Wednesday, November 11, 2015

That YOU MIGHT Have PEACE Through THE STORM

Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
NKJV


Jesus paid a high price for us having died for our sins (iniquities) and such bruising that brought to us His peace.
The New Living Bible states this:
Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Yet it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, for his own sins! 5 But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed-and we were healed! 6 We-every one of us-have strayed away like sheep! We, who left God's paths to follow our own. Yet God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us! 
TLB

Mark 14:34
34 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch."
NKJV
In Jesus' last hours before crucifixion, He intimated with His heart how His soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Thinking on His life, He carried much love, but got hatred, hardness of heart and much unbelief. He had sorrows that brought Him to prayer in those last hours of life. Yes sin brought sorrow to Him. He was impacted to such a degree that He was sweating drops of blood. Seeing those that He came to, reject Him, and experience such pain in knowing, those He came to save would reject Him even to His death.
Sorrows that weighed Him down, yes beaten for our sake's, that we would have peace. It is those who believe, who receive Him as Savior that will have this "kind of peace". "But how, Shelley? How could He have peace?"

John 14:25-31
25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
NKJV


Jesus had peace that only the Father could give Him. He speaks of peace that He would leave to us, not as the world gives, for that is chaos, but as the Lord gives us courage in our hearts. Then immediately we go into John 15 and He talks about abiding in the Father and in Him. He talks of the Holy Spirit. See below:
John 15:20-27
 20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'  

26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. 
NKJV

Jesus had the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit for He came upon Him when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. Jesus had experienced the hate of those who were reviling Him because He spoke of their sin. As Jesus is, was and is to come ........He bearing witness of truth from the beginning, we too, must bear truth. We are to abide in Him and the Father and hear the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives when saved.

Isaiah 52:13-14
13 See, my Servant shall prosper; he shall be highly exalted. 14 Yet many shall be amazed when they see him-yes, even far-off foreign nations and their kings; they shall stand dumbfounded, speechless in his presence. For they shall see and understand what they had not been told before. They shall see my Servant beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know it was a person standing there. So shall he cleanse many nations. 
TLB

In looking back to chapter 52, we find that the Savior, Jesus was beaten and bloodied, and so disfigured one would scarcely know Him as a person. No, you could not hang that picture of the crucified Savior on your dining room wall.

No, man had no peace till Jesus came. Now Israel could have experienced that peace many times, as they either collectively joined together in giving praise and honor to God, and obeying His commands. But on the whole, as for the man who lives on this earth, peace was left in the Garden of Eden. That relationship with the Father and His guidance was changed when Adam followed the LEADING OF HIS WIFE EVE! We must keep to the order God has planned for His children.
Where there is no order, then chaos ensues!

That peace was something that comes from God. And it was sent through His Son Jesus. We the wounded and the polluted by our sinful nature, were made "whole" complete with nothing missing, nothing broken in our lives when confessing Jesus as Lord of our lives!
He was the bruised, the oppressed, the One who was beaten beyond any recognition showed us how corrupt the flesh nature really was according to God and His standards. Every wound of my heart or yours was taken by Jesus. Every hurtful word or hateful abuse was first taken by the Lord. In all that battered, bloodied and disfigured body He carried the hurt that occurred in my heart and yours first.
That peace Jesus obtained was by violence. It was that violence that takes the life. Looking back to Noah and the flood, we see the rain becoming a flood that would take a violent force against any who remained within those flood-driven areas of the land. It was those who were in the Ark who remained dry within that Ark which rode upon the water of the flood, who would ultimately live to start again.

How could He, Jesus remain so faithful to God to do the thing needed for man-kind? He remained in God Himself. "Yeah, Shelley, but Jesus was God. Yes, but Jesus did not call down those legions of angels to assist Him, did He?"
He is the true Christian. And the way we should walk today is in those steps He took while He walked this earth. When we remain, abide in His teachings and His ways, we find that peace, which fights against any chaos in our lives, and keeps us secure in the shadow of the Almighty God!


Psalm 91:1-2
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High 
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 
2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust." 
NKJV

Abiding in Jesus, we find the same peace He held. He walked, not cutting Himself off from the synagogue or from those leaders who were there at that time, like the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus could face them, and walk away victorious because of His strengthening relationship with His Father God. The more time He spent in prayer and the Word, the more He gained the authority to speak peace into His situation. Jesus remained faithful to God and kept no sin in His heart. He was the ultimate sacrifice!

