Rejoice; Live In Peace

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

                                                                                        (Phil 4:4-7 KJV)

Trust in the Lord. Trust that he hears our prayers and answers. 

Human beings are often anxious about something; sometimes about everything! The knowledge that God hears our prayers and answers gives us both peace and joy. We have peace because we know that God is for us.  We have joy because we know that God Almighty, our Savior and Lord, is present with us to protect and to lead us, even now. 

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)

Rejoice in the Lord always and may the peace of God be with you keeping your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

The Promise; Our Inheritance

 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. 

                                                                            (Eph 1:7-14 KJV)

Forgiven and redeemed by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus the Christ; for what? According to St. Paul is it so that we might be gathered together as one in Christ and not just we but all things in heaven on earth. The inheritance; the purpose, is that we might be reconciled to one another; that we might be reconciled to God.

Thanks be to God through Jesus the Christ we have been redeemed to live united in peace. That is the promise. Although that promise has not yet fully come. Our hope is that in the dispensation of the fulness of time we will fully realize that unity; that peace. That hope gives us the ability to endure all things even today.

God grant us the hope to believe the promise of unity in Christ and to live as though that promise has already been fulfilled.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

To Know The Love Of Christ

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Eph 3:17-19 KJV)

What a prayer! What a blessing to know the love of God; to be filled with his love! To be filled with the fulness of God is to know contentment; to know peace. May God bless you with the indwelling Christ so that you might be rooted and grounded in love.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Eph 4:7)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

We Cannot See It; Yet We Believe It

Romans 8:28

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

                                                                         (Heb 11:1, 3-8, 11 KJV)

Faith is seen in the ability to believe what we do not see. It is a gift from God. (Eph 2:8) 

Our forefathers believed God even though they could not and some never did see the promises that God fulfilled. It didn't matter. God was and is God and they believed His word. They trusted Him. Life was not always easy for them. But, they had faith that God would fulfill His promises and they knew that God was with them always.

There are days when even Christians today wonder if they will ever see the promises that we have heard but have not seen fulfilled. But, we remember that Abraham did have so many descendents that none but God can count. Sara did have a child in her old age.  And... well... the promise that we read and hear throughout the old testament of a savior; a kind; that too has been fulfilled.  

"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."

                                                                                       (Gal 4:4-7)

This Son has fulfilled the law for us. This Son is the one in whom our faith lies for he has redeemed us and made us to be children of God; that we should inherit our places in the Kingdom of God living in the peaceful presence of God. Although, this Kingdom is not visible; we have faith. We believe the testimony of those who witnessed his life; his death, and his resurrection. We have faith; we know in our hearts and minds that we have received the promises of God through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Heirs Of God Through Christ

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

                                                                                      (Gal 4:3-7 KJV)

We who were in bondage to our sin are now free from the law of sin. We who were not his children are now his children. This not by our own doing but because of God's perfect love for us. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Because Jesus was willing to suffer the consequences of our sins we should now rejoice that we can cry out to our Father in heaven. We can speak to Him as a child speaks to a loving parent. We are now children. We are heirs of God through Jesus the Christ!

Let us rejoice in the love of our Father!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Children of a Heavenly Father

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

                                                                                        (Gal 4:4-6 KJV)

Children are an awesome blessing. They can be a lot of work, though. Our attempts to bring them up in the way they should be going doesn't always work the way that we planned.

We have a Father in heaven. We have been adopted as His own children; redeemed by His only begotten Son to be His children. I have often wondered what God, my Father, thought when I really did stuff that were not in His plans. Does he get as frustrated as I do when the children I care about are straying? I am sure that He is not all that pleased when we do things to the detriment of others; when we do not love as He loves us. As children of God we try to please Him even as our own children try to please us. We all fall short. We don't always do what we ought to be doing. We don't and our children don't. But, we keep on loving even as our heavenly Father loves us.

All who believe in His Son, Jesus the Christ, are the children of God. May He help us to follow in His Way.

God's Peace - Pr. J

God of Glory

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

                                                                                    (Eph 1:15-23 KJV)

What an amazing prayer! Paul's prayer for the faithful in Ephesus is a prayer that should and can be prayed for the whole world. In the darkness of times the affirmative answer to this prayer would bring light and peace to all who live.

May we all live in the power of the light and the love of the King of all Kings, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord!

God's Peace - Pr. J.