More on the peace that God offers us—peace with Him, peace with ourselves, peace with others.

We can carry this peace into our day by  trusting in God. One primary way of walking in peace is lifting up the shield of faith by praise when difficulties come; this is the demonstration of our trust in you, Lord,  for, “You are good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon you” (Ps. 86:5, KJV).

And as we trust in you, your peace continues to fill us, and opens the way for joy and hope. As it says in Romans 15:13,  “May the God of hope fill You with all joy and peace as You trust in Him so that Your lives may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Without our trusting Him, none of this will come to pass.

We praise you, Lord Jesus, for you are

the Lamb of God,

the Savior of the world,

the Prince of Peace,

the Harbinger of Hope,

the Lover of our souls,

the Bringer of justice,

the Minister of mercy,

the Creator of all,

the Beginner and Ender of time.

Therefore, We exalt you, Lord Jesus: we lift up your name, we magnify your majesty, and we bow down in worship, then we rise up to obey. Help us to trust you fully today so we might be filled with all joy and peace, and overflow with hope.

Picture from internet: Jesus, ruler over all

What can we do to nurture, strengthen and deepen our first love for Christ? Here’s what I’ve found effective in rekindling that flame.

First, repent: acknowledge that our relationship is not what it should be.

Second, remember: take the time to think about the early days of our walk with Him, the delicious sense of freedom from condemnation, the giddy wonder of having a new start, the soothing warmth of being fully accepted by God.

Third, reveal: practice lifting our souls to God, regularly telling Him honestly what we are thinking (mind), wanting (will) and feeling (emotions), then evaluate these by the Word, surrendering each to Him.

Fourth, rejoice: spend time daily in personal worship, extolling Him for who He is without thinking about how that benefits us. This kind of worship is standing in the light of God, seeing more and more of Him, having sin exposed, being transformed (2 Cor. 3:18), reveling in His love and grace. As I do this, usually by writing my worship thoughts in my journal, there is continual renewing of my first love, there is a growing passion for Christ—and Barbara can see the difference!

Fifth, enter the day with God and consciously work together with him, “checking in” often to see what direction He might give you.

Prayer: “Lord, I confess my failure to intentionally nurture my first love for you. Forgive me and help me to do this every day in worship, in your Word, in praise and in obedience to what I know to be right. Amen.

Picture: Jesus calling his disciples to a deeper relationship with him.

You, Lord Jesus, have worked salvation for your enemies. Your amazing love is astounding, with your overflowing grace, your deep compassion and your tender concern for those who oppose and resist you

At the right moment, in a burst of blinding righteousness, the Father raised you from the dead, defeating all foes, opening the way for all to receive power and wisdom and grace, ushering into your Kingdom all who believe.

Your work of redemption was finished, the shelter from your coming wrath was complete and the invitation went out to all, for “all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God” (Ps. 98:3).

You invite us–we who are the opposite of you in every way–to come into your family, into your Kingdom, into your shelter, into your fortress, into your loving embrace where you become our Father, Savior, Brother and King.

You made us to “dock” with you, to fit into a perfect relationship with the Triune God, and you have stopped at nothing to make that possible again after the fall. We must, “…shout for joy before the LORD, the King” (Ps. 98:6b). Psalm 98:4,5 Help us to lıve worthy of you ın your Kıngshıp and Kıngdom.

Pıcture: The beauty of the Creator: Pink sky reflected on the ice.

Though we are outwardly wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16

The following thoughts flow from my beginning to lose hair and facing the possibility of becoming bald!

Aging is, to put it bluntly, the process of progressive deterioration of the body and loss of abilities and qualities. Hearing fades, eyesight dims, muscles lose strength, flexibility decreases, joints creak, energy wanes and the mind slows.

Many of these losses are more than physical, for they are also the loss of what has made us feel good about ourselves, of what gave us a sense of worth, importance and the ability to reach our goals. Therefore, the process of aging can be doubly devastating as things physical, mental and emotional are taken from us.

Looking at this from a different perspective, however, aging is an opportunity for a deepened life. It should force us to reexamine the values we have adopted, especially on an emotional level. As our ability to perform is taken from us by these losses, it is an opportunity to further turn our attention towards enduring values and truths.

It is an opportunity to affirm that our worth actually does not depend on our accomplishments but upon two unchangeable facts: as human beings we are made in the image of God and as believers we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. In addition, our significance does not come from what we can do with our bodies and minds, but from being given important and vital roles in God’s overall plan for the universe: praise, prayer and persistence in doing what we know to be right and propagation of the gospel.

These all can be carried out in old age even better than in our youth, as we have had time to develop a character that reflects Christ. When we age to the point where we can do nothing else but exist, Christ’s kindness, love and grace can still shine out of our lives as we continually offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving (Ps. 50:23).

Picture: two deteriorating  old folks!

A story of God’s foreknowledge and grace.

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11

In the cold of late December snowy while I was talking in the hall with our upstairs neighbor about the problem of getting more fuel oil for the furnace, one of the landlords of the building walked by. I took the opportunity to talk with him about his share of the building’s heating bill, which he had not paid. However, because he doesn’t live here. he was unreceptive to my suggestions, which meant that the rest of us had to shoulder his share of the cost–if we wanted any heat in our homes.

As he resisted all I had to say, I felt a hot flash of anger beginning to rise up in my chest at his imperious and negative replies. Knowing that if we talked much longer I was going to say something I’d regret, I abruptly and somewhat impolitely cut off the conversation and retreated into our apartment.

It was obvious, however, to all involved that I had become angry and I was chagrined about that. It was one of those instances where I hadn’t seen one of Satan’s traps coming my way and fell right into it.

One of my regular prayers is that God would help me to see Satan’s wiles before I fall into them, not afterwards. However, God does not always choose to answer in the way I’d like. In this case, He helped my humility develop a bit more with a little humiliation, and, more importantly, without my knowing it, prepared me for a more significant event.

A couple of days later I was having a very difficult conversation with one of our teammates here, and the same hot flash of anger began to rise in my chest. But the Lord used my previous failure to alert me so I could recognize what was happening. I could immediately turn to God for help, use His weapons of the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and not fall into Satan’s attempt to trap me in my natural temper.

This situation was much more important than the earlier one, and I am so thankful that the Lord chose to warn me as He did, so I would not ruin several months of careful relationship building with one impatient response!

He very definitely answered my prayer: “Lord, today help me to keep on the armor and see the wiles of the devil before I fall into them! Amen.”