And the peace of God,
which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
Today begins the lighting of the Second Advent
candle; the candle of peace. Our Lord,
Jesus Christ, is the Prince of Peace, and as such, representative of this
light.
In many verses of the Bible, it talks of a peace
that surpasses all understanding. I used
to wonder how one could achieve that type of peace. Your world is falling apart – and yet, God
says it is possible. We know, with Him
all things are possible. So, how do you
achieve this type of peace, particularly when you are in the midst of turmoil
in your personal life?
One thing which is helpful is prayer. Prayer centers us. It calms us.
In a sense, it is a meditation.
We are reaching out to our Creator.
Granted, He knows everything that is going on in our lives and yet,
sometimes we just don’t feel His presence. This is a perfect time to go back to Psalm
46:10 – “Be still and know that I AM God.”
It is my “go to” verse when my life is spinning out of control. To me, it means, God is sovereign. Don’t try to take things into your own
hands. I will take care of it for
you. It also reminds me to calm my
thoughts and emotions – something that is often difficult for me when in
periods of high stress. Yet, when I say
that verse and meditate on it, it does indeed calm me. God is not a God of false promises. He is the great I AM and if He tells me to be
still and He will take care of it – He will.
Another thing that helps me achieve peace is to
reach out to other believers; people who follow the same tenets of faith that I
do. It is through them that I am able to
talk through whatever is bothering me.
They can offer Bible verses that I’ve never even thought of in a
particular context; God placed those believers in my life for a reason and I am
definitely going to call upon them when I need some extra help with prayer or
advice.
I also recognize that it is God who is ultimately in
control. Relinquish your need to “fix”
everything. Trust me; humans are not
perfect. We fall short every single
day. We do not know what the entire
picture is, whereas God does. “Your will
be done…” His Will – not mine. Let God
do what God does best, which is perfect the plan and purpose He has for our
lives. Stay out of it. Humans only mess things up – badly!
Another thing that I find particularly helpful is
listening to music. It can be any type
of music. For me, the music I enjoy most
is praise and worship. Even if I do not
get in God’s Word for the day as I should, I still feel the Holy Spirit moving
me through the lyrics in songs. I have
gotten through many bad times, listening to music which moves my spirit.
Lastly, find a short Bible verse and repeat it over
and over and over. I refer to this as my
“mantra.” Choose one that fits your
circumstance. I’m going to make it easy
for you today, and leave you with one. “Peace
I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” John 14:27
My prayer today is that regardless of your circumstances,
may God’s peace surround you and comfort you during this season of Advent. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment