Journal Entry ~ 03/26/18

14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. - Ephesians 6:14-15

Peace is the calm assurance that God is working all things for our good. It comes from trusting that He knows best and that He is in control of all things in our lives. When we are at peace, we are resting in Him, and allowing Him to do the work He has planned for our lives. There are days I get this right, and there are days where I struggle to grab a hold of His peace, but I always know where to find it. I know if I just stop everything and sit down with Him, His peace will wash over me like a flood. He has given me His peace in so many difficult moments of my life that I couldn’t possible keep track of them all. 

But, we need to understand that He doesn’t give us His peace so that we feel better about ourselves or the situation. He doesn’t give us His peace to make us happy or so we have a better day.  He gives us His peace so we can make an impact. In John 20:21, we read “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’” He gives us His peace, then He says go. His peace is His primary means of enabling us to spread the gospel, and that is our mission in life. 

God is not giving us peace so we can be happy - He is not here to serve us. God gives us His peace so we can go and make disciples. We are here to serve Him.  He has given us a job to do and He doesn’t want us carrying around all our fears and anxieties with us, all our guilt or discouragement. He wants us to feel His peace as we share His gospel with others. 

These verses have me pausing and reflecting on my life as held up to this verse. Do I work at making disciples?  Yes, I try. But the reality is that I often do not live this verse out in my life. It is so easy to get caught up IN my life, my own thing, the things that are important to me on a daily basis.  I do step out of my life often enough to do ministry work, but then I step right back into my life and I keep living it. 

Here's the truth of this verse:  we've been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. Our lives don't belong to us anymore. They are His, and His purpose for our lives is that we live out this verse. We're not meant to have moments of ministry work, our lives are meant to BE ministry. There isn't supposed to be a separation between life and ministry. We haven't been chosen to just receive the redemptive work of the cross, we have also been chosen to be an instrument of the kingdom work as well. We are to strap on those shoes of peace and take it to others. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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