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For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
I’ve been accused from time to time of being unobservant and I have to admit I’m guilty as charged. Sometimes I miss trivial things. I’ve never been able to find Waldo. He’s MIA in my book. Those ‘magic eye’ pictures. Yeah, no. Sorry.
While not being able to see pictures in a puzzle is a trivial thing, with no real damage done except to my pride, sometimes we can miss things of importance if we aren’t careful. A hunter needs to keep a keen eye out for whatever he is hunting, especially if they are camouflaged against the background. When driving at night in my neck of the woods it’s wise to keep an eye on the ditches for wildlife that may wander onto the highway.
We can miss a lot in life if we don’t pay attention. Automobiles have a large windshield and a small rear-view mirror for a reason. It’s important to keep an eye on where you’ve been, but more important to see where you are going.
The prophet Isaiah paints a great word picture for us going into in the new year, or any other new situations we may face. He gives us a challenge and a promise to take with us as we move forward, which by the way, is what God intends for us. As one writer stated, in the Christian life there is no standing still. We move three steps forward, or we move two steps back.
Our ‘challenge’ as we move forward into the unknown is to look carefully for how (not if) God is working.
Our promise? The way is already started. He provides a path through the wilderness. Not an interstate, not even a back road. A path. I love to hike and while some trails are easy to follow and even paved, some are nothing more than game trails through the forest. But I’ve also noticed that in many cases, the more obscure the path, the more beautiful the scenery.
God offers us a path for a purpose, so we can see the wonder of what he is providing for us. He also will provide for us in the wilderness. He provides a stream, not a well. A stream can be followed and offers continual refreshment, a well is a one-time stop. A stream allows you to move on. A well requires you to stop or even camp out.
I’m a worrier. Not proud of it, but it’s a trait I constantly battle. The reality I can rest on, even when the enemy of worry attacks, is that the path God has for me is already complete. Mine isn’t to blaze new trails through the brush, mine is to look for his way in the wilderness and drink from the stream he provides for the journey.
As you move forward into whatever wilderness you may be in, look for the way God has for you and enjoy his provision along the way.
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
What’s robbing you of your joy? I love the story of Christmas and all it’s plots that we may miss. Take Mary for instance. She was a young teenager in an obscure town. Her only hope for claim to fame would be marrying the man of her dreams.
Then the angel showed up and everything changed. She found out she was pregnant, but not by Joseph, by the Holy Spirit. From that point forward her life would never be the same. Yet what amazes me is her attitude. She doesn’t scoff in unbelief. She doesn’t argue with God about His decision. She sings a new song of praise and joy!
Too often we allow things in our lives to rob us of joy. Unmet expectations, criticism, negative self-talk, failure and more can take away the joy God wants us to have.
In Paul’s letter to the Roman believers he prays that they (and us) would experience joy and peace. Simply stated, peace is that attitude we have about what’s going on around us. We can be full of fear or faith, we can act in courage or hide in despair, we can move forward or slip back to where we were.
Joy on the other hand is an attitude of the heart. Peace relates to the external, joy empowers the internal. So, where to we get joy? When life goes south, when those you trusted abandon you, when life deals you a critical blow it’s hard to have joy in your own strength.
You can’t just decide to be joyful. But that’s where God comes in through the power of Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is control of our minds our focus changes from despair to joy.
Our enemy Satan works overtime to find ways to kill our joy. He knows we are forgiven. He knows we will be in heaven someday if we have accepted Jesus. He can’t change our destiny, but he can change our outlook if we let him.
Don’t allow life circumstances to kill your joy. God’s Holy Spirit is ready to fill you with joy, but not just any joy, joy overflowing. Imagine that. By relying on the Holy Spirit you overflow with joy and when you do some of that joy will touch those around you.
Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. Isaiah 26:12
Of all the ‘peace-robbers’ we face, fear is perhaps the strongest and most crippling. Fear of rejection. Fear of failure. Fear of abandonment. Fear of dying. Fear is a driving force that has kept great books from being written, relationships that never happened, songs that have never been sung, careers that were never pursued.
