Tag: peace

Blessing, Keeping and Face Turning – The Lord’s Grace and Peace

a-Numbers imageThe YouTruth in Numbers 6:24-26

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

What a powerful prayer this is! It is filled with so many good things, it’s hard to know where to begin!

You may recognize this as a benediction prayer used in many worship services to send the congregation forth after worship. It has been used in this way for thousands of years!

The imagery of God’s face in this prayer is powerful and is key to understanding how you can harness the stated blessings of grace and peace. In Old Testament times, the quality of your relationship with God was illustrated by whether God’s face was turned toward you or away from you. “Why have You turned Your face from me?” is a common cry in the Psalms. It is important to understand God’s perfect, unchanging nature in order to properly understand what was really happening. God would be right to  respond to such a psalmist’s lament with the same question, “No, why have you turned away from Me?”

This illustration can work for you today, too. When you seek after a closeness with God, He promises that you will find yourself in His light, face-to-face with Him. And when you do, you will be in prime position to receive the grace and peace He so longs to give you.

Seek His face today and receive the grace and peace He promises for doing so. (Don’t forget to pass on His bright-shining grace and peace to others, too!)

The Guarding Peace – Do Not Be Anxious About Anything

a-Phil 4-6-7 image

 The YouTruth in Philippians 4: 6-7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

So many things can cause anxiety. I’m sure you can recount situations or circumstances that created anxiety for you. You may even experience anxiety today. God has a prescription for the ailment of anxiety that has three equally important ingredients—prayer, petition, and thanksgiving.

It starts with thanksgiving. This can be the hardest part when you’re feeling anxious! But this is what makes the rest of it work. The one thing you can know for certain is that God loves you immensely. He sent His Son to die for you after all. In this grand love for you, God is always working to bring about what is best for you. It’s always good to remember that God exists eternally outside of the confines of time. Therefore, in every case of anxiety you face, He has already worked out what is best for you in your current situation (and for every future situation you will ever face)! It’s already done!

Armed with a state of thanksgiving all that is left to do is to talk to God about what is happening. Don’t hold anything back! He can handle it! Ask Him for things. Ask Him to take the anxiety away. Ask, ask, ask, all the while thanking Him for already having it all worked out.

When using these three ingredients together, not only does God take away the anxiety, He does you one better. He replaces it with a piece of Himself—the  peace  of Himself. You will recognize it right away because, though you will experience it, you won’t be able to understand it. It will come directly from eternity and will deliver you to an eternal peace that is out of this world.

Are you feeling anxious today? Try God’s remedy right away!

So That You May Overflow With Hope

Romans 15-13 imageThe YouTruth in Romans 15:13

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

There are good days and there are bad days. Or are there?

For those without Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I’d say this statement is very true. But for those with Jesus in their heart, it can be different. The key is planted in this passage from the Apostle Paul.

During our good days, it is easy to experience the joy and peace of the Lord. It just comes naturally. But there is one thing that is important to remember about this experience. If we rely on our “good days” to provide joy and peace, then they will be fleeting things that come and go quickly.

During our bad days, it is hard to experience the joy and peace of the Lord. This is natural too. It is also helpful to remember that bad days are temporary things too, and while you may string together several bad days in a row, a good day will one day come.

This sounds like a roller coaster ride, doesn’t it? Would you like to get off the ride? It can be simply done, by deciding not to have good and bad days. Have “trust days” instead.

During your traditional good days, trust that what God is revealing to you, by the power of His Holy Spirit, is only a thin slice of the joy and peace that is part of your eternal relationship with Him. Remember that your trust days (that happen to be good days on Earth) really aren’t that good! Trust in the hope of eternal good days to come.

During your traditional bad days, trust that what God is revealing to you, again by the power of His Holy Spirit, is that the world can’t offer you what eternity with Him offers. During trust days of this type you can trust that all days on Earth are temporary, that a good, Earthly day is probably on its way and that an eternity of the best days ever is around the corner as well.

Have Salt Among Yourselves (Huh?)

Mark 9-50 imageThe YouTruth in Mark 9:50

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

According to Jesus, you are the salt of the earth. Salt seems like an insignificant thing, to be occasionally sprinkled on food. In Jesus’ time salt was used in two important ways. In this context, Jesus’ illustration is not insignificant, but powerful and meaningful.

Before food could be refrigerated (meat particularly), salt was used to cure it and keep it from going bad. While it certainly contributed to its taste, as it does today, its primary function was to prevent decay. Carrying the illustration forward to today, Jesus wants to prevent the decay of your relationship with Him and with others. He does this amazingly by being both the means and the end. If you continually pursue a strong relationship with Him, He will be the “saltiness” that you can then apply to your relationships with others. When you are at peace with Jesus, you can them be at peace with others.

The second way that salt was used in Jesus’ time illustrates the opposite condition of relationships—fractured and hurting. After salt had been used up and could not fulfill its original function any longer, it was tossed out as a covering for roadways, much like gravel might be used today. If you allow your relationship with Jesus to falter, it becomes like “unsalty” salt and is only good for tossing onto the ground, and your relationships with others will falter along with it. Jesus does not want this for you!

So be salty today! Carry the “salty” peace of Jesus into all of your relationships.

Peace I Leave With You

John 14-27 imageThe YouTruth in John 14:27

“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.”

Jesus spent a lot of time encouraging His disciples as the time of His death on the cross drew near. They were afraid of what would happen after Jesus was no longer with them. They had trouble making sense of it. The last thing they felt about the whole situation was peace.

Have you ever been wanting for peace in your life? Does your life seem chaotic and out of control at times? Is now one of those times? If you answered, “Yes,” to any of these questions (and I suspect you answered, “Yes,” to at least one of them), Jesus’ words to His disciples above are words He intends you to hear too.

Peace in life is such an elusive thing if you try to secure it by the world’s means. Worldly peace requires particular circumstances—quiet, security, favorable surroundings, the kind words of those around you, and so on. Jesus knows that you usually cannot control any of these things, just as He knew His disciples couldn’t back in the day. So Jesus does not give you peace as the world gives, and you can praise God for that! His peace originates in eternity, rockets into this world, penetrates through all of the world’s chaos, and takes up residence in your heart. What results is a heart free from fear and trouble, regardless of what the world surrounds you with.

Jesus left this peace just for you. Go into today knowing that this peace has made the trip from heaven and, with pin point accuracy, has landed square in the middle of your heart.