The Armor of God to Battle Satan #3
Feet and Life shod with Peace
by
Keith Hunt
"And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace" (Eph.6:15). There is a two fold aspect of the peace of God. One is for the here and now, the inner peace of the Christian heart, being at-one with the Father and Christ. The peace that comes from knowing you are a child of the Father, that you are reconciled to the Father through the blood and life of Christ, who came that we might have saving peace from sin and death, and new life in Him. Then there is the peace that is promised in the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God on earth, where peace will reign supreme, where there will be no more war, where nations will not even learn war any more, when even the nature of animals will be changed, so the lion can dwell with the lamb and a little child will play with them. It is the peace foretold by all the prophets, for the whole world, when the Messiah will come in glory to be King of kings and Lord of Lords. All of that peace is expounded in full detail in the studies of the Old Testament prophets, on this Website. Both themes of peace are to be the Christian's walking shoes. We wear those shoes each day, we long to proclaim that two sided coin of peace to the whole world. It is a wonderful peace to share with others. It should be a part of our joy, each day, each week, each month, each year, to do what we can to teach and preach this peace. We do it in the calling we are given, and for most Christians that is in LIVING peace, PRAYING for peace, and SUPPORTING the efforts of the proclamation of peace by the Church of God and its ministry. Here are some "nuggets" on the topic of peace: The Age of Anxiety A wife called the doctor one morning, saying, "Doctor, come quick! It's my husband!" "What's the matter?" he calmly replied. "Well, he got up this morning and took his vitamin pill. Then he took his appetite suppressant, his anti-depressant, and his tranquilizer. He also took an antihistamine and some Benzedrine. Then he lit a cigarette, and there was this explosion!" ...... A ship was wrecked in a furious storm and the only survivor was a little boy who was swept by the waves onto a rock. He sat there all night long until, the next morning, he was spotted and rescued. "Did you tremble while you were on the rock during the night?" someone later asked him. "Yes," said the boy. "I trembled all night-but the rock didn't." ....... Thomas Watson The Puritan Thomas Watson put it this way: God the Son was called the Prince of Peace. He came into the world with a song of peace: "On earth peace...... He went out of the world with a legacy of peace, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." Christ's earnest prayer was for peace; He prayed that His people might be one. Christ not only prayed for peace, but bled for peace: "Having made peace through the blood of His cross." He died not only to make peace between God and man, but between man and man. Christ suffered on the cross, that He might cement Christians together with His blood, as He prayed for peace, so He PAID for peace. ...... (You may like to study my study on Ephesians 2:14 and Colossians 2:14, which expounds the context of these two often misunderstood and twisted passages to the destruction of many. They will make plain to you the peace which Christ brought to those called and chosen to be the children of God. The study of those two section of New Testament Scripture is on this Website - Keith Hunt) ...... Like a Cyclone F.B.Meyer describes the Christ-life as: A rest which is full of work, but like the cyclone, all the atoms of which revolve in turbulent motion around the central cavity of rest, so do all the activities of God revolve around His deepest heart which is tranquil and serene. And so it is possible, if you and I learn the lesson amid anxiety and sorrow and trial and pressure of work, always to carry a heart so peaceful, so still, so serene as to be like the depth of the Atlantic which is not disturbed by the turbulent winds that sweep its surface. ...... An Old Poem In the center of the whirlpool, while the waters rush around, There's a space of perfect stillness, though with turmoil it is bound; All is calm, and all is quiet, scarcely e'en a sense of sound. So with us - despite the conflict - when in Christ His peace is found. ...... In Acceptance Lieth Peace He said, "I will forget the dying faces; The empty places, They shall be filled again. O voices moaning deep within me, cease." But vain the word; vain, vain: Not in forgetting lieth peace. He said, "I will crowd action upon action, The strife of faction Shall stir me and sustain; O tears that drown the fire of manhood cease." But vain the word; vain, vain: Not in endeavor lieth peace. He said, "I will withdraw me and be quiet, Why meddle in life's riot? Shut be my door to pain. Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease." But vain the word; vain, vain:" Not in aloofness lieth peace. He said, "I will submit; I am defeated. God hath depleted My life of its rich gain. O futile murmurings, why will ye not cease?" But vain the word; vain, vain:" Not in submission lieth peace. He said, "I will accept the breaking sorrow Which God to-morrow Will to His son explain." Then did the turmoil deep within him cease. Not vain the word, not vain; For in Acceptance lieth peace. Amy Carmichael, "Toward Jerusalem" ...... Spiritual Retreat This was my calculated plan: I would set aside my usual schedule - The menial tasks that wedge in routinely. In the peace and quiet of my living room I would relax in Your glorious presence. How joyfully I envisioned the hours - My personal spiritual retreat! With Bible and notebook beside me I would study and meditate - I would intercede for the needy world. But how differently it happened, Lord: Never has the phone rung so persistently. Sudden emergencies kept pouring in Like summer cloudbursts. My husband came home ill. There were appointments to cancel Plans to rearrange. The mailman brought two disturbing letters A cousin whose name I couldn't remember Stopped by on her way through town. My morning elation became drooping deflation. And yet, dear Lord, You were with me in it all! I sense Your vital presence