Listening for Peace!

I was reminiscing today, as Fiver and I were out on our morning walk, of how much I used to enjoy getting up before the family when we were in the mountains camping.  It was a quickly established routine of getting the coffee going and then just sitting in a camp chair, quietly listening to the soft sounds of the forest.  To me… it was the epitome of the kind of PEACE that a vacation away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the responsibilities of one’s daily life was meant to provide.

While sitting in that camp chair, I could HEAR the sound of PEACE all around me.  At first it was the absence of sound, but the more I tuned into my surrounding, I began to hear the tree tops swaying and brushing against each other in the wind that wasn’t felt down in the campground but heard far above us. 

Then there were the birds singing and squawking to each other along with the chattering of the other forest creatures in the trees and scurrying around the campgrounds… and eventually the sounds of families as the campground began to come alive for the day, with the familiar chops of a hatchet coming into contact with a log in preparation for the morning fire, the occasional sound of children’s laughter or the muffled bark of a dog coming from the deep regions of the camp.

Throughout my adult years I have learned to be sensitive to and enjoy the PEACE that is all around us… the kind of serenity that comes as one learns to LISTEN, to FEEL, to DO and then to FOLLOW THROUGH.

In our blog post last weekend, I promised to share some ways in which we can answer the questions of:

·       How we can experience His PEACE in the flow of our daily lives

·       How we can become CONFIDENT enough to REST IN HIM, and

·       How we can BE COURAGEOUS in and through the troubles and sorrows that we might face… by knowing that He has already overcome and conquered those times for us?

If you do a review of the scriptures about the PEACE of God that we have been sharing over the last few weeks… you will find the answers!  All of these verses contain ACTION steps for us to put into practice in our lives.  Words and phrases such as BE, REST in ME, STIR-UP, LET, LEAD and BE THANKFUL are all activities and positive practices that we can employ in the daily course of our lives to allow or LET the PEACE of God permeate everything we do!

And I’ll add another verse of scripture today that seems to best encapsulate and summarize the previous verses concerning having the PEACE of God in our lives.  Grab your Bible and turn with me to Colossians 3:15 where the Apostle Paul gives us hints on how to live as God’s people saying,

“And let the PEACE of God RULE in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” (KJV)

You’ll notice first off, that Paul begins his advice with a key ACTION step that tells us to “LET” what He is teaching us to happen in our lives.  He is saying that the result of the rest of the verse is in our hands.  We have to make the decision to ALLOW this activity to be a part of our present and future lives.

And what are we going to LET have access into our daily activities?  It is the RULE of God’s PEACE! 

The most common definitions of the Greek word “RULE” are “to control, govern” or “to act as an umpire” in our lives.  Other Bible translations tell us to LET God’s PEACE “preside, be a compass, keep us in tune, settle all questioning” and/or “control our thinking or thoughts.”

Piper’s 1973 paperback issue of The Way, Living Bible Illustrated takes it a step further by saying (and of course, Piper had it underlined and marked in her Bible!),

“LET the PEACE of heart which comes from Christ be always present in your hearts and lives, for this is your RESPONSIBILITY and PRIVLEGE as members of His body.  And always be thankful.”

I like the idea of knowing that having the PEACE of God RULING in our hearts is not only a RESPONSIBILITY for us as Christians… but also is a special PRIVILEGE that we can take of advantage of in our lives!

And how do we put this RULE into action in our lives?  By following the same steps that I took at camp in the mornings… and in fact, during every moment of my daily life (or at least I strive for this level of awareness!) by LEARNING (and practicing) to:

·       LISTEN for His PEACE in the midst of the events of your life,

(stop and get in tune to your surroundings as well as what’s going on in the spirit inside of you)

·       FEEL (or sense) His PEACE,

(you may not always see His PEACE in your physical surroundings but when you tune into Him, you can definitely FEEL it on the inside!)

·       DO whatever He may instruct you to DO

(as you listen and tune in to Him and His Peace, you’ll begin to receive answers to your questions)

·       And finally, to FOLLOW THROUGH

(in order to assure that you are following His leadings and not your own!)

Philippians 4:7 tells us that as we learn to REFUSE to allow any forms of worry and anxiety into our lives and commit all of our concerns to God, that we’ll begin to see and experience,

“God’s wonderful PEACE that transcends human understanding, and makes the answers known to us through Jesus Christ.” (The Passion Translation) 

His answers and directions are available to us in our daily lives… but they are not always heard in the noise of the world around us.  So, when things get noisy and maybe a little crazy around you… SEEK out His PEACE by staying familiar with the promises that He has for you and me in His Word and then follow the steps above in order to find and allow His PEACE to RULE in all the activities of your daily lives!

My wife always seemed to thrive when things got very active (and maybe a little crazy) around her… because she knew how to SEEK OUT and stay in the PEACE of God… And she also had an uncanny way of just letting that PEACE ooze off of her and onto to everyone around her!

That’s the kind of PEACE I want (and NEED) in my life… HOW ABOUT YOU?

I pray that all of you are having a fantastic Thanksgiving Day weekend… even if you’re not in the United States… after all… every day is a good day to BE THANKFUL!