Pastor Rick Warren writes, “Fear is a self imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.”
When the prophet Isaiah wrote concerning the coming Messiah he writes, “Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.” (Isaiah 26:12) The crippling effects of fear can be lessened (at the least) or even destroyed when we focus on the Prince of Peace, the one empowered by God himself to keep fear in check so that we can move forward to be all He wants us to be.
The absence of fear is peace and living in peace allows us to see the situation more clearly. Fear blinds us to opportunities, peace allows us to see opportunities. Fear imprisons, peace frees. Fear deceives, peace tells us the truth. Fear is debilitating, peace is energizing.
So, how do we get this peace when fear seems to have a stranglehold on our mind? We rely on the source of peace. The source of our peace isn’t trusting your heart. The source of peace isn’t education or money. The source of peace isn’t trying harder or making lifestyle changes. The source of our peace comes directly from the Prince of Peace.
He creates in us peace of mind and peace of mind builds confidence, helps us to think through a problem, keeps us stable on unstable ground and brings a healing oil to a troubled soul.
Billy Graham states that ‘fear flees in the light of God’s love’ through our Prince of Peace. God doesn’t want us to be prisoners of our fears. He wants us to thrive. He wants us to use the gifts and resources He’s given us. He wants us to feel the peace that passes all understanding.
This Christmas season focus on the Prince of your Peace instead of your fear. The shepherds heard this message loud and clear, ‘Fear not! For today, in the city of Bethlehem is born the Prince of Peace!”
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3
We make thousands of decisions every day based on trust. So much so that we don’t even give them much thought. Have you ever lay in bed thinking, “I wonder if gravity will work today?” When you get to the office do you ‘check’ your chair to make sure it’s not broken? Do you spend your day focusing on making sure you are breathing? Do you carry a stethoscope with you to regularly check to be sure your heart was still beating?
Hopefully, your response is no. In fact, you may have read those examples and wondered what I’m thinking! We live our lives in peace in these areas because our past has taught us that we can trust certain things like gravity and bodily systems to work in certain ways.
Peace is a choice. We can live in peace in the midst of struggle or we can can respond with fear, worry, anger or a host of other emotions. When we view our struggle as something in our control, and we don’t feel we have the ability to overcome, all sorts of peace-robbing thoughts and fears enter our minds.
These thoughts destroy peace in our relationships, our sleep or our daily lives. We can choose peace in a situation when we know in our hearts that we can trust the outcome, not because we have a solution, but because we know who can and will handle the struggle on our behalf.
That ‘handling of the struggle’ may not mean it’s removal but it assures us that in the midst of the battle we will have an inner strength because we trust the one who loves us beyond measure and promises to always be there for us.
Live in peace based on the almighty power of Jesus, our peace giver, our Prince of Peace.
Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. Psalms 131:2
Have you ever noticed how a baby laughing can charge a whole room with smiles and warmth? Have you seen anything more peaceful than an infant sleeping? And let’s be honest, is there any noise more annoying than an infant crying? Especially when that infant is hungry?
One would think the world was coming to an end! Few things (nothing?) will calm an infant if their mind is set on food.
Psalm 131 is a song the Israelites would sing on the long, sometimes treacherous path to worship in Jerusalem. Verse one is about humility, about not concerning oneself with things not understood and not seen.
Verse two is about contentment. One time, at a college basketball game I observed an infant sleeping in her car seat. The game was close. The crowd was loud. The little girl slept peacefully in the midst of, and unaffected by the noise and chaos. That is contentment.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do that? Rest peacefully among the chaos, fear and noise of our world around us? We can you know. Jesus promises us a peace that passes all understanding. Jesus promises us that even though there will be turmoil, he is the author and sustainer of contentment and peace.
You know Jesus, right? The guy that slept in a boat that was breaking apart because of an angry sea? Let your heart rest in the comfort of knowing his love and protection over your life in spite of the chaos around you.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 