Your sure and steady guidance. Not once did you leave me stranded. Perhaps, in Your great wisdom You longed to teach me a practical truth: When You are my Spiritual Retreat I need not be a spiritual recluse. Ruth Harms Calkin, "Lord, You Love to Say Yes" ...... PEACE IS THE BRIEF GLORIOUS MOMENT in history when everybody stands around reloading. Lloyd Cory, "Quote Unquote" ...... Lord, keep me still, Though stormy waves may blow And waves my little bark may overflow, Or even if in darkness I must go; Lord, keep me still. The waves are in Thy hand, The roughest seas subside at Thy command. Steer Thou my bark in safety to the land And keep me still, Keep me still. Author unknown, quoted in Al Bryant, "Sourcebook of Poetry" ...... PEACE is that calm of mind that is not ruffled by adversity, overclouded by a remorseful conscience, or disturbed by fear. ...... HORATIO SPAFFORD, a businessman in Chicago, sent his wife and three daughters to Europe by ship while he remained back in the States, intending to join them later. En route there was a terrible storm and a shipwreck during which their three daughters drowned. Mrs. Spafford made it to safety and wired back saying, "All of our daughters have been lost. Only I have been saved." He took the next vessel. As they came near the place where his daughters drowned, the skipper of the ship pointed to the place where the other ship had gone down. It was there on the deck of the ship he wrote these stirring words: When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, "It is well, it is well, with my soul." John Haggai, "How to Win over Worry" ...... Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace! Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. Oh, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled, as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; It is in dying that we are born to eternal life! Francis of Assisi ...... THE TIME HAS COME for me to reorganize my life, my peace - I cry out. I cannot adjust my life to secure any fruitful peace. Here I am at sixty-four, still seeking peace. It is a hopeless dream. H.G.Wells ...... WASHINGTON has a large assortments of peace monuments. We build one after every war. Don MacLean in Lloyd Cory, "Quote Unquote" ...... The above nuggets on peace were taken from "Swindoll's Ultimate Book of Illustrations" and "Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes" by Robert J. Morgan. ...... YOU MAY LIKE TO STUDY MY ARTICLE CALLED "BEING A PEACEMAKER" - IT'S ON MY WEBSITE - AND I DID ENTER IT HERE - SCROLL DOWN - Keith Hunt ...... EXAMPLES OF PEACE By Abraham - Gen.13:8,9 Abimelech - Gen.26:29 Mordecai - Esth.10:13 David - Ps.120:7 MANY SCRIPTURES PROCLAIM AND ADMONISH PEACE Here are some of the PERSONAL ones: Ps.34:14 "seek peace, and pursue it." Psa.37:37. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." Psa.85:8. "I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints." Psa.119:165. "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." Prov.12:20 "To the counsellors of peace is joy." Prov.15:17 "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." Prov.16:7 "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Prov.17:1. "Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife. 14. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with." Prov.20:3. "It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling." Eccl.4:6. "Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit." Isa.26:3. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. " Isa. 27:5. "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." Isa.32:17. "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever, 18. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places." Isa.48:18. "O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." Isa.53:5. "The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Zech.8:19. "Love the truth and peace." Matt.5:9. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Matt.10:21. "And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Mark 9:50. "Have peace one with another." Luke 1:79. "To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." John 14:27. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 16:33. "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace." John 20:19. "Then the same day at evening, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." Acts 10:36. "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ." Rom.2:10. "Glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." Rom.5:1. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom.8:6. "To be spiritually minded is life and peace." Rom.10:15. "And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!'" Rom.12:18. "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." Rom.14:17. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Rom.14:19. "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another." 1 Cor.14:33. "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." 2 Cor.13:11. "Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace." Gal.5:22 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace." Eh.2:14. "For he is our peace, who bath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, 16. and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17. And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. Eph.4:3. "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Col.1:20. "And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself." 1 Thess.5:13. "Be at peace among yourselves." 1 Tim.2:2. "That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 2 Tim.2:22. Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Heb.12:14. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Jas.3:17. "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." 1 Pet.3:10. "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11. Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it." ...... IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO, MAKE SURE YOU STUDY MY STUDIES ON THIS BOG CALLED "BEING A PEACEMAKER" AND "EPH.2:15 - COL.2:14." YOU'LL NEED TO SCROLL DOWN ....................... Keith Hunt (written during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, April, 2009) To be continued |
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