Peace All Around

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear. Fear is a spiritual force that Satan uses to keep people down. Instead, faith in God is championed as an allegiance and trust in Him. The promise of peace with enemies is mentioned in various verses. Obedience to God's commands is emphasized as our part in the covenant and pleasing the Lord. The importance of actively listening and seeking to understand His voice is highlighted. The blessing of being obedient and the love of God are also discussed. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of His word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to His perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Proverbs 16.7 When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. What is this saying? Please the Lord and you will not fear your enemies. There will be nothing there to fear because they will be at peace with you. It doesn't mean that they will like you. It doesn't mean that they will feel joy-joy feelings about you. But it means that there will be peace between you. They will be in their place and you will be in your place. They will not be actively seeking your downfall. You will not need to fear their attacks. Please the Lord and fear not. We all like the bits about not fearing. Not fearing is nice. Not fearing is a lot better than being in fear. How about not feeling anxious about what your fellow students or co-workers are doing? How about not being depressed because of how you get treated? How about being able to get up, use the phone, leave the house, go to a job, deal with the public, and come home again in as good of a mood as you left the house? Or at least one untouched by anxiety, social fears, bullying, or ignorant behavior? It's possible. Some might scoff at those things, but for many people they're a real challenge. Not just something in their heads, but real issues they struggle to succeed at. Once fear gets at you, it can cripple your whole life. This verse contains a promise, one seen in other places of the Word. The promise is for there to be peace in your life, even when dealing with your enemies. Now to be clear, this does not mean always enjoying smooth sailing. Jesus rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. They didn't like him. They tried to trip him up and sabotage him. But they weren't at act of war. They weren't physically attacking him. Jesus had peace when he was dealing with them, except for a few instances of Holy Spirit-fueled righteous anger. Jesus had no fear of his enemies at any point, and he never let it spoil his day. He knew his Father was keeping the peace. Jesus was at peace with his enemies right up until he chose to lay down his life. John 10.18 King Solomon had it. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is no enemy and no evil occurrence. 1 Kings 5.4 This is not something that was meant for the select few. It was meant for all. And it was established as the standard right from the beginning. Yahweh promised peace in the lives of his chosen nation when he gave them the law. That was part of his covenant with them, a covenant we are also heir to. Galatians 3.29 You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. Your basket and your knitting trough shall be blessed. You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out. Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways. Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself. He is sworn to you if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God and walk in his ways. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by Yahweh's name, and they will be afraid of you. Yahweh will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky to give the reign of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, you will not borrow. Yahweh will make you the head and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath. Deuteronomy 28.3-13a Seems like a pretty good deal. This is definitely peace with everyone around you, including one's enemies. Now we have that promise, but we also have a better one. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1.3 That means that the believer in the new covenant is blessed in all things in this earth, as well as blessed with every spiritual blessing. That's quite a package. Now again, this isn't saying never having trouble or difficulty or problems. It means blessing. Now blessing is an empowerment to prosper. We are empowered to prosper in all things natural and spiritual. Jesus promised we would get persecuted for his sake. Luke 6.22, Matthew 5.10-11, and 2 Timothy 3.12, for instance. Being persecuted for being a disciple of Jesus is different from being empowered to succeed at your job, at raising your family, at spiritual things, or anything else. Being empowered to prosper also doesn't mean easy street. Jesus broke the altar of toil, Luke 22.44. He didn't remove our injunction to work, Genesis 2.15. Jesus healed our ability to work without it being toil, without having to break our backs just to make ends meet. We are empowered to prosper, to work, and to see that work flourish. I mean, Abraham was blessed with flocks upon flocks, but he had to birth them, and he had to take care of them. He had to work, but he was blessed. When Jesus was crucified, Mark 15.16, they nailed his hands and his feet. That shedding blood action broke the evil altar of the work of your hands and destiny. Your hands were released to achieve work. Your feet represent your destiny, and your destiny was released by Jesus that day. These two sheddings of his blood empowered you to prosper in the destiny that the Lord has called you to, as well as the work to which you set your hands. Between what Jesus did shedding his blood, and the promises in the covenants that we are heir to and part