13. Loving Peace

Wednesday 28th Feb 

(for more details see here)

 

Pause:

Father of life, draw me closer
Lord, my heart is set on You;
Let me run the race of time,
With Your life enfolding mine,
And let the peace of God,
Let it reign.

O Holy Spirit, Lord, my comfort:
Strengthen me, hold my head up high:
As I stand upon Your truth
bringing glory unto You,
And let the peace of God,
Let it reign.

O Lord, I hunger for more of You;
Rise up within me, let me know Your truth.
O holy Spirit, saturate my soul,
And let the life of God fill me now,
Let Your healing power breathe life and make me whole,
And let the peace of God,
Let it reign.
 

DARLENE ZSCHECH

 

Today's reading: John 14.22-31

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

JOHN 14. 26-27

Jesus again promises that the Holy Spirit will come to us; comforting, encouraging, guiding, teaching, reminding... and in the very next breath He promises us another of His gifts: peace - and not just any peace: His peace!

The order is significant: We receive His Holy Spirit... and then we receive His peace.
We learn to live in response to the Spirit's guidance and strength, and we learn the ways of peace.

We really shouldn't be surprised: one of the first fruits of "walking in step with the Spirit" is peace! (GAL 5. 22-25)
 
Too often we try to find peace on our own - emptying our workplaces, our schedules and our minds... but, on our own, all that emptying can just leave us, well.. empty. It is no bad thing at all to take time out (we all need to do that) - but it is the filling of the Holy Spirit that brings fullness - and with it: peace. A peace that nothing in the world cannot give...

• Peace in knowing we have an Advocate - One Who will speak for us!
• Peace in knowing that in Him we have everything we need!
• Peace in knowing that our lives are being guided by Him towards the will of the Father!
• Peace in knowing that He provides both the ability and energy for the work of the Kingdom!
• Peace in knowing He will remind us of Jesus' words as we listen to Him!
• Peace in knowing that God loves us enough to want to "make His home with us"! 
• Peace in knowing Him!

That kind of peace allows our hearts to rest undisturbed by troubles.
That kind of peace calms our fears.
It is a supernatural peace that the world cannot understand, cannot provide, but also cannot take away.
 

Reflection: The Battle Within

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.
You do not have because you do not ask God.
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?
Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Or do you think Scripture says without reason that He jealously longs for the spirit He has caused to dwell in us?"

JAMES 4. 1-5

A huge source of conflict in our lives, and in the world around us, comes from the fact that we are not at peace with ourselves. There are, as James says, battles "within you". And we will never be at peace with ourselves until we find peace with God. As St. Augustine got it so right when he wrote simply:

"Thou hast made us for Thineself, O Lord,
and our hearts are ever restless 'til they find their rest in Thee."

ST. AUGUSTINE

Into all the battles that rage within us today, hear afresh Jesus' words:

Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled
and do not be afraid.

JOHN 14. 27

 

Questions for today:

Take a moment to survey your heart. Imagine you are looking at it as a general would look at the map of a battlefield. 

• Where are the major sources of conflict in your life right now?
• What are the ongoing battles within you?
• Take some time to invite Jesus be at home in you - and ask the Holy Spirit for His peace. 

Prayer:

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.

O 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,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

FRANCIS OF ASSISI

 

 I prayed this.

My prayer for today: (if you would like to, please feel free to add your own prayer here):

 

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