Peace With God
Peace With God
Have you felt the "tug" of God on your heart?
This call to salvation BEGINS with God. He initiates it by drawing us to come to Him.
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him .. John 6:44
It is IMPOSSIBLE for us to find peace with God through our own efforts. Anything we try to do to obtain God's favor or gain salvation is worthless and futile.
Human Efforts
God desires an intimate relationship with us, but we cannot obtain it through our own efforts.
Isaiah 64:6 says: "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..."
"...There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." ..Romans 3:10-12
Before you can experience the "Peace of God", you MUST be "At peace with God"
Why is this so?....
Because we are separated from God by Sin:
PROBLEM!...Our sin separates us from God, leaving us spiritually empty, spiritually separated.
Romans 3:23 states:
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
A Gift from God to You!
Salvation is a gift from God. He offers the gift through Jesus, his Son. By laying down his life on the cross, Christ took our place and paid the ultimate price, the penalty for our sin.. death. Jesus is our only way to God.
John 14:6 .."Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."
Romans 5:8 .."But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Responding to God's Call:
The only thing we must do is respond to God's call.
But how? How do I become a Christian?
Receiving God's gift of salvation is not complicated. The response to God's call is explained in these simple steps found in God's Word:
1) Admit you are a sinner and turn away from your sin.
Acts 3:19 .."Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
Repent literally means "a change of mind that results in a change of action." To repent, then, means to admit you are a sinner. You change your mind to agree with God that you are a sinner. The resulting "change in action" is, of course, the turning away from sin.
2) Believe Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you from your sins and give you eternal life.
John 3:16 .."For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
Believing in Jesus is also a part of repenting. You change your mind from unbelief to belief, which results in a change of action.
3) Come to him by faith.
In John 14:6 Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."
Faith in Jesus Christ is a change of mind that results in a change of action coming to him.
4) You may pray a simple prayer to God.
You may want to make your response to God a prayer. Prayer is simply communicating with God. Pray using your own words. There is no special formula. Just pray from your heart to God, and believe that he has saved you. If you feel lost and just don't know what to pray, here's a prayer of salvation you can pray.
5) Now, don't doubt.
Salvation is by grace, through faith. There's nothing you did, or ever can do, to deserve it. It's a free gift from God. All you have to do is receive it!
Ephesians 2:8 says: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."
6) Tell someone about your decision.
Romans 10:9-10 says, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
The Peace of God
The disappointments, pressures and hurts of this life can weigh the human heart down. Come see how the peace of God can give you the mental healing you've been looking for TODAY!
Allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you though the written word. Once the living word enters your heart and you believe it, begin to live the truth of it...Daily!
Judges 6:23-24 ..But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die."So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace.
"Jehovah-Shalom" .. the Lord is Peace. Gideon was fearful of imminent death. But the Lord's immediate and encouraging reply was, "Peace! ... You are not going to die."
In the place of fear, even fear of death, Gideon experienced the peace of God, a peace that proceeded from God's very Person.
If you are at a point in your life where fear is gripping you, be still for a moment and hear God's assurance to you: "Peace! Do not be afraid," says Jehovah-Shalom.
Psalm 4:8 ..I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Insomnia troubles millions of people. Sometimes there is a biological or medical cause, which needs physical healing. At other times, the restless sleep or even lack of sleep comes from inner mental or emotional turmoil. That condition can be wonderfully overcome by embracing the peace of God.
Notice the underlying cause of the Psalmist's ability to sleep in peace: he trusted entirely in the Lord's protection "...for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."
As you prepare for sleep, I encourage you each night to pray that portion of the Lord's Prayer that says, "Our Father in heaven ...deliver us from evil (and the evil one)..." Then, confident in the Lord's presence and protection, you can "lie down and sleep in peace".
Psalm 119:165 ..Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
Fill your heart with God's word, the Bible, and you will automatically be filling your heart with God's peace.