of, there is just about nothing good that isn't covered in it. The question becomes, why isn't every single believer walking in them? Why isn't the entire church blessed to the rafters and beyond? Because God is a God who loves to bless. He blesses us until there is overflow, claims the overflow, and uses it to bless even more. Luke 6.38 If he loves to bless, and we're in covenant with him, why aren't we being blessed like crazy? Well, because this isn't a collect $200 when you pass Go Square. It isn't a game. It's a covenant. A covenant is a solemn, binding promise between two or more parties under seal for the performance of some action. Well, the Holy Spirit sealed us into covenant when we got saved. Ephesians 1.13 Now, we've been talking about the blessing, which is God's action. What is our part? What is our role in this agreement, in this covenant? Well, in today's verse, it gives you the simple version. When a man's ways please the Lord, our action is to please the Lord. That's what we agreed to. That's what we covenanted into. Without faith, it is impossible to be well-pleasing to him. For he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. Hebrews 11.6 If we have faith, we please God. Now, that would be very, very simple if faith was simply having believed him. The eager expectation that comes from knowing that we will receive all that he says we will receive and can walk in all that he says we can walk in. That is a definition of faith. But that is not all that faith is. Faith is also the manifestation of obedience. Jesus says in John 14.21 One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who believes me, one who loves me, will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him. A little later, verses 23 and 24, he expands that, saying, If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words. The word which you hear isn't mine, but the Father's who sent me. So we will have faith, manifested obedience, when we obey the commands of the Lord. When we do what he says. When he says, and how he says. This isn't the kind of deal where we tell the Lord what we want and we ask him to snap to and give it to us. This is where we, not of love, not of a gimme gimme gimme, seek to do his will because we want to do his will. We want to obey him because we love him. That our love for him creates a desire in us to please him, to make him smile, to say yes to every ask, to say will do to every command, and absolutely to every request. Not out of duty, not with bitterness, but with eager anticipation of his smile, with joy, with a wholehearted wanting to give God the service that God has asked of us. This right here is why we aren't all walking in this blessing. This is why we are not all blessed in the city and in the country, going in and coming out, and everything else that is part of the blessing. This is why we aren't all working on every spiritual gifting that we are blessed with, walking in total spiritual victory. We aren't doing our part. Sometimes we're not doing something that he has asked us to do, or we're ignoring a request, or we're breaking a commandment. We do it because we don't want to do the thing we're supposed to. We do it because it takes us out of our comfort zone. And we do it because we let ourselves get distracted and run out of time. None of these are acceptable, and all of them are a sin. Yeah, a sin. Because anything not done in faith, obedience, is a sin. Disobedience. Romans 14.23 tells us that. Clearly, it's the same principle that got us kicked out of our perfect righteous spirit in the garden. Genesis 3.6. It is what separated us from God. It is what caused our death and introduced the curse into the world. Sin is disobedience. Any kind, at any level. Don't get depressed, though. That's why Jesus came. That's why he died, paying the price for sin. All sin, by all people, in every time, everywhere. When we are born again, we are renewed. We are restored. We are reborn as new creatures in Jesus. When we are disobedient and return from our disobedience, when we confess and repent, truly repent, not lip service or whimsically, then he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. 1 John 1.9. It is a process of learning to obey, choosing to obey, and walking in obedience. This is sanctification. Turning us from who we were to who we will be in Jesus. We achieve it by letting God renew our minds to his ways, his commands, and his teaching through the Word. Romans 12.1-2. If we do that, we will get transformed into obedient children. It's a process. It's simple, but it isn't easy. Jesus likened it to crucifixion. Luke 9.23. And we know that isn't easy. Never forget we are all on different parts of this journey. Always have patience for a fellow believer's sanctification journey because the Lord has patience for yours. Matthew 6.15. As we are renewed and begin to be drawn into his ways, we are able to realize how we get to the obedient part of pleasing the Lord. If we look at the end of the list of the blessing we are heir to in Deuteronomy 28, we get to the second half of verse 13 through verse 14. If you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you today to observe and to do, and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, and to go after other gods to serve them. Now if we look at the beginning of the chapter, we have the same message. It shall happen if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God's voice, to observe to do all his commandments, which I command you today, that Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you listen to Yahweh your God's voice. Deuteronomy 28, 1-2. So all of that blessing is bracketed by the same principle of listening to his voice in order to be in the place where we can receive the blessing. Listen to his voice. Jesus talked about the