February 23–Peace and Turmoil

It’s the weekend. I hope you are ready for good fellowship with friends and time spent in corporate worship with fellow believers. 


Over this last week I’ve had a few things come up that just seemed to be completely at opposite ends of the spectrum. I tried to make sense of it and figure out how on earth they could both be right or even both be in the the same conversation. During the last week of Jesus’ life, John records Jesus talking about a couple of contradictory thoughts. 


“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”” John‬ ‭16:33‬ ‭NLT


I think the thing that I love the most In this verse is that Jesus doesn’t say He is GOING to over come but that he HAS over come the world. It’s already a done-deal—Before the crucifixion and the resurrection, He knows how this story plays out. Is He a great God or what? 


So here, without any contradiction, our Lord brackets together these two opposite conditions as both pertaining to our lives. He promises a peace which co-exists with tribulation and disturbance, a peace which is realised in and through conflict and struggle. On the surface it seems ridiculous and completely impossible, but as a child of God, we know that all thing are possible and completely probable. Just because this world is broken and in a total mess, doesn’t mean that we have to be! Praise God, He has over come all of it and because we belong to Him, we are overcomers with Him. 


Lord of Heaven, Thank you for overcoming the world. You are so good to us and love us so much. Help us when We forget or when we let the world start to take us over and we feel it begin to consume us. Remind us that because us belong to you, that we can over come the world and live above it all. We praise you and worship your name this day. Amen and amen. 


Love you dear one,

Pam

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

January 17, 2020

Happy Friday. It’s the end of another week and we have had more opportunities to share the love of Christ with those around us and sometimes that takes quite a bit of effort. I don’t know about you, but I’m not always anxious to embrace others and really listen to them or share with them (especially those who I don’t know well). Sometimes, I just look at them and think “Are you for real?” I don’t always agree with people over politics, sports or of course, religion. And let’s face it, we’d rather spend time with people we like and mostly agree.  And then I read my Bible. God hasn’t called us to sit in our little groups with only those we naturally gravitate towards, but to love people—all people, even those who aren’t necessarily loveable. In this passage, Paul writing to the people of Colosse remarks on how wonderful it is that they truly love others. That love must have really been something over and above the normal and he tells them that it is evident that it comes from the Holy Sp
Read more

January 15, 2020

Happy Wednesday to you. I hope your week is going well. Yesterday, I went to Sams. I was out of things like trash bags, toilet paper, and chicken, so off I went. I like going to Sams because there is always lots to look at and the isles are nice and wide. Everytime I’m there, I am amazed at how much stuff and everything from diapers to TVs to mangos to beds. It just seems incredible that so many things in such quantities are all under one roof.  King David never saw a store with as much stuff aa Sams of course, but he did see countless miracles and understand that God has plans. He knew from creation and history that he was serving a God of miracles and he know that God loved him and his people and would take care of them. He was amazed and awe-struck by the fact that a God who had done such great and mighty things not only cared about his people but that He loved them with such a great love.  “Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can co
Read more

January 9, 2020

It’s Thursday and I woke up to the blowing wind! Lots of it—I’m dreading Boomer waking up and having to go outside with him. That harsh, bitter wind seems cruel and almost evil. But I’ll wrap myself up with a fe layers and boots and brave it all.  Sometimes I think we try to do that with things we know aren’t right—things that are evil. We try to wrap ourselves up and just wade into it, but Paul tells us we should reject it—stay away from it. “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:20-24‬ NIV When he wrote this he’d been in Berea and the Christians there diligently searched the scriptures to make sure everything Paul said was in line. Paul here is encouraging the Thessalonians to
Read more