So many times I, like you, have faced difficult times in life. At such times I have found time and again that the words of Scripture replace anxiety, worry, and fear with the tranquility that comes with the peace of God. The words of God in the Bible are an ever-present source of peace for your mind and heart.
Proverbs 14:30 ..A heart at peace gives life to the body.
This is a powerful example of the psyche-soma connection in the Bible, that is the strong effect the state of our inner man, our soul or psyche (Greek), has over our body or soma. In modern times medical science has caught on to this long-standing Bible truth about the "psychosomatic" factor in physical health and healing.
The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that a heart at peace has a profound effect on the physical health and well-being of the body.. it "gives life to the body".
Pray to God, read His word regularly, worship Him both in church and in your private times, and you will surely find that the peace of God that fills your heart will have a beneficial impact upon your physical well-being.
Isaiah 26:3..You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Perfect peace! What a desirable state of mind that would be. And in this verse God provides two avenues to that "perfect peace"
1. Fix, or "stay", your mind on Him. Make Him regularly the focus of your thoughts.
2. Here is a profound saying: "It's always safe to trust the Lord."
From these two things you can come to a state of "perfect peace" in your heart.
Mark 5:34 ..He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
Jesus healed the woman then; Jesus still heals today!
For help on Healing...CLICK HERE
If you are facing serious health issues, follow the example of that ill woman and reach out in faith to Jesus. Imagine yourself touching the hem of His garment and having Him turn to you and say, "Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
John 14:27 ..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.
Jesus words remind us that it is not man-created peace, but rather the peace of God, that calms our troubled hearts.
Jesus reminded them that it was His peace, peace from Him..that would allow them to face life's troubles without fear and trepidation. His peace is abiding, powerful, life-changing, lasting. The world's so-called "peace" is often just a transient feeling that results from man's faulty methods and philosophies, none of which have brought lasting peace to this earth.
John 16:33 ..I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Similar to the previous Scripture, this verse quotes Jesus assuring us of three important facts:
1. In this world we will have trouble. To believe otherwise is to be naive and even antibiblical.
2. But in the midst of that predictable trouble, we may find peace in Him! Trouble in the world, but the inward peace of Christ in the very midst of the trouble.
3. And He gives us the assurance that the troubles will not triumph over us, since Jesus Himself has overcome the world. Therefore, we may "take heart" and rest in His peace in the very midst of troubles and trials.
Romans 5:1 ..Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:6-7 ..Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Two little prepositions in these verses ("with" and "of") give us a wonderful revelation about God's peace.
Upon repenting of our sins and believing in Jesus, we are justified by faith, are born again by the Spirit, and enter into a relationship of peace with God. Our sins, which had once kept us at enmity with God, are forgiven through Jesus Christ. And now we find ourselves at peace with God, rather than in opposition to Him.
Now, as born-again children of God, at peace with Him, we can find great peace in prayer. We bring our anxieties to Him in prayerful petition, with thanksgiving, and as a result we find our hearts and minds wonderfully filled with the peace of God. He replaces our anxieties with His peace.
Romans 15:13 ..May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him...
It's a short verse, with a simple but powerful truth that is, we can be filled with peace as we trust in the Lord. I find that when I don't do this, anxieties begin to crowd into my thoughts. Then as I rest in the Lord and trust in Him for all things, the peace returns.
Colossians 3:15 ..Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
We have a choice to make. We can hold onto our anxieties, fears, and stresses. Or we can let Christ's peace "rule in (our) hearts". My natural tendency is to allow troubles to cause me to fret. But over the years, in the light of Scriptures like these, I have learned (and am still learning) to let the peace of Christ rule in my heart, to deliberately turn my cares over to Him and consciously allow Him to replace them with His own peace.
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you .. 1 Peter 5:7
Try it.. it works!
2 Thessalonians 3:16 ..Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.
It is my prayer for you.. that you will find the Lord's peace filling your hearts and minds "at all times and in every way". "Let" His peace rule in your hearts, and you will find life's troubles much easier to manage under the influence of the wonderful peace of God.
Pastor Steve
NJMinistries
