Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of song and lyrics from the Don Moon singing … Wonderful Peace … poignantly singing of the peace we receive when we have a close/abiding relationship with God.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Jeremiah 3:11 [NLT] … 11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, … Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ … When there is no peace.
… Can we ever expect peace when we live apart from God? … He says … NOT!!!
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Highlight Passage [context]: Jeremiah 8:4-17 [NLT]… USE THIS LINK …
… God chastise His chosen people for their lack of obedience with the promise of the chaos produced by their unwillingness to follow His ways.
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 26:3 [NLT] … 3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
… Our trust in God’s way and our decision to focus on it and follow it is what produces peace in our lives.
Reference Passage : … John 15:7 [NLT] … 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
… As Jesus declares clearly, we will only find the fruit of love, joy, and PEACE (see Gal. 5:22) when we abide in Him, being obedient to His word (see also John 14:21)
Reference Passage : … Romans 5:1-2 [NLT] … 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
… We establish our PEACE WITH GOD through our faith in His saving grace.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 4:6-7 [NLT] … 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
… We gain and sustain the PEACE OF GOD, when we’re willing to gratefully and humbly surrender our burdens and stresses to Him in prayer.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Tim Gustafson, used a quote from Bob Dylan to highlight the search of mankind for peace throughout the ages. The ODB author writes … “Do you still hope for peace?” a journalist asked Bob Dylan in 1984. “There is not going to be any peace,” Dylan replied. His response drew criticism, yet there’s no denying that peace remains ever elusive.
And then the ODB author when on to quote C.S. Lewis: God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.
I don’t think any reader here with me would deny that peace is still as elusive as it was in the times of Jeremiah or Jesus; … or maybe even more elusive now! But the truth expressed in the linked song and the truths from God’s word above, hold just as fast now as they did in those days.
My friends, we will ONLY be able to find PEACE WITH GOD and the PEACE OF GOD when we’re willing to live out a close, intimate, and abiding relationship with God; and that comes thru our faith in God’s ways and our willingness to follow them.
So, I’ll let you deal with the obvious questions which come from these truths …
1 … Do we have that intimate/abiding relationship with Christ?
2 … Are we willing to surrender to God’s Spirit and follow Him obediently?
Because if we are, we can find and maintain the fruit of peace in our lives.
But, … if not … FORGET IT!
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for providing us with the grace to find Your peace.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here have found the abiding relationship with You which gives us Your peace. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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