The Way to Peace

Do not attempt to have peace by controlling circumstances. This is not possible. The way to peace in any circumstances is to welcome Me into your life.

Meditation Thought: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” (John 14:27)

” ‘My peace I give to you.’ Do not attempt to have peace by controlling circumstances. This is not possible. The way to peace in any circumstances is to welcome Me into your life, to the point of allowing Me to control you – not because I desire to thwart your will, but because I desire to conform it to My perfect will – I can guide you to peace and all good things if your will is placed within My will.

To have your focus upon Me – to follow Me – is to help you make wise decisions and to accomplish the exercises of discipline in doing what you know is right, even when that action is not to your liking. Never doubt that to follow Me will bring joy. You may not glimpse any possibility that disciplined, righteous action will result in the desires of your heart being realized – but it is only through following Me in decisions and in behavior that you can find peace and all else that you long for.

You will find that disciplined, righteous action brings health, vitality, and the pleasure of peace. You can discover this only in one way: to do it – whether you feel like it is immaterial – you determine to do it. First you determine to follow Me, then you are able to do so even when difficulties are encountered.

You can build up your determination through knowing Me through the Word, through prayer, through meditation, through imitating My attitudes and actions – believing that I tell Truth, live Truth, am Truth – therefore, you are filled with Truth, and Truth never misleads you. This is why you will become wise in thought, in word, and in deed as you follow My leading, as you know Me as your Guide, and as your Strength.”

The Desert Blooms

I am a loving Father, wise and perceptive – I know you better than you know yourself. I know how to teach you, encourage you, protect you, nourish you. You need not fear.

Meditation Thought: “Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
    Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
    and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
    and my blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:2-3)

Do not fear _____ (insert your name here), whom I have chosen. I will renew your strength; I will make the desert bloom, and bless you and your family forever more.

I am a loving Father, wise and perceptive – I know you better than you know yourself. I know how to teach you, encourage you, protect you, nourish you. You need not fear – even your own feelings. I will give you all you need to be my servant – no, my child who serves. The serving is not to enhance Me, but you. It is in serving Me that you come close to Me, and being close to Me is the way your spirit is nurtured. It is the way you obtain the attributes listed throughout the Word as those which are becoming to the children of the Living Lord.

Remember that seeds do not produce a harvest immediately. You must patiently wait, till, and observe constantly until the moment to harvest arrives, and you receive your reward with joy.

All of the times you read the Word, spend time in thinking of Me, or praying, or meditating or ministering to my Creations, you are tilling seeds that are growing into harvests of joy.

Even when the ground is dry, you must do your part to prepare it properly – for I shall not allow the seeds to wither when you are attending them. The water of My Spirit shall refresh and spurt growth. Your efforts are never in vain when they are devoted to pleasing Me by attending to My garden – My garden, yet you are the one who will enjoy the harvest, and it is your enjoyment of the harvest that gives Me pleasure.”

Mountains on the Move

Imagine the great results of being disciplined and savor them.

Meditation Thought: Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”  (Luke 23:46)

“Think about what happened after the excruciating pain of the moment Jesus said the above words. He trusted, even in the face of seeming disaster, His total being unto Me. And I did not fail Him. I made His name above all names; I gave Him power above all powers, I arranged for Him to live forever – even in the flesh, through believers.

I do not call upon you to go through the same trials as did Jesus – but I do call upon you to trust Me as He did, obey Me as He did – and to believe that the results of your doing so will unleash miracles as I did through His trust, His obedience, and His belief in miracles.

Dare to try to think, to pray, to act, as if Jesus is using your mind, your heart, and your body to live again. Discipline yourself – use your imagination to be the power of discipline. You can picture your optimum results based on the thoughts, words and deeds which you know are Jesus-prompted within your mind, your spirit and your body.

When you desire to do something other than the thing you know is right – pause – they pray, imagine the great results of being disciplined and savor them.

Your seeds will become trees, your mountains will be moved – and as your faith is expressed, it will inspire others to seek Me, to seek My will and to seek My way.”

