Peace of Life

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

John 14:27

Having faith in everything but Jesus is like being on life support pleading for someone to pull the plug while you’re screaming from the inside. To the world, your friends and family, or social media you are as happy as you can be, but behind closed doors you’re in need of love, peace, reassurance, and joy. Either because you’re either disconnected from God entirely, or you’re not spending time with Him as you used to or should be.

Every day we need a constant refill of Him because He just isn’t a one-time man. Jesus isn’t just a hit it and quit it, a quick fix, or a microwaveable God. He is the lover of our soul, He is our caregiver, and our Savior. He takes His time and is very patient with us because He knows everything we need.

Jesus is Life. Living life without Him would be like a fish trying to survive on land. A fish was created to swim and live in water because underwater is its habitat, or home.

In the same way, we were created to live in the Kingdom of God but as His children we choose the way of the world instead of receiving our royal inheritance. Being born of God our home is heaven and this earth is just a place where we stay temporarily to bring the Kingdom of God to the world. We are designed to live with the presence of the Lord. His presence brings peace, love, joy, pure happiness, and everything we need to succeed and conquer in life, something this world will never be able to give to you.

For God is peace, He is love, and He has overcame so we can overcome any situation in life even when we are weak, because the joy of the Lord is our strength.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

I’ve realized that when we’re in sin, we don’t see the beauty of Life, instead we take it for granted. We overlook the small things we can be thanking God for because the entrapment of craving more that sin constantly presents to us on a platter. Sin magnifies the shame and darkness it brings, and it casts out the chance of seeing the light in every situation. Sin brings discontentment, it will cause you to be dissatisfied even with the things you choose to satisfy you. Sin will tell you to look at someone else’s life and compare it to your own just so it can set you up to be full of envy and jealousy.

When, what God has for you is for you, you must take your eyes off your neighbor’s grass and start watering your own, or else you’ll never be at peace. You’ll forever be watching your neighbor watering his grass instead of taking care of your flowers that are in season to bloom.

When I was living a lifestyle of sin, I always attracted the wrong people, and we were always going to the wrong places. In life my peers and I were having fun, but that fun brought pain, sorrow, and premature death. All those things were a result of us not taking our emptiness to our God for a refill, and it put every single one of us in a pit of darkness. Almost as if we were Jonah, running away from the Lord’s presence because of his disobedience and as a result he was swallowed in the belly of a fish, or the bottomless pit for three days and three nights.

Everyday we’d meet up presenting false light smiling from ear to ear ready to go party life away but by our actions you could tell we were all facing something behind closed doors by the activities we chose to move towards. (Partying, smoking, drinking, fornication, stealing, etc.)

I was going to different cities living a life someone would love to have the way I would present it on camera but only I knew how fake I felt, or how lifeless I felt. I just wanted the image of living good that everyone else was presenting to me but deep down inside I felt lonely, rejected, and abandoned.

In that stage of my life, I never had rest and my voids were never filled. Everywhere my peers went, I went because I wanted to feel normal and accepted. I tried so hard to fit in to the wrong crowds. I lowered my standards and dumbed myself down all because of the attention I desperately craved from my parents and what I didn’t get from them as a child, I went on a journey to try to get it from the world. I was raised well but eventually I didn’t leave my home to go onto the path that God set for me instead I took a left turn and headed to the path of death that dressed itself up with amusements and thrills I thought I was missing out on as a child.

Everything looked appealing to me from the men to the food, I wanted it all in hopes that I would be at peace, no longer full of anger, depression, loneliness, childhood trauma, etc.  I went that way to get away from the pain into what I thought was freedom but was only leading me to more pain and eventually could lead to death. I thank God I’m still here today, because of His grace, but back then, it was almost as if I was eating candy that was poisoned, it tasted so sweet, but it was oh so deadly.

After backsliding and from looking at life as something to get rid of pain by fulfilling it with temporary pleasure, I started to see life as a journey or gift once I rededicated my life back to Christ.

 Life is a beautiful city outside of sin.

In His will for my life, God has blessed me with a job as a delivery associate driver at Amazon. I’ve been able to travel, discover different areas and get an amazing view of the city.  This is the same city that I’ve lived in for 18 years of my life, running wild in the streets committing every sin that I thought would satisfy my needs and voids that only God can fill, but it wasn’t until I gave my life to God, that I was able to see the city differently.  And the more I look at His creation, the more I am able to see Him differently.

I am more grateful, more content, joyful and at peace.

When we live a life full of sin, we’re always accustomed to darkness and theres always anxiety, shame, guilt or fear present because we’re all afraid of being caught in our wrongs, so we tend flock to a crowd that accepts our wrong or sin as okay but it’s all a big lie that we’re living. But when Jesus said “my sheep know my voice“, He was dead serious because someway, somehow if you’re His child you always find your way back to the Father. It’s like finding your way through a maze but end up right in the same spot where you left off.

When we choose to finally come out of the dark and into His light choosing the path of life, we have nothing to be afraid of because God is with us and those who are against us are not able to defeat us because God fights our battles while we rest in His everlasting peace. Through Christ, our slates are wiped clean and we’re able to discover the world with Him by our side, just how Adam walked and talked with God in the garden of Eden. That’s how it was intended to be.

His peace is there when we’re in need of help. His peace occurs when opposition attacks. His peace will lead us back to Him safe and sound. His peace separates us from the chaos and noise of this world. His peace surpasses all understanding and no man can take it away.

Reflection Questions:

• In what ways has your peace been disturbed?
• What temporary pleasure are you trying to fill your void or emptiness with? (Smoking, alcohol, food, sexual activity, Netflix, social media, etc.)
• Could there be a chance you’re feeling heavy, anxious and fearful because there’s something you’re currently doing wrong outside the will of God?
• Do you feel the need to hide from God when you commit a sin?
• Do you find yourself wanting to fit in with the world when you know that’s not who you are at your core?

Challenge:

• I challenge you to spend more time with God in a secret place. It can be a day of just you and Him, behind closed doors.
• I challenge you to exchange your secular music for Christian worship music. Focus on giving Him the glory and praise taking the focus off of you and your sins, or your problems.
• I challenge you to pray and confess to Him. Being open, honest, and transparent to Him, pour your heart out to Him. You can choose to tell Him your deepest darkest secrets, the sins you’ve been hiding from your loved ones or are currently struggling with.  Choose that time to tell Him your fears and give Him your worries and anxiety. Evaluate your life and give it all to Him. Ask for His healing and helping hand to deliver you from your lifestyle of sin, or area you’re currently struggling in.

• Lastly, spend time in His presence doing something you love (sing to Him, dance, paint or draw, read a book, write poetry, edit videos, etc.)

Colossians 3:15 – And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.