As I sit here tonight I just have to thank God for His love, and for all the blessings that He has given me, and continues to give me. I am learning that I have to stay desperate for Him and all that He brings to me. The past two days have not been special in that anything unusual happened. But they have been special because I have pressed into His presence more. What does that look like? Well, it doesn’t mean that I have spent hours in quiet time. I wish that I had time to do that, but I don’t. To be honest if I did, I’m not sure how it would work out. But what I have done is press into him intentionally in the moments I have. I’ve worshiped Him as I have driven to work. I have chosen to praise Him even when things haven’t gone well. But most of all, I have sought and found His abiding peace.
How do you do that? How do you find God’s peace in the middle of the storm? All of life is a storm if you let it become one. As Bill Johnson says, we are all only five minutes away from depression if we focus on the wrong thing. If we focus on the national events, or world events or even family events and don’t see them through the eyes of a loving and redeeming God we are destined for despair and even depression. You know the disciples were in the boat with Jesus. He was asleep when the storm came up. They had a choice, what do we focus on? Do we focus on the waves coming over the bow and the boat being tossed about? Do we focus on our Lord, asleep peacefully in the boat? They chose to focus on their circumstances rather than on their deliverer. Jesus was at peace. If they had focused on Him, that peace would have rubbed off on them, and then they would have been able to speak to the storm from a position of peace rather than fear.
So, when I feel fear rise up in my spirit, I have to choose to focus on Jesus and His peace. I have to remember who my Father is, and who I am. When I do this, I can walk in peace through the storm no matter what happens. I had a couple of storms blow in over the past two days. Just stuff I have been dealing with family and other things. I had to make the choice a number of times, but by pressing in to Him during what time I have, and by keeping my focus on His love, no matter what I am doing, I have been able to focus on Jesus and His peace. That has allowed me to tap into the supernatural peace that is available to all believers. Why do you think martyrs are able to give up their lives for the gospel? I think it’s because they learned to press into and appropriate that supernatural peace so that no matter what was going on, they could be at rest in their spirit.
So, I thank God that I saw the numbness that was creeping into my days. I am so glad that He drew me back into His presence and His supernatural peace. I know that as I walk in that peace nothing in the world can harm me. That is where Paul was when he said that he could be happy in all situations. That is where we, no I, need to learn to abide on a continual basis. I have been there for the past two days, but that is not enough. I want to live there all the time. You know what? I think He wants me to live there too.
I know that I will sleep well tonight. His peace is surrounding me right now. The water of His love is just washing over me. I can feel His pleasure because I know I am His son, and He loves me.
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