My Peace Story/Confession - The Greeting: Part 8

"To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." -Romans 1:7

So, we briefly looked at grace, yesterday, and now we move on to peace! Well, I'm not sure how much "new" stuff I have to say about peace... If you want a more in-depth look, however, check out some of the earlier entries I did on peace. They're gonna be pretty far back there, but you should still be able to find them.

Let me just take a few minutes to tell you the most recent run-in I had with the peace that God supplies...
I was depressed. I felt like nobody cared. I looked at those that I loved, and felt like there was nobody who loved me in return. I was listening, quite intently, to the lies of the devil. "You're not good enough. You aren't lovable... How can you call yourself a Christian? Look at how you reacted to that person."
So far... not a whole lot of peace going on... is there? I was struggling with a sense of value and worth! I was often wondering, "What's the point of life? Is this all I can expect for the rest of my life... to feel like an outcast?" Friends, there was a level of self-pity there that I hope none of you ever stoops to!
Now... Tuesday night prayer meeting, March 3rd, 2009. (Aha! So, you thought this was an OLD story huh? Nope, I'm still broken... still in need of constant correction from God.)
I don't remember much of the actual prayer meeting, itself. We sang some songs, prayed in groups... and I felt such a burden the whole time! At the end of each prayer meeting, however, we have a time of communion. And I purposed to really focus in on Christ and His saving work, on the cross. I got into the line of people that were headed up to receive communion, and was all-the-while meditating, or at least trying to, on the things of Christ. Now the line I was in began at the back of the room and curved around towards the side of the room. The problem was that we were going to the same station for communion as another line of people, which meant that we were merging with this other line in what looked to me like Friday evening traffic (Just picture your local highway at 5pm on Friday). The pastor noticed this problem and, along with an elder, began giving communion for the line that I was in. When I reached the front, I was still struggling with feeling the nearness of God (another subject for another time), but as I came up to the elder who was handing out the bread, he looked at me and smiled. He said, in hushed tones, "Hey! How's it going man? This is the body of Christ. This is the body which was broken for you!"
At this time I was thinking, "Wow! Okay, this is good!"
Now... here's where I got really messed up in my self-pity party...
Next was the pastor, who held out the cup and said, "Tonight you are a son of the King, because of this blood, which was shed for you!" Yeah... that was it...
Friends, the realization of HIS love for me... it washes away all of the "need" I had felt for the approval of man! The restless nights of desiring for someone to care, those were burned up in the passion of HIS love for me!
There is a peace that only God can supply... The kind that doesn't leave you when things are tough. You might forget, every once in a while, Who it is that really loves you, unconditionally. I did! But He never quits on us! He is there, the Solid Rock on which we stand, and He alone is our peace! Paul says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father..." Paul knew where the grace and peace came from! You can't find these two things, in their true form, except through our Heavenly Father.
The funny thing about those times of wondering and wandering is that, when God does make Himself plainly known in those moments of brokenness, we see how great His love for us really is! We find that peace that we had strayed off the path to try and get from other sources... it was there all along, in Him!
I don't have time, today, to go into all of the aspects of peace. However, I would encourage you, if you haven't read the week that we went through peace, to go back and read those for a fuller understanding of what peace is and what it isn't. The truth is, though, that even though I wrote all about peace, experiencing it was completely different. Because I still longed after human affection. I struggled with peace, even after I wrote all of those blogs about it! It takes faith in action, and sometimes (like what happened to me) it takes experience, to really understand and fully grasp what it means to forsake all others for the peace which God supplies. It is the sweetest thing, though, once you learn to rest in the arms of the Father!

With that... I do truly bid you the Grace and Peace of God in your lives!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .