We had a visitor in our neck of the woods this afternoon, Wendy joined us for lunch and to pickup a couple items for Ken and William.  Her stay was brief, but it was good to see her.

She has a long drive back home, and we had to ‘release’ her, as we promised, before 1400. 

Have some doctors’ appointments tomorrow, and then hope that the weather allows us to spend some time outside.  We have a lot of work to do and I hope I can be of more help to Carla this year than I was able to do in the past few.  Feeling a lot better so I don’t think that will be out of reach.

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John 14:27  KJV  “ 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.”

Philippians 4:7  KJV  “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

The life and times of most Christians has been anything but peaceful.

The early Christians were mostly Jewish, they were ostracized and persecuted by the Jewish leadership as well as the Roman empire. 

Through the years they have suffered under various regimes that didn’t want their message to be delivered to the every day citizen.

And of course, today, even in the United States, being a Christian can earn you darts and arrows coming from all directions, even from the government.  In some countries those turn into incarceration, expulsion and even death.

So how can we talk about peace when all around us is exploding?

And how can Christians going through these trying times be at peace?

They couldn’t without the comfort of God’s Holy Spirit.

It cannot be explained.  It cannot be obtained without His help and the experience allows the Christian to truly be at peace, knowing that God is there and will be there no matter what the circumstances are at the moment.

We would all love to reside in a complete state of peace, nothing to disturb us, nothing threatening us, just a calm circle around us that will never be broken or intruded upon.

We also know that kind of peace is not going to happen in our world.  Oh, we may find some for a while, but eventually the world finds us and makes it demands upon us – and there is no peace, for anyone that relies on man.

What is interesting is that Jesus never promised the Christian that kind of peace.

Mathew 10:20-21  KJV  “ 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.”

John 15:18-19  KJV “ If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

¹⁹ If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

Far too many of us think that we should be above suffering for Christ.  There has been more than one preacher tell us that we are special and should receive special things, almost all of which are material and instead of drawing us closer to God will drive us away from Him because of the false teaching.

When we knelt at the cross and confessed our sins, asking for and receiving forgiveness we separated ourselves from the world and satan; and satan doesn’t like to lose anyone to God.

We will not have peace from man, it will come from God, but only if we trust in Him.

Mathew 28:19-20  KJV  “ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

No matter what, our mission, as given to us by Christ, is to go forth and tell others of Him and His mercy. 

We need to remember not everyone will not passively disagree and violence can and often does occur in one form or another.

But that doesn’t excuse us.

As we serve Him, the Holy Spirit will be with us and give us His peace.

Later, Art (-: