Every Single Day

"He’s seen it, He’s felt it, and He triumphed over it so that our lives can be peaceful and joyful every single day."

THE GOD OF PEACE sent the Prince of Peace with the Good News of Peace on earth, goodwill to all men. He is now, as He has always been, the Lord of Peace (1 Thessalonians 3:16). The fruit of the Holy Spirit within us is love, joy, and peace (Galatians 5:22). “Peace always,” the 1 Thessalonians reference says. Peace in our hearts and minds, a peaceful habitation and quiet resting places it says in Isaiah 32:17-18, rest to our souls. Restored souls, which find rest by quiet waters, we read in Psalm 23:2.

God’s peace reigns in us, unending peace spoken over us by the Savior Himself, who sent the Comforter to fill our temple, these bodies, with the peace of heaven itself (John 14:6-7;1 Corinthians 6:19). We need not be anxious about anything at all, not our clothing, not food, not finances, not our family (Matthew 6:31). For God’s peace is all-encompassing, and it comes with a dollop of patience and a neverending fountain of joy.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Do not always be thinking about where you will find your food and drink and clothes. Do not be anxious.’” (Matthew 6:31, EasyEnglish)

“Be anxious for nothing.” (Philippians 4:6, BSB)

The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). We quote this but don’t really understand it. For His joy to be our strength, He has to be joyful. Our images of Jesus, of the Father and the Spirit, are usually austere. But what brought me healing of heart and mind was They laughed. They can take a joke. The “fear of the Lord” referred to in Scripture is not to separate us from them, in trembling and terror. We have a New Covenant, a new agreement with God which He set in place, out of the desire of His heart, to make us His friends. Where the old agreement showed man the punishment of God for sin, the new one cancels the power of sin and raises us up to live all of our days in joy and peace and laughter.

“God wants us to tell people that, by Christ, he was bringing the world to himself. He was bringing all people in the world back to himself, to be his friends. God was not continuing to remember all the wrong things that people do. This is the message that God has given to us. He wants us to tell people that he has brought them back to himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19, EasyEnglish)

Jesus is God in human flesh, who lived on earth upon men and women, who loved and laughed and cried and ached. He healed the brokenhearted and bound up the wounds of the ill (Luke 4:18). He calmed the physical sea and the mental one in people. He silenced the devils that caused people turmoil. He commanded them to “be quiet,” and I guarantee you they did not move on to torment someone else. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). Point is, He’s seen it, He’s felt it, and He triumphed over it so that our lives can be peaceful and joyful every single day. Here is where we find what the Bible calls “faith.” We trust in God for everything He’s promised we have because we know Him that well. We know how wide and long and deep and high His love is, how abundant His goodness to us is, how exceeding His nature (Ephesians 3:18-20).

His methods, which work for us and in us, are peaceful ones. Darkness and the defects of sin bring strife and violence and confusion (James 3:16). We forget this continually, blaming God for things He did not and cannot cause. He does not cause sickness and disease. He is not the spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). Instead, it is that outside of Him, where He is not, there is only darkness and hate. Darkness destroys. But God is LIGHT. And His LIGHT shines into our hearts the very peace of heaven, our home where there is only peace and continual joy and an overflow of constant laughter. “Seek ye my face,” He speaks from the psalm, and again in Matthew 7:8 where it says “he that seeketh findeth.” John’s Revelation paints Jesus’ face as white with light, and He is God, to be honored and worshiped. But He’s given us His glory, the Spirit of God, to live within us to bind us to Him and make us like Him forever.

For to the spiritually minded, there is life and peace, and this is the attitude we have to face all things (Romans 8:6). He who created the earth, in all of its beauty, who in a breath could separate sky from sea, who will one day exhale and remove death forever, has removed its terror from us and given us His vision, His wisdom, and shalom, His well-being. Remind yourself today. Place His Word on your tongue, and walk forward in the joy that He’s set before you — life with Him always, abounding with laughter, encompassed by His Presence, and filled with His power that is peace.

“Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

Image from Pixabay.


----------
Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com