Peace – Hardwired for Life

Today is a world full of chaos and head spinning events almost too much to comprehend. If you happen to be brave enough to turn on the news, you might find yourself getting a major headache and a heavy heart. Tuning your ears to the ever present sound of sirens from emergency vehicles blaring all day and night. The occasional gunshots that permeate your peaceful thought process and quiet mind space. They all are ingredients for stress and worries to build up enough pressure to send us emotionally places we would rather not be. There are many more stressors that we can add to our lists. Our own set of worries keep us in a state of worry and continuing to be ill at ease.

When we are robbed of our peace it is hard to function in life. Sleep goes, health goes, good decisions go, relationships suffer, and anything else that requires our attention. Our joy is taken away. We can’t seem even to enjoy the day we planned of our favorite thing to do. Our worry is still lurking in the back of our mind. Anxiety is a creeper when it comes to invading our daily thoughts. We worry, often missing the opportunity to gain information on solving a problem. It is by way of the fear associated with anxiety. We push out the incoming peace to walk out our daily life. The worry is like a vice that squeezes harder the more life we give to it.

How Do We Resolve This Vicious Cycle?

First our mindset has to be one that knows God will always take care of us and all that concerns us. Secondly, if we make a list of the facts, pros and cons and take our emotions out of the problems, we will have a much clearer mind to proceed with problem solving. Things we have no control over we have to let go of. The majority of fears are never realized. Our best place to be, is living in the moment. The centered peace will bring us to just BE. Learning how to just BE in the moment or just being , is an attainable place in our life. There is no striving or jockeying for position. We fully accept our realm of peace.

Here Below Is The Famous Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; lcourage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world As it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right If I surrender to His Will; So that I may be reasonably happy in this life And supremely happy with Him Forever and ever in the next. Amen.

(Prayer attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr, 1892-1971)

This prayer is a great way to start realizing how we can slow down, breathe and be grateful for our peace.

Life Giving Scriptures

But you are obsessed with whether the godless will be judged. Don’t worry, judgment and justice will be upheld. – Job 36:17 NLT

A psalm of David. Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. – Psalm 37:1 NLT

Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. – Psalm 37:7 NLT

Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. – Proverbs 12:25 NLT

They keep saying to those who despise my word, ‘Don’t worry! The LORD says you will have peace!’ And to those who stubbornly follow their own desires, they say, ‘No harm will come your way!’ – Jeremiah 23:17 NLT

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life–whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? – Matthew 6:25 NLT

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. – Matthew 6:34 NLT

When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. – Matthew 10:19 NLT

Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life–whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. – Luke 12:22 NLT

And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? – Luke 12:26 NLT

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. – Philippians 4:6 NLT

But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. – 1 Peter 3:14 NLT

TRUSTING GOD

Leaving everything at the feet of Jesus who died for us to live in wholeness is the best way we can navigate this world. It is full of ups and downs and instabilities. We can always be at peace knowing He will never leave us. The following scriptures are descriptive of how he loves us.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? – Romans 8:31 NLT
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? – Romans 8:32 NLT

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one–for God himself has given us right standing with himself. – Romans 8:33 NLT

Who then will condemn us? No one–for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. – Romans 8:34 NLT

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? – Romans 8:35 NLT

(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) – Romans 8:36 NLT

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. – Romans 8:37 NLT

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow–not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. – Romans 8:38 NLT

No power in the sky above or in the earth below–indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:39 NLT

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. – John 14:27 KJV

Love, the Motivation of Our Lives

First Corinthians Chapter 13:1-13

The Passion Translation

If I were to speak with eloquence in earth’s many languages, and in the heavenly tongues of angels, yet I didn’t express myself with love, my words would be reduced to the hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal. And if I were to have the gift of prophecy with a profound understanding of God’s hidden secrets, and if I possessed unending supernatural knowledge, and if I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to love, then I am nothing. And if I were to be so generous as to give away everything I owned to feed the poor, and to offer my body to be burned as a martyr, without the pure motive of love, I would gain nothing of value. Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.

.Perfect Love

Love never stops loving. It extends beyond the gift of prophecy, which eventually fades away. It is more enduring than tongues, which will one day fall silent. Love remains long after words of knowledge are forgotten. Our present knowledge and our prophecies are but partial, but when love’s perfection arrives, the partial will fade away. When I was a child, I spoke about childish matters, for I saw things like a child and reasoned like a child. But the day came when I matured, and I set aside my childish ways. For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries as though reflected in a mirror, but one day we will see face-to-face. My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood. Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.

In our everyday life we rush thru and often don’t have a heart reflection of our relationship skills. Our fast paced life blurs the finite details of loving ourselves, family, and neighbors. The passage above points to a heart check for loving.

When Paul wrote this, he was writing to the people of Corinth, who were very diverse yet had many pagan beliefs. There were many factions and obstacles towards the Good News of the Gospel. Paul was addressing the outcome of their spiritual immaturity in the form of divisiveness, lawsuits, selfishness, immorality, abuses in liturgy and spiritual gifts. The Corinthians were in danger of possible denial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Today’s culture reflects many of the same things. Love is always the answer to living in peace and growing into the full stature of Jesus. We should strive to love. It is the glue that keeps everything together. Be Love!

Tag: Peace

Be At Peace

How Do We Love ?