Finding peace in\nchallenging times is extremely hard. It is exhausting to filter out the\ncultural chaos of the constant and sometimes conflicting media reports to\nunderstand the truth. Making it more difficult is that we live in a time when\nthe truth is relative. There is so much information; you can prove almost\nanything as true. The saying is: \u201cFigures lie, and liars figure.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as Christians, we\nare on opposing sides. After Abraham Lincoln\u2019s death, the following note was\nfound in his papers: \u201cThe will of God prevails – In great contests, each party\nclaims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be\nwrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the\npresent civil war, it is quite possible that God\u2019s purpose is somewhat\ndifferent from the purpose of either party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the Civil War,\nLincoln met with a group of ministers at a prayer breakfast who tried to\nencourage him. They told the president that they had prayed that \u201cGod would be\non our side.\u201d Lincoln corrected them, saying, \u201cNo, gentlemen, let us pray that\nwe are on God\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember, God wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I rest on one simple\nfact; God loves me unconditionally and wants the best for me. That is the\nfilter I use to judge all thoughts and actions. We have the Presidential\nElection, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Black Lives Matter protests all\nclimaxing to distract us from our one real focus. Everyone who prays will not\nget the answer they desire. Peace will not come from the right party winning or\nthe distribution of a vaccine or even resolution of centuries of bigotry and\nhate. Something else will always rise to take their place. We will never live\nin a perfect world this side of heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how do I stop my mind\nfrom leap-frogging from issue to issue seeking peace? How do I convince myself\nthat just like the latest car or a better job or a bigger house won\u2019t provide\nlong term peace, neither will solving worldly problems? It is paramount that we\ncontinuously strive to eliminate injustice, famine, and disease, but that fight\nwill never end, it will just change venues, and we should change with it. It is\npart of our Christian charter to fight evil on all fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you believe that you\ncan not achieve peace and joy until all of the world\u2019s problems are solved, you\nwill remain an unhappy camper until your death. You have to find something\nabove that. You have to find something that is long-lasting and perfect. Folks,\nit is not here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter how any of\nthis flush out, I rest in the palm of God\u2019s hand. He will not allow harm to\ntouch me. I may suffer, but it will not shake me. For me to put my peace in the\nhands of non-believers doesn\u2019t make sense. To have the world work out to the\nbenefit of those who do not love Him doesn\u2019t bring me peace. The only peace I\nwill ever have is the peace I receive because I have accepted His way over\nmine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth remains that\nhad all of us, worldwide, chose to live according to God\u2019s promise, little of\nthis would have ever come to fruition. We would have solved the problems before\nthey became problems; we would have treated each other with love and respect.\nBut we didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To expect to have peace\nonly after all have been blessed with peace is foolish thinking. My peace comes\nfrom my relationship with Christ, and the world\u2019s peace comes from their\nrelationship with Him. When I make my peace conditional to their peace, I lose.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fight the good fight.\nMake a positive difference in the world. Never accept inequality or evil. But\nremember your strength does not come from the fight, but from the God, for whom\nyou fight. Fight for Christ to rule over all, and peace will follow. Both sides\ncan\u2019t win, accept that God\u2019s plan may not be our plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They told the president that they had prayed that \u201cGod would be on our side.\u201d Lincoln corrected them, saying, \u201cNo, gentlemen, let us pray that we are on God\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[12,13,17],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motivation","category-purpose","tag-christian","tag-motivational","tag-peace"],"yoast_head":"\n