Kathi Pelton
Yesterday I woke up to blue skies and sunshine all around. It was glorious. If you live in Oregon during the winter months then you know how rare and how absolutely joyful a sunny day is (it rains constantly here). I stood outside and just let the sunshine warm my face and drank it in. How I looked forward to enjoying this beautiful day.
Then the enemy tried to steal away my sunny day. It began with receiving an unexpected hefty tax bill (after already paying thousands of dollars in taxes last year) followed by one negative thing after another. They came like black crows descending on my sunny day; squawking, pecking, and blocking my view. After hours of dealing with frustrating circumstances I found myself being snappy with my sweet husband (I’m sure that this never happens with anyone else!) and to top it off, I burned part of our dinner! At that point I gave myself a much needed “time out.”
As I sat quietly, on my self-imposed time out, I asked the Lord to reset me—asked Holy Spirit to align my thoughts and emotions with His truth and His perspective. I immediately heard the words from Psalm 118:6,
“The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
Then He began to bring back to mind memory after memory of times where circumstances looked stacked against me and how He always came through with amazing and miraculous provisions and wisdom. As I quieted myself before Him, laying down all the unexpected burdens of the day, peace returned like a rush of warm water over my soul. The “crows” left and the dove appeared with an olive branch of peace and promise.
We all have days that can feel overwhelming and cause our souls—our thoughts and emotions—to spin out of control. Your peace and trust is what the enemy wants to steal most. As we allow our souls to be realigned with absolute trust in our amazing and faithful God, then we receive our peace back.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Peace guards your heart and your mind; that is why the enemy wants to steal it from you. The most important thing you need to recover, when the enemy comes in to rob you, is your peace. As that is recovered then you can enter into the thanksgiving that He will take care of the rest.
Then Philippians goes on to say this,
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9
Take your thoughts (your mind) off of the problems and fix them on the things that are excellent and praiseworthy. As I allowed the Spirit of the Lord to reset my thoughts on His faithfulness and remembered His constant and miraculous provisions throughout my life, the peace of God returned like a dove of promise that reminded my soul of this truth,
“…For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?””
Hebrews 13:5-6
God is the one who makes a way where it appears that there is no way. As we lay our burdens at His feet He exchanges them with peace and assures us that He is our helper. I have been in some “crazy” situations in my life that came like a tsunami of impossibilities and God has ALWAYS parted the sea so that I could pass through on dry land. He has supernatural ways that make a path for you to the promises He has given to you.
I know that I write about peace often but it is because He is my peace…He is the Prince of Peace. When I seek and pursue peace I am pursuing Christ. This is why I wrote a book about peace (“30 Day to Breakthrough: Peace”); it is the life message that I carry. It is also that thing that the enemy wars against more than anything else. As I fix my mind on what is excellent and praiseworthy I am fixing my mind on Christ and peace is my reward.
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end…” Isaiah 9:6-7
We are under and are part of the government of God. As citizens of His Kingdom we are given all the help we need, and all the resources of His kingdom belong to us. He will pay my taxes and He will make a way for all that you are facing. He is faithful. Pursue peace rather than problems. Fix your eyes on the Prince of Peace and He will take care of the rest. This is how you reclaim what the enemy has stolen.
If you have God’s peace then you have taken the war out of the warfare. It completely disarms the enemy! Satan’s forces thrive on fear and chaos but peace confuses him and thwarts his plans.
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord GOD is the eternal Rock. He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust. The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot, and the needy walk all over it. But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them.”
“Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.” Isaiah 26:3-7, 12
This is our God and this is His promise for those who put their trust in Him.
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