The Enemy Wants to Destroy You From Within

Lori Thomason at Pure Devotion is being highlighted here today for the 4th time.  Click here to read her story.

Lori lives in Tallahassee, Florida; a state which has been on the top of the news reports this week in view of the weather. What appears below is quite timely. Click the title below to read at source.

Storm Within

Matthew 7:24-25 (MSG) “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.

A week ago, my dad was talking about hurricane preparation and my mom scoffed it off that “hurricane season is over.” I remember thinking “oh boy, here we go” though I am not very superstitious and choose to call it caution. Sure enough, just like that, a hurricane is bearing down on us. The storm developed quickly and is now in the Gulf of Mexico headed straight for us. The community is chaos. Businesses shutting down. People evacuating. Gas pumps running dry. Store shelves emptied. Frantic pleas for fuel, food and water goes on social media for those unable to beat the stampede. It would be easy to get overtaken by the fear and anxiety of it all.

Preparing for evacuation this morning, I am thankful. Yes, thankful. The Lord has blessed us with a beautiful home and more material things that I could ever have imagined I would own. I have a closet and drawers overflowing with clothing and a thrift store bag that hasn’t made it there yet. The refrigerator is full of food minus the expired things that needed to go anyway. The pantry has plenty of non-perishable items. I even found the hurricane things I ordered last year that arrived two days after the storm. Plenty of water and batteries on hand yet I didn’t step foot in a grocery or discount superstore in the last 24 hours. I am grateful to God for the nice house that collects all these things. I appreciate His Goodness that is clearly evident as I take pictures for the insurance company in case of loss. I will load my family into a very nice, gas-filled vehicle and head to the safety of my parent’s home while my husband stays here with our pets. He also has many options should he need to find higher ground. Why? Because friends, we built our life on the rock.

Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.

Where do you live today? Brothers and sisters in California have been fighting wildfires. To the north of us, the Carolinas are still overcoming the devastation of the last hurricane that made landfall. Rain caused tremendous flooding in the area. The enemy wants panic to ensure and chaos to break out. He want people to turn against each other fighting over cases of water that is already free-flowing from their sink. The enemy wants to destroy you from the inside out with fear, worry, anxiety and stress. It all eats away at faith that is the foundation of our life as believers. He wants us to stop being kind, loving, gracious and good to one another and instead become those we strive to reach and change every other day with His Love and Light. Lord, please calm the storm within even if it must still rage all around.

Psalm18:31-36 (MSG) Is there any god like God? Are we not at bedrock? Is not this the God who armed me, then aimed me in the right direction? Now I run like a deer; I’m king of the mountain. He shows me how to fight; I can bend a bronze bow! You protect me with salvation-armor; you hold me up with a firm hand, caress me with your gentle ways. You cleared the ground under me so my footing was firm.

Oh, I get it my friend, the storm is definitely raging in my life. Today it is external but internally I have perfect peace. Everything I have was provided by God and every blessing has His Name on it. If the storm wipes out our home and all the material things that have been accumulated – the crazy thing is that the best is yet to come. God cannot do miracles without impossibles. He can’t pour out His Goodness on those with no place to receive it. Sometimes God uses natural catastrophes to get the attention of His People so they will return to the Rock and experience the greatness of His Kingdom. So let the storm rage around you, but be sure to stand firm on the bedrock of faith laid by Jesus. He will be your Peace. He controls the natural and supernatural occurrences of your life when you yoke everything to Him. Whether tomorrow I wake to devastation or the peace after the storm – I will not be moved. The Lord is my rock and my foundation. I have nothing to fear.

Matthew 8:23-27 (MSG) Then he got in the boat, his disciples with him. The next thing they knew, they were in a severe storm. Waves were crashing into the boat—and he was sound asleep! They roused him, pleading, “Master, save us! We’re going down!” Jesus reprimanded them. “Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?” Then he stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down: “Silence!” The sea became smooth as glass. The men rubbed their eyes, astonished. “What’s going on here? Wind and sea come to heel at his command!”