Give and Receive: Compassion and Mercy

Do not dwell on your faults and your failures. Concentrate on giving and doing.

Meditation Thought: Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:11)

“You cannot receive something for nothing, as much as you would like that. Neither heaven nor earth is structured in that manner.

If you think, you will realize that your greatest joys are to give to someone and have the response reveal their delight, and to work to accomplish a goal, and then succeed in reaching it.

Concentrate more on these 2 areas: Giving pleasure and accomplishing goals. As you persevere (being steadfast), you also will be reaping compassion and mercy – partly from a heavenly response to your attempt to have faith and righteousness, and partly from an earthly response as reaping what you sow.

Do not dwell on your faults and your failures. Concentrate on giving and doing. You will not eliminate faults and failures in this way, but you will minimize them while maximizing accomplishments that are pleasing to you, to others, and to Me.”

Grace and Peace Freely Given

Love will ooze everywhere – even rush everywhere – if you will draw close to Me, for I am love.

Meditation Thought: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? …He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us… God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble… Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4: 3-6, 8, 10)

“Grace” will relieve you of awkwardness – grace enables you to behave appropriately at any any time in any situation. No amount of outward adornment will generate the graceful behavior – only the possession of an inward peace coming from the knowledge of who I am as your Creator and Mentor and who you are as Mine will enable you to behave as Jesus would in the same circumstance.

Only through love can grace be expressed. If you will love – love as it is defined in Corinthians 13* – then I will pour My grace and all that implies: wisdom, appropriate behavior, kind and encouraging words into your expression of life.

When you love as Corinthians 13* suggests to love, you need not be concerned as to what situations you find yourself in – you need only to allow My grace to fill the form of your love – to give it substance and meaning. It will ooze everywhere – even rush everywhere if you will draw close to Me, for I am love.

You cannot possibly deplete yourself or deprive yourself by giving to others what they need – for it is this act on your part that releases My Spirit fully into your being. To love – to give – is to turn the tap to ‘on’ that My Spirit may flow freely into you and through you.

*1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails… 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 

Peaceably Dramatic

God will move our efforts from ineffective to dramatic if we will hear Him and trust Him.

Meditation Thought: “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:17-18)

Wisdom “from above” is superior to wisdom “from below” – and can be quite different, for wisdom from above is the all-encompassing knowledge of God the creator being expressed, and that of “below” variety is short-sighted, selfish and limited in scope.
Though “peaceable, gentle” wisdom may at first appear to be less effective than a dynamic “wisdom”, in the end result if is far better for all concerned, for it is consistent with the Creator’s plan, and the Creator’s Way.
Only God’s wisdom works good out of all circumstances. We punish ourselves if our attempt to live by any wisdom other than the wisdom of God. He demonstrated His wisdom in Jesus – peaceable, gently – and for a while it appeared to be ineffective – but the final outcome was the most dramatic event in history.
God will move our efforts from ineffective to dramatic if we will hear Him, trust Him – all things done peaceably and gently: fulfilling God’s “plans for welfare and not for evil.”

Faith and Wisdom Developed

Both wisdom and faith are developed, not given as gifts full-blown and complete with no effort put forth by the recipient.

Meditation Thought: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:2-7)

Both wisdom and faith are developed, not given as gifts full-blown and complete with no effort put forth by the recipient.

To develop a steadfast faith is the first step in being able to develop wisdom, for you must “ask in faith”in order to receive wisdom. That faith is developed through “testing” – as you meet challenges, pray, believe – and observe results, you develop a “steadfast” faith which enables you to ask in faith for wisdom. Your trials here bring to your attention your dire need for wisdom. When you combine steadfast faith in My desire to impart wisdom to you and your desire to receive it, then it is possible for wisdom to “make you perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” My Holy Spirit as motivator and guide of your thoughts, your words and your deeds imparts wisdom to you.

Stepping Stone or Roadblock?

You do not know where it is best for you to be in the future. But I know – and I will guide you

Meditation Thought: “You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14)

“You are perceiving stepping stones as roadblocks – you are looking at the stones from the wrong perspective – you have not moved from the low place to the high place, where you can move on top of circumstances.

You are seeking guidance and I shall take you to the high place if you will heed my Word, heed my Spirit within you, and use your mind to think through whatever comes into your life.

You need not be confused about praying in faith possibly conflicting with My will. When your heart desires first that My will be done, it shall be done – even if you do not pray precisely that way I desire. Yet, if you are to pray at all, you must choose a way in which to pray.

I have done works in you as you have waited, as I have done works in others. You shall abide in Me wherever we abide physically. There are a number of places where we can do what we need to do for your development. Simply relax now, praying that My desires shall be your desires, and know that in the prayer itself is the power to bring about the reconciliation. You do not know where it is best for you to be in the future. But I know – and I will guide you to be content in the  place where you reside, because your spirit will reside with My Spirit there.”

 

 

Spiral Compass

The mistake often made is one of hesitation and confusion as to where to start in the search for Truth and when to start. But the time and place are always here and now.

Meditation Thought: “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:26)

The works of the body indicate the quality of the spirit. The works of the body also indicate the quality of faith. Faith enhances the spirit, and an enhanced spirit enhances the body. An enhanced body, in turn, enhances the faith and the spirit.

The progression of the soul, therefore, in reaching fulfillment in the awareness of oneness with God is not linear, but spiral.As the movement of a finger affects other parts of the body so the thought in the mind causes effect in the body and the spirit – even if one is not aware of this.

The mistake often made is one of hesitation and confusion as to where to start in the search for Truth and when to start. But the time and place are always here and now.

The works of God are done when the will of His child is pointed to His will – as a compass points, so can the will be pointed.

To learn to point the will toward God and God’s will we must:
1) Hear the Word
2) Understand the Word (through prayer, the Spirit within and a Christ attitude)
3) Do the Word through Christlike actions and behavior and works.

When our will is encased in God’s will, we are in harmony with Whole and Holy Truth. Our perception of ourselves and everything that is any way connected with us is thus changed – transformed, enhanced, beautified – all to God’s glory and to our joy.

Perfection as a Pursuit

My desire for you to do My will is not due to My authority, but due to My great love for you.

Meditation Thought: “…the Lord disciplines the one he loves… he disciplines us for our good.” (Hebrews 12:6, 10)

“You are not perfect – not a perfect expression of my character. Therefore, I must help you in the necessary changes to move you more closely to perfection, since you desire this as your highest priority. Sometimes the necessary discipline – much of which is merely the effect from what you have caused – is unpleasant. Bear it in good grace for it will soon pass as you understand and move ahead in a more perfect obedience.

My desire for you to do My will is not due to My authority, but due to My great love for you. I have vast resources of wisdom, knowledge and power which I desire you to benefit from, but you must do your part to release them in your life – you must use your mind to learn the Word, your faith to believe the promises, your spirit to comprehend the Word and the promises, and your emotions to draw the surge of power. To do all of these you need discipline to forgo other pursuits that you may have time and energy for these.

Light your way with love.
Walk your way in peace.
Enhance your way with kindness.

Thus did Christ go His Way.
There is a secret to it:
Perceiving the will of the Father – and doing it.
This is ‘discipline’.
It is not a matter of punishment,
But a matter of practicality.
Allow this thought to penetrate,
To change your attitude.

Be glad to know,
And willing to do.
Your joy and fulfillment
Come not in leisure,
But in movement:
Dynamic, exciting ever-unfolding revelations
Brought forth through discipline –
The commitment of self
To that which is True and Good
Never wavering,
But steadied by Christ
Living in your heart,
Demonstrating and nurturing.
Discipline’ becomes a friend,
the helper, the accomplisher.
It is precisely the Way
Christ brought salvation.
It is the Way
To the Kingdom.
There is no other Way for you
to find contentment.
Whether you wish it so,
Or wish it not,
This is the Truth.
To know the Truth
Is to be free.”