And Be At Peace! – 2 Peter 3:13-14

13    But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14    Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 
– 2 Peter 3:13-14

And Be At Peace!
As we work through our "issues" and try to become more like Christ, are we at peace? With God? With our families and friends?  

Good! Now here's a tough one . . . are we at peace with ourselves?  

For some reason, we are our own worst enemies and so we can find it difficult to let things go.  Especially when we make the same mistakes over and over again.  We hold on to our disappointment and embarrassment like a child holds on to an ice cream cone, or a greedy miser holds on to a shiny coin.  We can be at peace with the whole world, but when we take a look in the mirror of our soul, we only see our flaws and we question God as to why we can't change or are having difficulty changing.

God wants to let you know today that it's OK to let go.  It's really that easy.  Just raise your arm, open your hands up, and start visualizing your self-beratement drifting off to space like some colorful group of helium filled balloons. 

"But I can't!" you say? 
"You just don't understand?" you think?
"How can I just let go of all the damage I've done and the people I've hurt?"
"How can I be at peace when I just can't seem to stop doing the same dumb things time-after-time?"
"How can I . . . (enter your own question here)?"

Well I do understand.  I go over and over my own mistakes all the time and I think of all the should've, would've, could've scenarios over - and over - and over again.  I don't know why I do it, but I do.  But you know what?  I'm getting better at just letting go.  I'm getting better at asking the Holy Spirit for help in doing it.  I'm getting better at laying at Jesus' feet . . . and leaving it there.  I'm getting better and I have to tell you that there is so much freedom in not having to revisit my mistakes every day.  Not living in and dwelling on your past mistakes will help bring you closer to being at peace with yourself. 

Won't you try it today?  Won't you lift up, reach out, and let go?  Try to be at peace with your life!  Start with doing it just for today.  Forgive yourself and let the blood of Jesus wash everything out of your mind.  He went through so much . . . just for you, and He wants you to know the freedom, and the joy, and the peace that He is holding out in front of you!  Reach out and take it!  NowTHAT is something to hold on to!

Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You so much for all that You went through just so that we could know the freedom of Your love.  I am so sorry for discounting Your sacrifice by refusing to let go of my past sins and failures and for dwelling on things that I have no power to change.  I need Your grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to help me each day so I can overcome this tendency to go back to my self-hating ways.  Thank You Lord, I know I will learn to live in peace - with myself  - with Your help.

Have a blessed day everyone!

–Richard

5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 

– John 14:5

Do You Know Where You Are Going?  

Do You Know the Way?
We each have a separate path in life to follow – and for the most part, we tend to focus on our professions as a way of identifying the path we are on.  We also use that as a way to determine the kind of lifestyle we are to live.  We do this, and at the same time we try to add or fit Jesus into what we consider our path to be.  I think we have things mixed up and I for one am taking a different approach to the path that I am on.

For far too long, I have been torn.  I've been trying to determine the course of my life by the amount of money I can make and the creature comforts I can afford.  Instead of using them as a way to enhance my path to Jesus, I have used them as a way to allow Jesus just enough room to tag along.  Oh, I have walked with Him (or maybe it's that I've allowed Him to walk with me), and we have had fellowship together, and He has blessed me along the way, but we haven't really been going anywhere.  He has let me wander around in the desert of nothingness, and He has patiently waited for me to get on the path out of that desert and onto the road that He specifically and carefully designed for me. 

His is a path of surrender; a path of sacrifice; a path of humbling myself, and giving myself to His will, and not my own.  Am I giving up on making decisions for and about my life – not at all.  I'm just always learning to look to Him before making those decisions.  It's a process, and with each surrender it becomes easier to recognize the path I need to be on because my faith is so much stronger. 

The great hymn goes, "I Surrender All," not "I Surrender All that I don't want or think I won't need."  He has promised that by following in His way – by surrendering all that I am to Him, He will reveal truth to me and He will give me life. A life that on my own I could not accomplish.  A life that will lead me straight to the Father.

How about you?  Do you know the path you are on?  Are there parts of your life that you know you should surrender but you are afraid to let go of?  Are you wanting to control your path instead of letting Him lead you?  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal these things to you.  He wants you on His path to righteousness so that not only will you be an effective minister of the Gospel, but you will know Him intimately, and He will present you to the Father as His own.

Prayer
Lord, I am tired of following my own way.  I surrender all that I am to You and I lay my life in Your hands.  I look forward to all that You will reveal to me as we journey on this path to the Father.  Help me Lord, to journey well and to be ever mindful of the steps I am taking as we travel through my life . . . together.

Have a blessed day everyone!

– Richard