Peace.
I want more of it. I crave it actually.
I love the verse that says, “For He Himself is our peace…” So praying for more peace in my life means praying for more of Him in my life.
Yes please.
I think often of the storm at sea in Mark 4, and how Jesus quieted it with His command: “Peace! Be still!” Jesus spoke peace, but peace was already there. Because He is peace.
With Jesus in the boat, the disciples already had peace in the middle of the storm. But they wanted peace without the storm. And Jesus gave that to them; He calmed the wind and waves. But then He looked at them and said, “Don’t you have any faith at all?”
Woah.
Maybe He was telling them that faith doesn’t mean trusting for miraculous rescue from the storm. But rather it means enduring the storm, knowing that Peace is right there with them.
Maybe He’s telling me the same thing.
Awesome. The storm just makes our need for him more clear. Peace with Him goes beyond enduring the storm to rejoicing in his presence in spite of the storm or maybe… because of the storm. Hmmm….
I can totally relate to what you’re writing about. I want the rescue kind of peace most of the time and need to work on experiencing peace while I ride out the storm. Great post!
Nicole
http://nicolewick.com
When I read “Peace! Be Still!” I read it as Jesus announcing himself “Peace!” and then commanding “Be Still!” as if to say “I am peace, now YOU be still.” Funny how we can read things differently at different points in our lives, but each time it is still very much… JESUS speaking.
I love you.
Peace, so illusive, so hard to find but we crave it. I searched for peace outside. I searched for peace inside. Not ever finding it. My outside was falling apart. My inside made my outside look like heaven. So when that came crashing down and I became that in which I hated, I didn’t what to go on. But then a friend pointed to YOU! And I learned That true peace could only come from You. That there would never have peace in my life without forgiveness. That forgiveness from You and then from myself to me and other people. THANK YOU JESUS FOR LOVING ME IN SPITE OF WHO I WAS!
Matthew 6:12 and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive us our debtors. (ESV)
Gods peace flows to us, then thew us. Its like a river, if we dam it up it becomes a lake. and no longer a river. M
I, too, love it when He is speaking similar things to our hearts. Here is the article I read a few days ago that got me thinking about it: http://www.rzim.org/EU/EUFV/tabid/438/ArticleID/10341/CBModuleId/1133/Default.aspx
Today I have faith. Today I have peace. Today I am still. Amen.
I am getting the feeling that in “Be still” I have to sit down and stop making the boat rock harder in my own panic to see the storm be gone.
I crave peace also…. What a different concept that I never considered? You have given me much food for thought. You are on my heart right now, Alece.
I love you.
Your words are speaking straight to my heart.
Thank you for your wisdom, your perceptiveness. They amaze me, and I’m so grateful that I can call you “friend.”
Hey sweet sister! We just had a guest speaker at church who talked on this very story. The part he emphasized, and I loved this, was “LET US go to the other side.” You see, Jesus said US, as in you and me and Him, and the other side, as in not going to drown in the middle … DEFINITELY going to reach the other side. You see we are travelling with King Jesus. And the Lord of our lives keeps His word even in the midst of pain and storms where we cannot see the end or even begin to imagine it. The Lord is always about moving His people FORWARD when we choose Him. Isn’t that AWESOME! You are moving forward and He has great plans for you on the other side.
Proud of you! Praying for you … for overwhelming peace and lots of sweet gifts from Daddy in this journey to remind you of His overwhelming love for you!
Just FYI, the speaker was Roosevelt Hunter and if you wanted to listen to this sermon, which is seriously awesome (and quite funny), you can go to http://www.gatewaypeople.com. It is the featured sermon for this week. :)
yes. faith is trusting the words of jesus to get me to the other side even when the waves swell all around me. thank you for that reminder.
Alece, somehow you always post things that are just what i need to hear! Thanks :)
Peace? Yeah, I could use some too. Especially with two girls under ten. I’ve tried yelling “PEACE BE STILL” but for some reason it just doesn’t work. Hmmm…
if only, eh!?
peace…amen. i hope and pray that peace fills our home and our family. if we don’t have a lot of money or fulfilled longings or… but we have peace, that will be good.
while reading this sentence “With Jesus in the boat…” my brain finished it with “…we can smile in the storm.” cheesy, but true. He is with us. He is Immanuel.
Someone shared with me this a thought on the fact that He is Jehovah Jireh. While we often think of God providing “our daily bread” as Jehovah Jireh, He is our Provider in all areas, in peace, in stregnth, in security.
now i’ve got that song in my head. ha.
love you, yeller!
Ahhhhh, I totally need peace right now too, AND endurance!!! Its been a loooooong, tiring, exhausting week!
amen to the peace. I find myself praying for the storm right now more than peace. there is one brewing and has been. i want to understand it and know. there is some stirring needing to be done in me.
so for now bring the storm.
you pray dangerous prayers.
i think that’s reason #806.
He Himself is peace.
I am experiencing so much of that in the middle of my storm. And really, I think you have got the secret right there. No matter what the circumstance was, He was at peace. He knew something no one else apparently knew. That everything was going to be okay The living shalom dwelt right there with him. His care in the midst of my storm is like none other. This Man has my heart for all eternity. No one can love me like He does.
my friend recently told me that her hebrew professor said that shalom could be roughly paraphrased “life the way it was meant to be”…. i love that.
“Life the way it was meant to be.” I think God is showing me pieces of that right in the midst of the storm. How is that??? So amazing.
i reallly needed to hear this for my own life.
i love how your always sharing your heart on the grit.
and most of all i see your heart on grit.
i love you mammma bird :)
‘And all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well’ TS Eliot – Little Gidding
Be at rest once more, my soul, for God has been good to you. Ps 116:7
…sweet peace