The complete peace

I've been talking about the divine exchange; what Jesus took from us on the cross and what he gave us in return.  What an amazing deal from our perspective.  He has given us so much, and yet so many Christians are ignorant of what belongs to us or they chose not to walk in the blessings and promises of God. 

If we continue to look at Isaiah 53 (KJV), we see in verse 5 it reads:
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

This week I want to mention the 'peace' noted here.  Quite often we think of peace as the absence of stress or strife, but in the Hebrew, the word used is 'shalom' and it means SO much more than this. 

Olive Tree Enhanced Strong's Dictionary defines it as: completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, completeness, safety, soundness (in body) welfare, health, prosperity, peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment, peace, friendship of human relationships with God especially in covenant relationship.

Can you see that this kind of peace, purchased by Jesus, is about wholeness of spirit, soul and body.  It's about being internally at peace, prosperous, healthy and content.

To be at 'peace', this kind of peace, is a truly amazing place to be in.   When we are 'whole', with nothing missing, nothing broken, think how we can function!  We would not be offended, not be lonely, not be afraid, not be struggling..  This is what Jesus came to give us.

I know that the days when I am struggling most it is because I have put my mind on the circumstances in my life, on other people, the way the treat me, or what is happening, and that is results in stepping further away from the kind of peace Jesus came to give us.

In John's gospel we read:  
“I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous!" John 14:27 (TPT)

Jesus gave us an amazing gift.  Something that most of the time we just brush over, but I believe is a significant part of our inheritance as believers.

Today if you are struggling, or feeling incomplete, I encourage you to focus on Jesus and the work of the cross again.  Remind yourself of all that Jesus purchased for you and thank him for the peace that is yours as a child of God.  

When your emotions rise up in opposition to God's word, remind yourself to take your thoughts captive and rest in that peace that is yours.  

Have a great weekend. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teabags and Popcorn!

Image
So, I was eating popcorn yesterday and drinking a fruit tea and I started wondering what makes a popcorn pop! (As you do). With a little help from Google, I found out that inside the kernel, the hard shell, there is a little bit of moisture and when it heats up inside, it turns to steam and as you keep heating it up, the pressure from the steam builds and builds until it cracks open the hard exterior and makes a yummy snack. And then I thought about my teabag (I do promise there will be a spiritual application to this, not just information on my food and drink habits).  The label had come off the teabag, so I didn't know exactly what flavour it was, until I poured on the boiling water and tasted it! As promised... the spiritual bit!  We are like teabags and popcorn!  This is a deep spiritual truth!  Really it is!  Read on and I'll explain why! Firstly we are like popcorn because when heated up, whatever we stir up inside us will burst out.  We're also like teabags too.  We
Read more

Take it!

Image
This week I have been thinking about the 10 spies that they sent out to view the promised land.  You probably don't remember the names of 8 of them!   The other two were of course Joshua and Caleb.    In the book of Numbers we see that Moses sent out these 10 men off to spy out the land that God had promised them.  They were to check it out and see what kind of place it was, what kind of people lived there and bring back some produce from the land. Well, if you know the story they brought back some figs, pomegranates and a bunch of grapes so big it had to be carried between two men!   It was a good land (no surprise there, seeing as God had told them it was good).  But when they got back 8 of the spies told the people "Well, it's a good land, but the people that live there included giants and all sorts of people that are really strong' I can imagine that all Israel gasped in horror or shock. Each person murmuring to his neighbour about how awful the situation was. In t
Read more

Looking back

Image
This week I was listening to a message and I was reading the verse in Luke 17:32 which simply says " Remember Lot's wife ."   This is a really interesting statement. When Jesus tells us to consider something or remember something we should pay attention. So what do we know about Lot's wife?  Not a lot really.  But what we do know is that an angel of the Lord took her by the hand to lead her out of the city before God destroyed it.  She was told to run for her life and not look back.  According to Genesis 19, she ran but she turned and look back and as a result, turned to a pillar of salt.  This short verse really spoke to me for a number of reasons.    The Apostle Paul tells us " I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. "  (Phil 3:13 TPT) Since 2020, it's like we have a new category in history BC now stands for BEFORE COVID! People a
Read more