SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/2/2016 11:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “The Pursuit of Peace”
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 14:27d
Message of the verses: “Do not let you heart be troubled, nor lit is
be fearful.”
We have
been looking at peace and have learned that there is two kinds of peace, peace
with God “19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to
dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the
blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or
things in heaven (Col. 1:19-20).” Then
we also have another kind of peace, a supernatural peace that Jesus gave to His
disciples and also has given it to all who are true believers. “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).” Paul goes on to tell us how we can experience
this kind of peace in verse eight, and what we have been looking at in our last
two Spiritual Diaries and also this one which is how we are to pursue
peace: “8 Finally, brethren, whatever is
true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything
worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and
seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you
(Phil. 4:8-9).” If we practice what is
in verse eight as dwell on the things that are in that verse then we will be
going in the right direction to pursue peace, to appropriate in our lives what
God has already given to us.
Let us now
look at another verse from Colossians “Let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful
(3:15). Let us focus in on the word “rule”
which in the Greek is “Brabeuo” and
MacArthur writes that this “was used to describe the work of an umpire in
deciding the outcome of an athletic event.
Believers can allow Christ’s peace to referee the choices they make by
asking tow crucial questions. First,
they should ask whether what they are considering is consistent with the
reality that they are now at peace with Christ and thus part of His kingdom
(cf. Col. 1:13) ‘For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred
us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.’
Anything that would disrupt the oneness and harmony they enjoy with Him
must be rejected. Paul illustrated that principle
in 1 Corinthians 6:17-18 when he wrote, ‘The one who joins himself to the Lord
is on spirit with Him. Flee immorality.’ Their union with Christ compels Christian
purity.”
We will
look at a second consideration that concerns how our choices will affect the
peace of mind that comes with a clear conscience and that is found as an
example in Romans 14:22-23 “22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction
before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he
approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is
not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.” 1 Corinthians 8:12 tells us “And so, by
sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you
sin against Christ.” Our thoughts,
words, and deeds are to be consistent with the peace of Christ and if these are
pure then we will have a clear, good, and blameless conscience.
A
couple of years ago I spoke at our Wednesday evening prayer service on the subject
of praying for our pastors and at the end of my lesson I quoted from Warren
Wiersbe concerning having a clear conscience:
““It is important that we learn to distinguish between Satan’s
accusations and the Spirit’s conviction.
A feeling of guilt and shame is a good thing if it comes from the Spirit of God.
If we listen to the devil, it will only lead to regret and remorse and
defeat. When the Spirit of God convicts you, he uses the Word of
God in love and seeks to bring you back into fellowship with your Father. When Satan accuses you, he uses your own sins
in a hateful way, and he seeks to make you feel helpless and hopeless. Satan wants you to feel guilty. He wants you to experience regret and
remorse, but not repentance.”
Christians must keep a short list with God, and
this can be seen in the life of David when he did not keep a short list with
God. He writes the following in Psalm
32:3-6 “3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my
groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My
vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. 5 I
acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I
will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of
my sin. Selah. 6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time
when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach
him.”
Both Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 were written by David as
a result of his sin with Bathsheba, and the killing of her husband and although
these sins were something terrible in the sight of God as all sin is we can
learn from both of these Psalms the need to repent, to keep short lists with
God. Jesus taught us this principle
earlier in John’s Gospel when He washed His disciples’ feet illustrating that
when you walk around in the world you sin and so you need to confess those sins
to the Lord. As we can see from these
Psalms of David that an unsettled, guilt-ridden conscience is made whose when
the believer confesses his sin to God and then he repents as seen in 2 Cor.
7:10 and 1 John 1:9.
John MacArthur concludes this chapter in his
commentary writing “On the night before His death, the Lord promised
supernatural peace to His troubled disciples.
By pointing to Himself as the giver of peace, rather than to the fearful
circumstances they faced in His absence, Jesus offered His followers a peace
that is unmoved by the events of this world and that lasts forever. It was this peace that characterized Him
throughout His sufferings. And it would
also mark His followers through the many persecutions they would face on His
behalf.
“Charles Wesley, the famous hymn writer, summed up
the God-focused nature of Christian’s peace with these fitting words:
‘I rest beneath the Almighty’s shade,
My griefs expire, my troubles cease;
Thou, Lord, on whom my soul is
stayed,’
Wilt keep me still in perfect peace.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As life seems to be getting harder for me, my prayer is that I will experience the supernatural peace that comes from my Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: That God will give me the strength to fast this day as our Church is doing a pray and fast day for our “Greater Things Ministry.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “The beatitudes.”
Today’s Bible question: “Who said ‘"Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?" And He said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.’”
Answer in our next SD.
12/2/2016 12:29 PM
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