Peace on Earth

This article is by Dan Miller and appeared at the blog Sharper Iron, from which an article by a different writer appeared here on December 13th. There is much good reading at this site, I don’t think we’ve ever visited the same webpage twice in one month! Click here to read today’s article at source.

The gospel according to Luke records that on the night of Jesus’ birth an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks in a field outside the Judean village of Bethlehem. The angel announced “good news of great joy” which included the benediction: “Peace on earth” (Luke 2:10, 14).

Peace had come to earth in a person. The “Prince of Peace,” prophesied centuries earlier by the prophet Isaiah had come (Isaiah 9:6). In a mystery never to be fully fathomed, the “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father” was born a child with flesh and blood to dwell on earth for a season (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; John 1:14). And as the Bible repeatedly demonstrates, whenever the living God comes to dwell among his people, he always brings peace.

But what is peace? The word is not difficult to define. Peace is the calm that prevails in the absence of war. It is the serenity that marks freedom from hostilities, strife or dissension. Peace is a paucity of agitation, upheaval or chaos. Although used in an array of contexts, the definition is fairly straightforward.

Peace is far more difficult to identify and experience. There is peace which is really no peace at all. False peace shatters many lives and poisons many souls. There is peace in the midst of hostility—peace that operates at full throttle in the war zones of human experience. There is peace as ethical responsibility. There is peace we desperately want, but can do nothing to attain.

In the midst of a holiday season in which peace is commonly announced but too seldom experienced, a few spiritual reflections on peace may be fitting. Many draw their understanding of peace from self-determined assumptions; I offer here meditations rooted in biblical revelation. The peace on earth announced by the angelic messengers to the shepherds on the night of Christ’s birth was rooted in God’s grand salvation plan. That concept of peace included several components.

Peace as an attribute of God. God is the source of all peace. Peace flows freely from his being. God executes and finishes wars, he does not start them. He is not a pugnacious God who is always looking to pick a fight. God is a God of peace who will not rest until peace reigns on earth. This goal requires war (Rev. 19:11-20:15). Yet war is a necessary consequence of sin, not a product of God’s nature.

Peace as a gift of God. The ultimate war is between sinful people and God. In his boundless grace, God issues his moral law for the good of humanity. For our good, he commands us not to cheat, steal or lie; not to yield to lust, pride, greed or gossip. He commands us to love him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and our neighbor as we love ourselves. But we respond to God’s law by running our own way and doing our own thing. This rebellion renders us enemies of God in his perfect righteousness and renders us objects of his just judgment (Rom. 5:6-8).

But in his mercy, God provides justification—imputing the righteous standing of Christ to the account of those who trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection to secure their salvation from the punishment of their sin. Jesus bears the penalty of our sin and dies in our place; we receive his righteous standing and live. What is the result? “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1-2). This is the quintessential peace on which all other experiences of peace ultimately depend.

Peace as an ethical responsibility in relation to others. Those who receive the gift of peace with God are called to pursue peace with others. This is not always possible, but as far as lies within us, we are to be peacemakers on earth (Matt. 5:9, Rom. 12:18). The peace God gives at the cost of sacrificing his Son serves as the ultimate motivation for his followers to seek peace in all their relationships.

Peace as a disposition of the soul. Believers who have received the peace of God as a gift, continue to battle the agitation of soul that comes with life in a troubled world. In consequence of what Jesus has done to secure peace with God, his followers are liberated to “not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” to make their prayerful requests known to God. As they obey this directive, the Bible promises that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). The orientation is not to search for peace within; it is to experience inner peace by means of a dependent relationship with God.

Peace as a condition of nature freed from the curse. The peace on earth Jesus came to establish will ultimately encompass the physical universe. When Jesus calmed the storm that was riling the Sea of Galilee, he did not simply say “Stop.” He said, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39). This miracle foreshadowed the day when the returning Christ will suspend the earth’s curse. The desert will blossom as a rose, the lion will lay down with the lamb, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, straight-line winds and volcanoes will all cease (Isa. 11:1-11). In that coming day, peace will reign on earth—just as the angel said it would.

May peace with God, and the peace of God, rest upon you.