PEACE

"You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you."

Isaiah 26:3

     Peace!  Peace be with you.  Peace, Man!  Let there be peace on earth.  Peace and quiet.  The word peace is used in so many ways.  The definition of peace is "quiet, calm, absence of hostility".  As I laid wide awake in the middle of the night, I was thinking about peace.  Mainly so I could drift back to sleep but sleep wasn't coming.  My mind has been rolling in turmoil for several weeks now and all I want is peace.  I don't want to think about a job.  I don't want to think about money or the lack of it.  What I want is peace, the quiet calm peace.  How do I get that peace?  How do I turn off my brain to the turmoil that keeps swirling around me? 

    I turned to the One that holds that peace.  Paul spoke of peace in Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.".  The peace of God which surpasses ALL understanding.  We can not begin to know the peace of God in a way our human minds can wrap around.  His peace surpasses all understanding, He guards our hearts and our minds in Jesus with His peace.  I know that when I feel His peace, it is calming and quiet. The turmoil eases away and is replaced with a calm and quiet that only God can provide.  If we set our minds on things above and not on the things which are here on earth, we can feel the peace of God seeping into our souls.  Just like on a cold winter day as we sip a warm cup of tea and the warmth spreads through our bodies, God does the same with His peace, warming our souls that are cold and anxious.  He brings an end to the turmoil of our brains and reaches in and soothes with His peace. 

    People are crying out for peace.  They are crying for wars to end and the discord to stop.  People want peace but have not looked to the One who gives that peace.  We, as Christians, need to remind people who will provide the peace that calms and quiets our hearts and minds when they are in turmoil.  We need to look to the One whose very name is "the prince of peace".  He will fill us and provide for us in a way no one else can.  Call upon His name, Emanuel, the prince of peace when you are in turmoil and do not feel peace.  He will fill you with His peace, calmly and quietly it will fill your soul.   

"Peace I leave with you;  my peace I give to you...Let not

your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

John 14:27