1 John 3:8
 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
NKJV

The more we learn how Jesus walked each time, the further into more peace and into that strength we move, and that peace can only come from God. It was not by separating Himself from that which He had to do.
Likewise we must not refuse to do that which seems hard, or anything the Lord would speak to us to do!  We must continue to walk with those God has placed around us, and speak to those we must speak to and with, we find, when a "storm" does come, it is one that we call that peace of God, to see the chaos removed. Jesus addressed each question and presented them with questions that ultimately pointed back to God the Father.
What authority do we carry when walking through this journey of life? What amount of authority can be seen when facing an enemy we have never met before? The only authority that counts is that which is from God, and remaining in Him, and staying away from sin will mark the path we walk, abiding in Him, and seeing those waves grow calm. It is staying away from sin, for any that darkens the doorway of our lives must be repented of and move on in God's Word and plan. In reflecting on God's plan, and the Redemption through His Son on the Cross, we each are brought back to this "one thing".  Do we really want more of the Jesus Who was the crucified for us or are we happy with the one who man depicts from the painting of the Cross on our living room wall? For many years, when our daughter was still young, we too, had the picture of the crucified Christ, the one with eyes looking to heaven and with the halo around his head. One could see this man's face, the wound on his side and the nails through hands and feet. But it was not till the 1990's that we actually heard how Jesus was crucified. I learned a lot about the weapons used in that day and yes of the cat o' nine tails. You know those leather strips held broken glass and metal pieces in their length and you had nine of them.  When I understood those passages, that though a man, no one could see His visage. NO one would know what He really looked like because of the massive damage done to His body and face. Yes, what Jesus did that day was to die for us, and in His resurrection from the Dead, we gained full legal rights that were PAID IN FULL! TODAY, we have rights to healing, to being whole in our bodies, to being whole in our minds and our emotions and to live in peace all of our days.

In the light of God's Word, is our decision today going to be one in the tradition of men or is it in an expectation of learning about what was gained for us at the Cross? Will we sincerely go by the Word of God and remind ourselves of the day at the Cross, the day at Calvary when everything became dark at noonday?
Many years ago, I went with my parents to Carlsbad Caverns. It was a length of hours to make this tour deep into those caverns made by all that rivers of water so many years ago. At one point, I believe it was the one cavern room called the Garden of the Gods that we gathered or huddled together, that the guide said the lights would be shut off. Our small group of about 35 people, experienced a depth of blackness that day I have never forgotten. The lights were off for only some twenty seconds, but that blackness certainly felt like it enveloped us all in one instant. No one moved from the place where they stood, and the coolness of that depth, deep in those caverns, certainly made one "feel so small and insignificant". I wondered if those who watched Jesus die on the Cross felt that darkness at midday. (or noonday) I wonder if they were enveloped in such darkness that their emotions took them to depths of such despair that all they had done to Him, all that they spoke to Him, and now standing so close and could not touch or speak a word!

Luke 23:44-46
44 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.' "
NKJV


Will we seek that which brings life or just continue to seek man and his mental knowledge. For the image of the man on the Cross in most cases, is one seen as from man's own mental image. But the image our Father wants us to recall is the one that depicts His Son WHO went to the Cross for a dying world! Our taking up the Cross daily is reminding ourselves that we too, must die to the things of the world and to have a walk that is in the image of Jesus Christ the victorious ONE!

Taking selfishness to the Cross, we are choosing to seek to find our place, and that peace in Him. Those fancy homes and cars and high-paying jobs certainly look good, and sound good but in the long run are like that which is built on the sand. In the end, all was just a fancy castle built out of sand and nothing more.

 Our identity is in Him and in Him alone! For it is truly how we are to live, move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)  Apart from Him, we can do nothing. (John 15:5) We are not to be those distracted, for surely in this world people will have tribulations and trials, but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For Jesus overcame the world. He deprived it of power to harm us. (John 16:33)

 Luke 1:76-79
76 "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 
77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people 
By the remission of their sins, 
78 Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace."  
NKJV



Father God, we are not of the world according to John 17:11,14............we have come to the Kingdom of God, so we do not operate in this world's system. We neither talk or act like the world.
We know we can have tribulations but Jesus overcame the world. Today, we receive His strength, His peace and that power of the Holy Ghost to walk through with our heads held high. We will not be the cowering and wondering what we will do next, but our choice today is finding our place in YOU.  Today Holy Spirit guide us out of any stress related problems and into Your peace and joy. Help us to see the process and the time it will take us to gain that authority for we know we have it all now, but getting that past from our minds will take some work and much time. Your grace is sufficient.
We understand that an "excellent" life begins with that excellent thought life and attitudes. As all fruit has a root,  the root of our actions is our thoughts, words from thought, our emotions (moods) and those which can take root. Help us to get excited about taking part in dealing with that thought life, and to pay attention to that which comes out of our hearts. You our Father desire truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6). Help us to see that which is of benefit to us in this life walk.
Today, we pray to be those who will pay attention to that thought life, to our words, those moods and attitudes that are rooted in it. Holy Spirit we loose You into this situation of our thought life. Help us to have and keep that purposeful heart that maintains a godly attitude. Help us to speak only those godly words for life. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8) Father YOU seek the pure in heart, and YOU are surely the expert in removing the worthless things while making sure the process is retaining the things of value. Our commitment is to face YOUR truth and allow change to come to us in Jesus' name. Amen.


Please join me in part 2: Deserts and Devils



You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV


No comments:

Post a Comment

Quality Faith

  The Object of faith is the crucified Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ….Romans 3:21-26 NKJV But now the righteousness of God apart  from the l...