He Is Always Keeping Me in Perfect Peace

 

 

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3)

For a long time, I had misconstrued this verse. I kept seeing nothing but demand in this verse, as though I had to do something, like "keep my mind stayed on Him," so that I could have perfect peace.

But the enforcement clause of that promise above is simpler than that: "Because he trusts in You."

So, today, I realize that I have perfect peace in Christ. I do not have to do something more, something extra to have His perfect peace.

The moment that any of us think that we have to add something or perform something extra, we are back under law, and we negate the Finished Work of the Cross.

Paul did not come to preach self-help or self-effort, but

"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Jesus is alive, and He is our Savior.

We live, and move, and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28)

We have a perfect redemption, because Jesus our High Priest forever, lives after the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16)

I already have perfect peace in Christ!

"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;" (Ephesians 2:14)

and

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7)

All this time, I kept thinking that I had to "do something more." What a mistake.

And then there were all the fearful premonitions and upsets in my mind. I was overwhelmed by this lie that I had to think and feel a certain way. I had to manipulate my mind to ensure that I was not thinking or feeling the wrong things. Oh, the torture!

Thank you, Jesus, that you have set me free!

I see You now more than ever before. I SEE YOU FULLY!

I do not have to "do something" or think something to see You or enact You.

THANK YOU, JESUS!

You are always keeping me in perfect peace. AMEN!

No Need to Respond to Noise in Our Minds

 Yesterday, I received even greater revelations due to God's grace and growing wonder about the New Covenant.

Yesterday morning, I woke up, and I started getting angry, bitter about the negative experiences that I have endured on social media. I got angry about how I was treated in a very contentious debate. Then I read an article, in which I got immediately upset and insisted on fighting back, arguing with that person or the people who supported that person all over again.

For the longest time, I had gone through this roller-coaster of self-argument. I want to go back and have that argument all over again.

Instead of getting into the argument cyclone again, I started asking God questions: "Lord, why do I get wound about this issue? Why do I feel compelled to make these arguments again and again?"

The next minute, I went for a long walk in my neighborhood. It was great. I heard His answer clear as day: "You keep thinking that you have to correct the record, to settle the score, to prove people wrong for believing something that is not true. I am more than able to vindicate you."

In fact, before I went out for a walk, as I was putting on my shoes, I started to realize what I was really trying to do: correct the record, prove to people that I was not wrong, stupid, ignorant, etc; i.e. I was concerned about what people would think of me.

But really, who does, who should care what people think of me? I certainly should not care.

Then I realized another wonderful aspect of the New Covenant:

"I will be a God to you" also means that He is committed to vindicating my cause. YES! Amen!

"Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide." (Psalm 26:1)

and

"7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily." (Luke 18:7-8)

Then a larger revelation ensued for me. For the longest time, I have felt compelled to argue and think out loud on so many issues, and it would just waste so much time for me. I could not relent from wanting to engage in vain disputes with myself, in my home, or even when I went out walking.

Yesterday, I finally received the wisdom I had long sought on this matter. It was wonderful!

Then, last night, as I was lying down for the greater part of the evening, an intense revelation overcame me. I can ignore every invitation to argue and stir up strife because He is a God to me! And God is not going to go away or break off fellowship with me just because I lose my temper, have a bad thought, or engage in a negative feeling. Wow!

For the last few days, I have found myself thinking out loud less and less. I get into fewer mental tangents. There is less and less need to argue about matters that, well, do not matter. There is no longer this compulsion to keep pushing for my arguments, my responses to win the day. This sense of calm is really incredible.

For the longest time, I treated all the noise and nattering as something that mattered, something that I had to respond to. Now, I realize that all of that is hollow and empty. I do not have to be swept aside or going with the critical tide of thinking and feeling that overwhelms my emotions every other day.

This is just wonderful!

I have never felt so care for, so protected. This New Covenant is so wonderful, and God's promises for me, to me, and through me are not affected by the thoughts, feelings, or actions that are going for me, in me, through me, or to me. Amen!

It all makes sense now.

This is truly amazing. I have never felt so free, so at peace. I have never felt so cared for, so protected. There is no longer any doubt in my mind that God is on my side, regardless of what any demon, deacon, or dictator might do to me.

He is a God to me, and I am one of His people, because He is propitious to my unrighteousness, and my sins and iniquities He members no more!

