© 2010
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world.
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The goal of this meditation is Peace within our lives –—because as Andrew Murray says:
“There can be no real prosperity or progress in a nation, a home, or a soul, unless there be peace,”
So it is peace within our soul that we are after here.
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Dear Lord Jesus,
In Isaiah chapter nine, Isaiah says:
…and He will be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
“Prince of Peace…”
Even in the Old Testament we have You as our Triune God, being pointed out to us!
Our Wonderful Counselor,
the Holy Spirit!
Of course
our Everlasting Father
and
You Lord Jesus
are there in that verse.
Isaiah identifies you with the Royal Title of:
Prince of Peace.
Together and individually you will always be our
Mighty God!
But Lord Jesus, what a beautiful name that rightly shows who You are!
For You are completely complete and you are perfectly perfect.
Hebrews 7 boggles the mind for it is there we are reminded of the story of Abraham meeting You and he honoring You, as the:
“King of Peace”
Why – Because You are Peace!
As much as You are Goodness and Kindness.
As much as You are Love and Faithfulness,
and all Your other wonderful and amazing names, attributes and characteristics.
Also, it is further down in the book of Isaiah, in chapter 26, where our brother Isaiah says:
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trust in You.
So You, the “King of Peace,” You are offering to us, extending to us, perfect peace and with only two conditions that we need to meet.
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Now to my brothers and sisters in Christ, imagine “perfect peace” and it can be ours, if we meet just two conditions.
What are they?
First,
That our minds be steadfast.
What is that?
Its can be found within one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit:
“Self Control.”
We are to control our thoughts and not let them control us.
How do we do this? The apostle Paul in the book of Romans tells us we are to “renew our minds.” That’s how.
Second,
To have perfect peace we need a committed trusting relationship with our King of Peace.
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Now, just what does Perfect Peace look like?
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We’re talking about:
Our mental health,
our spiritual prosperity,
and our inner security,
our safety.
That’s what perfect peace looks like!
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Also, we need to appreciate the price of the peace being offer to us, for it came with the highest cost and our “King of Peace” willingly paid it.
Henry Blackaby wrote something that is important for us to learn:
Jesus dying on the cross was designed to bring us peace.
Another way of saying it is, Jesus died on the cross to bring us peace within our soul.
Again, Isaiah is the one who gives us this information. It is found in chapter 53 where Isaiah prophetically tells us:
He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
It will do us well to understand what this verse is saying. Right away, we see that this piece of scripture relates to the
“Passion of Christ.”
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He was pierced for our transgressions.
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As the first line points out, yes we are responsible. Our sins were the reason Jesus died on the cross and true believers will never quite get over the fact that Jesus stood in for each of us, for the sins we each have committed.
In other words,
He was our Substitute.
But in this we see our God’s love towards us,
His love motivating Him to do what He did.
And by His choosing to die on that cross, we also see
our value,
our worth to Him.
These verses are describing what our God willingly did for each of us.
This was the price He paid
to ransom us,
to redeem us,
to atone for our sins.
And for this we are eternally grateful.
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It is important that we understand the word, transgressions.
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Transgressions means:
any pride, or unbelief, or rebellion,
any wickedness, or evil, or perversions
that we willingly allowed to exist in our lives.
Any lingering
hatred, or unforgiveness, resentment or bitterness.
Transgressions are most often the wrong attitudes and motives within our hearts, and these wrong attitudes and motives are in part the reasons Jesus was pierced. Our transgressions and our sins are what Tozer calls our un-holiness, and
Tozer paints an excellent word picture when he says:
We must hide our un-holiness in the wounds of Christ.
It is at the cross that we need to “own” these sins, and confess them before our God. That means admitting we are guilty of committing them, and in doing that, telling God we agree to stop those sins and no longer allow them to have any place within us. For it is important for us to learn that any sin still alive within us disturbs all our relationships, because sin causes us to be out of harmony
with ourselves, with others, and with our Father God.
Also, we need to learn that undealt with sin within our lives
Dulls our conscience,
Darkens our soul,
and
Deadens our spiritual energies
Yet when dealt with properly, what happens?
Well, this is what it means:
to be purified, to be cleansed
Remember, it says this in 1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light,
We have fellowship with one another.
And
the blood of Jesus,
His Son,
purifies us from all sin.
Therefore, we are “to hide these sins within the wounds of Jesus at the cross,” letting go of them there. For it is at that place at the cross that we are letting Jesus absorb our sins and we experience His washing and cleansing. (1 Corinthians 6:11 ) That’s what He wants us to do. We need to be reverent, humble and sincere when doing this, and again, the result is we will be purified, be cleansed.
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How often should we be willing to go to the cross to be made clean?
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As often as necessary!
If we do this with a sincere and humble heart, most often we will experience an instant breaking of the power of that sin within us, although sometimes it may take time.
Therefore, keep going back to the cross until you have a breakthrough. But what is important is whenever we find any sin that is alive within us,
it is back to the cross we go.
Why?
To be washed,
to be cleansed,
to be sanctified.
The result being, we will be clean and pure before our Father God and we will be allowed into His presence.
Why?
His peace will be within us,
shall be upon us!
Why?
Because He always brings to pass the promises within scripture to us,
and a promise in Isaiah 32 says:
See, a king will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice
The fruit of righteousness
will be peace;
the effect of righteousness
will be quietness
and
confidence forever.
My people
will live in peaceful dwelling places,
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.
Therefore, for peace to be a part of our life, we need to be on a secured and good foundation.
What are the primary contents of this foundation of peace?
quietness and confidence
within our soul.
Always remember, this peace will always be the byproduct of an intimate relationship with our
King of Peace.
And where do we start?
At His Cross.
Also this is why we can say that, our God is our King of Peace. And of the over 480 names of our God that are written about in the Holy Bible what is the one Name that will crush Satan under our feet.
We find that answer in Romans 16:20:
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet…
It is at the Cross of our Brother Jesus, this is were we see the beginning place of the Peace that we are after for each of our lives.
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