Father's Amazing Peace

[Gordon Tippett]

Dear Father's children:
One of the most beautiful gifts that Father as given us is His Peace. In John 14:27, Our Lord Jesus told the disciples, "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, nor let it be afraid." Immediately after Jesus promised us His peace to give to us stability and rest in our hearts, He warns us not to be troubled and not to fear. Why? Because His peace is fragile in our hearts and easily disturbed when we receive doubt, fear, worry, anxiety, jealousy, envy, anger, hate etc. into our hearts. The key word here is "receive." God told Cain that sin was crouching at the door and it was up to him to master it. Jesus said to the disciples on the lake,"Why did you doubt." I heard a pastor teaching on this and he said that in the Greek the verb is why did you receive the doubt. Psalms 37:8 says, "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing." And Paul said in Philippians 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing but to pray with thanksgiving and God's peace which surpasses all comprehension will guard our minds and hearts in Christ Jesus." The Scriptures expects us to be able to receive or reject the negatives that can destroy our peace. How? Just by prayer and giving them to God. He has the power to remove all of it from our hearts and to give us His peace back to us. His power to redeem, restore, and heal surpasses all understanding. That is why Paul can say in Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful." It is up to us to allow the peace to rule in our hearts. Will we give in to the negatives or push them away and give it to God for Him to take and restore our peace again.
I confess that I allowed the pressures and stress of living in Japan get to me and sink me into anger. I prayed one morning for Father to show me my heart as He sees it. By mid-morning I was almost to tears. I probably would have been but I was on the way to the bank at the time and had to execise self-control. Ha Ha. I hated what He showed me. When I got home I gave it to Him and He took it in an instant and gave me my peace back. I have been endevouring to maintain it since. I run to Him with any negatives and confess them. He is so faithful. I feel so good in Him. We Just watch what enters our minds and hearts and give it to Him and He removes it and restores our peace. Like King David we pray, "Create in me a clean heart O God, And renew a steadfast/upright spirit within me...Restore to me the joy of my salvation, And sustain m with a willing spirit." Psalm 51:10,12.
God bless
Gordon