the Lord, however, is so different. It is inside the heart of man. It flows toward God, toward each other and permeates our own hearts, minds, and emotions.  While the world is yearning for peace, we abide in it. He is the Prince, the Son of Peace, and He abides in us.

His name will be called, “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

 

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Surprised by War?

by TerryLema

Russia has invaded Ukraine. We have sent soldiers (our precious children) to the NATO countries bordering Ukraine (with a promise that they will not be sent into Ukraine but will only protect NATO countries in the event the war expands).

War is doing what war does, destroying, maiming, and taking lives. Refugees are fleeing into surrounding countries. Sanctions are supposed to hurt Russia but will also hurt those nations that make the sanctions. Prices for gas and everything associated with the price of gas will rise. Eventually, most of the world will feel the effects of a war instigated by one man.

Are we surprised by war? Do we think that people and nations are too civilized or sophisticated to initiate a war in our age?

We shouldn’t be. God saw long, long ago before the flood “that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time.” [Genesis 6:5 HCSB]

God even went on to express His sorrow: “the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” [vs 6, HCSB]

Only one thing has the power to change the hearts of men and women and that is the sacrifice and salvation provided by God Himself through His Son on the Cross.

In Jesus’ first coming, He provided personal peace in the hearts of those who accepted His invitation to “come.” Now we have “the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, [to] guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:7 HCSB]

 But it will not be until Jesus’ second coming that the world will see peace. “He will settle disputes among the nations and provide arbitration for many peoples. They will turn their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will never again train for war.” [Isaiah 2:4 HCSB]

 Amen, Come Quickly, LORD Jesus!

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Pray for the Peace …

by TerryLema

The worst violence between Israelis and Hamas militants in seven years is escalating.  The skies are ablaze with rockets. Buildings are crumbling. There is unrest at the borders. People are dying.

As a nation that was founded on Christian principles, the United States has been a longstanding ally to Israel.  The USA has appreciated the word spoken by God to Abraham.

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” [Genesis 12:2-4 NKJV]

There are new concerns, however, in that progressives in our government now view our relationship with Israel apart from a Christian foundation. They are seeking to influence the power of the USA in a totally different direction.

I fear for our nation if we turn our backs to Israel. I fear we will move from the blessing part to the cursing part of God’s covenant with Abraham.

But whatever our nation decides to do, as Christians we are to accept and carry out the command of Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

This we must do. 

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

by TerryLema

February 15

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy ” is a song by American musician Bobby McFerrin released in 1988. It was the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It stayed at number one for two weeks. The lyrics of the song present many of the problems of life … no bed, the rent is late, no money, no one to love. And throughout the song the advice is simple, “Don’t worry, be happy.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just tell yourself to stop worrying and be happy instead – and that actually worked?

I have tried to talk myself out of worry many times. It has never worked very well for me.  I might have postponed the panic for a while, put a smile on my face so that no one could tell, but I was never able to remove worry from my heart and mind.  Inside I still quaked!

Fortunately, God does not tell us to just “Don’t worry, be happy.” No, He gives us more than advice, He gives us a way to eliminate anxiety from our lives and to live in peace.

 “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” [Philippians 4:6 HCSB]

God tells us not to worry about anything. That is the goal. Then He tells us how to make that goal happen. In everything through prayer and petition, combined with thanksgiving, we are to take all our requests to Him.

Everything that might cause anxiety in us is to be presented first to Him. We do that through prayer. We petition God for His peace and His joy to flood us. We offer thanksgiving in anything and everything knowing that He will provide that “perfect peace” in our hearts and minds. It does not make sense on a human level, that is why “perfect peace” is defined as “a peace which surpasses understanding.”

“And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:7 HCSB]

There is much in this world which causes worry and anxiety. Just telling ourselves to ‘be happy’ is not going to work. But if we follow God’s direction, we can have a peace that is supernatural and perfect.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Christmas Bells

by TerryLema

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) wrote a poem entitled, “Christmas Bells.” It was turned into a song with which we all are familiar. Longfellow wrote the poem as a 57-year-old widowed father of six children, the oldest of which had been wounded and nearly paralyzed in the Civil War. The poem captures the conflict in his heart.

He heard the bells on Christmas ringing from his home in Cambridge, he knew the promise of the angels in Luke 2:14 of “peace on earth,” but what he saw around him was a world of injustice and violence.

Like the psalmists of old, he wrestles with what he sees in this world, and what God has promised. I think we might have thought the same thoughts in this difficult year. But like the psalmists of old, Longfellow remembers that God shall prevail. Reading Christmas Bells this morning gave me hope … I pray it does the same for you.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Go in Peace

by TerryLema

The last event in Luke 7 always makes me want to weep. It begins with verse 36 and ends at verse 50, and is the account of a Pharisee, Jesus, and a woman who had lived a sinful life.

Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee. Common courtesy was to provide water so that visitors could wash the dust of the road from their feet and to greet an honored guest with a kiss. This Pharisee did neither, but a woman snuck into the room with an alabaster jar of perfume. She came to Jesus and washed His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, kissed them and then poured the expensive perfume upon them. The Pharisee recognized her as a “sinful woman” and wondered why Jesus would even allow such to touch Him.

A sinful woman. What would it have been like to know that everyone knew your sins and that you bore a label that forever linked you with them?

A desperate woman. A woman desperate enough to give her the courage to enter the presence of men who knew all about her and scorned her for her life.

A woman of repentance and faith. Jesus saw beyond the label. He saw the actions of her faith – seeking Him out, weeping in repentance, showing her thankfulness for His acceptance and love.

A forgiven woman. “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ … Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” [Luke 7:48-50]

What a wonderful Savior.

0 comment
FacebookEmail