Jesus Has Never Felt More Present In My Life

  This is really amazing.

I am glad to be sharing about this, to be writing about this.

All this time, I was so distracted. I kept trying to find the LORD, to make sure that I did not miss Him.

Never once did I realize how immanent He is with me.

He is not going anywhere, and I do not have to guess if and when He will come or go.

I started praying: "Lord, I want to be more sensitive to your Spirit leading me."

Then I realized that I could see Him. Not physically, but I recognized how present, how real, and accounted for He is.

God has been weaning me from thoughts and feelings. It's not about me, but it's about Him!

The way that my mother would treat God, it was as though He was far, far away.

Then, out of nowhere, she would say heinous things like "The Lord said ...", and she did this as a means of controlling me.

Wow!

Now that I know Him, that I see Him fully in His Word, and know His heart for me, it has become so much easier to hear Him.

It doesn't matter how many wrong things happened to me. It never mattered, because He was always loving me, caring for me. That was a hard lesson to learn, since for so long I had attached my circumstances to whether God was on my side or not.

That's a lie! God is for us because He loves us, and the proof could not be any greater or better than Jesus!

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)

I was so busy in my mind. So busy, so overwhelmed, so deteremined to try to "figure everything out."

I thought that God was holding out on me, or that He was playing "hide and seek". Yes, there is a verse which claims that God hides:

"When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:" (Job 34:29)

But remember that even for Job, who wrongfully blamed God for all the evil in his life, God showed up in person, and Job declared in the end:

"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." (Job 42:5)

Check out the New Covenant, too, prophesied in Isaiah 54:

"In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer." (Isaiah 54:8)

God is NOT hiding from me! God is providing for me everything that I need!

I do not have to go to a fast-food restaurant to feel God's presence for me. I do not have to sit in a library and read for hours to know that He cares for me.

I am not trying to figure out this life anymore. He does not come or go depending on how I feel. All of these distractions, distortions, and lies are getting phased out of my life.

This is good. Thank you, Jesus!

The LORD is Pleased With Me -- I Don't Have to Do Something to Maintain It

One of the chronic mindgames that I had to deal with in the past was that if I had a bad feeling or bad thought, I had to do something about it. I had to get rid of it.

I kept thinking that the bad thoughts or the bad feelings would knock me out of the place of peace and presence, and therefore I had to do something to get back to that place again.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3)

I now realize that that whole game: do something about the feelings to get back in the right place-was all wrong in the first place.

I don't have to do anything about any of that, because I am already in Christ, and how I feel, what I think, whatever I am going through cannot affect me.

There is nothing that this world can dish at me that can affect me. Nothing.

I am favored because of all that Jesus has done at the Cross.

It really is not about us. There is no "our part" that we need to be busy about.

We need to get rested in His Finished Work on this.

For too long, I was so convinced that I still "had to" do something more to maintain my relationship with my Daddy God. Now I know that all of that is gone.

Now I know that He is taking care of me, always on my side. AMEN!

The Meaning of the Tithe: Melchizedek

I was reading this great passage in the Book of Hebrews about the tithe:

"1For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 3Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

 "4Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. 5And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: 6But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. 7And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. 8And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. 9And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. 10For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him." (Hebrews 7:1-10)

 When we tithe, we are tithing for future generations, and to bless future generations.

 Our tithe is a testimony that JESUS LIVES!

 And where is Jesus now? Jesus is our Great High Priest, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek! He is seated at the Right Hand of the Father (Psalm 110:1)

The Melchizedek priesthood has only blessings, no cursing.

“18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. 19And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.” (Genesis 14: 18-20)

Our Great High Priest lives after the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16). While under the Old Covenant, the nation of Israel would be accepted or rejected depending on sometimes a very undependable high priest, we have a Great High Priest who offered one sacrifice for sins FOREVER (Hebrews 10:12)!

And what is He doing up there? He ministers on our behalf! Is he standing or sitting?

He is seated! Because He Finished the work. Under the Old Covenant, priests had to stand daily ministering, making sacrifices. Jesus completed the work once for all forever. He is not just the propitiation for our sins, but for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:1-2)

When you tithe, you testify to your living Great High Priest, who ministers on your behalf, after the power of an endless life! Your Wisdom your Righteousness, Your Sanctification, and Your Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30)