word from his father. Moses reiterated twice in giving the blessing the importance of listening to the Lord's words. Listening seems like an easy thing. Thing is, the Holy Spirit is talking to us constantly through our consciences, through the written word, in that still and small inner voice, and sometimes through our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Notice, though, that the Lord did not say, hear, but listen. Listening is more than hearing. Active listening is a skill that is more than listening. We listen, but we actively seek to understand the meaning and intent behind what it is that we are hearing. It includes thinking about what is said, and asking either clarifying questions or open-ended questions designed to elicit more information. It is about reflecting back what you have heard so that you both know that you were both clear on what is being said. It is listening to understand while withholding judgment and advice, which means keeping our mouths shut while we meditate on and absorb what they are saying. It is a full-on, all-senses engaged listening style. It requires patience. It is back and forth, give and take. Perhaps this is what the Lord had in mind when He said, Come now and let's reason together in Isaiah 1.18. Again and again were told things like, If you were willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land, Isaiah 1.19. But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves, James 1.22. Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock, Matthew 7.24. That I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly, like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies. All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice, Genesis 22.17-18. Obedience is a theme of the entire Bible. God warning us again and again the consequences of not obeying Him, and then chapter after chapter of seeing those consequences rain down on those who refused to obey, who rebelled, and who let themselves get distracted. The Lord told us to keep His word before our eyes, day and night, inside and out, when we eat, and when we get up, when we walk outside, and when we come inside. It is to be part of our lives 24-7, 365 and a quarter. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart, for they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life. Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. Make the path of your feet level. Let all your ways be established. Don't turn to the right hand, nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil. Proverbs 4, 21-27 That doesn't sound all that option-y. This seems like something that is very important to the Lord. This is vital stuff, foundational stuff. This is the soil that we grow in, where we develop. Only by walking in His ways are we able to do what we need to do. Only by walking in His ways can we be obedient. Plus side, it isn't a burden, because it's motivated by love. From a place of love, we can't help but seek to please the Lord. Jesus said, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavenly burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11, 28-30 He meant it. When we love, we love with all that is within us. We will want to help the Lord in any way we can. The best way to help is to be obedient, because we know it will make Him smile, because we know that it is what He wants. If we find it hard to do from time to time, because our flesh is making a fuss and turning our head toward ourselves, the solution is to praise the Lord. When we praise, we align ourselves with the will of the Father. When we praise, we acknowledge His presence. We acknowledge His place. We submit ourselves again and again to the throne of Yahweh. We follow the Lord's ways, making them our ways. And when our ways praise Him, even our enemies will be at peace with us, because we are under the wings of the One whose peace passes all human understanding. And it is a great place to be. Our daily affirmation of God's love is 2 Peter 1, 19-21 Have you ever watched anything with a young child? It doesn't matter how benign the show or movie is, the child inevitably at one point will seek assurance. Sometimes it's for a moment. Sometimes the whole thing needs to go off for another day. But they look to us as the big people to know what is and isn't safe. They trust that when we say, everyone makes it, that everyone does. That when we say, a barking cartoon dog really isn't mean, we aren't staring them wrong. That they can believe what we say, and therefore, they can make it through even the most tense of moments. Our good Father is the same way. He is the ultimate big person, the one who knows what is going on, how it is going to turn out, and what the deal is with that barking dog. What's best is that he leans down and whispers things into our ears. He tells us a little bit of what's coming so that we don't have to worry. We don't need to fear. We know that it's going to be okay because we recognize that what he told us was true. We can trust him not to lead us down the garden path, Proverbs 3, 5-6. We can trust that he won't lie to us, Numbers 23, 19. And we can trust that he has our very best interests at heart, individually and as a whole global species, Psalm 8, 4-8. When you get a peek at the future from the Lord, don't panic. Don't fear. Choose to take it for what it is. A warm whisper in our ears to let us know nothing is taking him by chance. As we close, remember that you have earth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today God loves that I... Now you fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one and remember the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, by this God's love was revealed in us that God has sent his only born son into the world that we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.