Life Perspective – Page 4 – "…because you matter!"

5) Peace as the Rule / Our Prayer

Years ago in Canada, many years ago in public school we started the day with the Lord’s Prayer. Those who are my age and older will remember it. People who have been brought up or been through liturgies of church or private school will also remember it. It was actually given to us as our prayer. Jesus gave it as instruction by saying, “When you pray, say…” (Matthew 6:9-13, NIV). One of the lines in that instruction by Jesus was to say, “…your kingdom come… just as it is in heaven.”

Luke, the writer in another place, gave an explanation of what the Kingdom of God was. He said that the Kingdom of God wasn’t an observable kingdom, (Luke 17:20, NIV); in other words, it is not a kingdom of concrete or building, of location or physical presence. Rather it is a kingdom of “righteousness, peace and joy…” (Romans 14:17, NIV). These three qualities can live and be real on the inside.

So, the way that we can pray is actually asking for God’s ‘rule of peace’ to come into my day and my circumstances, from the inside out, today, right now.

He has faithfully answered that prayer for me, and probably without exception.

He hasn’t always given me what I wanted, what I thought I needed, what I was begging him for, but he has always given me peace. He has poured out his peace in the moment and for the moment while he has worked on my circumstances and on myself for the answer.

Since he doesn’t respect one person more than another, he will do the same for you. He will give you his ‘peace rule’ if you just ask. “Lord, your kingdom come, your peace come and rule in my circumstances. Amen.”

Peace.

You don’t have to; You get to!

Peace

4) Peace, Why?

I’ve lived over thirty years of my life, my son twenty-four, in a house full of girls. I know, it was our privilege / cross to bear / challenge, and blessing, sometimes all at once. What I noticed about these ladies was their dream of a prince coming and solving all. I thought maybe I could be that prince, but it wasn’t what they had in mind; rather, Disney videos lined our bookcases.

It was fun to watch them grow up and it was delightful to see them get lost in the dream of their future.

But, life has a way of giving our dreams a hit. It has a way of auto-correcting our plans and giving misgivings. Sometimes we are blessed, and sometimes we are disappointed. Sometimes the dreams are challenged and realigned.

Conversely, today there is a real Prince. He is not just for my ladies, not just for the fantasy, the movie, the trailers, but he is actually the Prince by title.

Isaiah an ancient prophet is recorded in the Bible to prophesy of Jesus coming to earth as a baby, our Christmas story. In this prophecy he describes Jesus by titles. One of those titles is, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6.)

He is in charge of peace and he represents His Kingdom of Peace.

So, he brings peace to you.

Pray for that peace, ask for that peace, and then thank him believing that it has happened and is happening.

Peace.

You don’t have to live; you get to!

Peace

3) Peace How?

There is an extraordinary story tucked away in the Old Testament. It is found in 2 Kings 6:1-7. It is about Elisha and his company of prophets. They were out of room in their current facilities, so they decided to build another place for space.

While they were building it, one of the guys had his ax head fall into the water. I’m not sure if they were industry ‘Safe’ or if they were wearing all the appropriate PPE; but, that is what happened. This guy immediately started to freak out. His exact words, ““Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”” (2 Kings 6:5, NIV.)

Elisha responded by asking where it had fallen. He then cut a stick and threw it into the water and made the ax head float. Elisha then told the guy to, “Lift it out.” The man reached out and took the ax head.

Why would that story be included? What would be the point? Are we all supposed to go and make an ax head float? I don’t think so rather I think that one of the principles here is that, ‘You have to go back to where you lost it.’

How does that apply to peace? Sometimes we can lose our peace almost as fast as we get it.

We go through the emotional roller coaster of getting to peace, or we pray and ask God for it, or we get others to pray and ask God for it. We finally get it and then before we know it, it’s gone again.

What do we do?

We need to go back to the moment of loss (again,) and acknowledge our need/loss to God, “God I’ve lost my peace again. Will you bring me your peace?” Eventually, the repeat visits start to lessen, and peace becomes the resident.

I have done these prayers innumerable times in many different circumstances. Peace comes.

Peace.

You don’t have to live; You get to!

Peace

2) Can Peace?

“…the way of peace they do not know.” (Romans 3:17, NIV)

This quote is from scripture that says that those living by their own dictates don’t know a lasting peace.

When I think about this, I believe I need to be okay and at rest on the inside.

I don’t want to be clumped in with those doing their own thing; so I want to find this ‘way of peace’ that I can know. Not just a pause of peace, a singular momentary event, but a lifestyle; a way of living out peace, as a constant, something I can know and practice.

Is it possible to live experientially with that repose every day?

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to say, “I live in peace, and I am at peace?” Can you imagine for just a moment what that would be like having peace as your norm?

Living in peace would be like being in your family situation with an internal calm even though buttons get pushed all around; you are unfazed. Possible?

It would be like going to work in all that overwhelming stress and just being personally collected.

It would be like going on a boat excursion with everyone freaking out because of the high waves and violent wind while you are asleep in the back rocked by the same waves that intimidate the others… Wait a minute…

Peace.

You don’t have to live; you get to!

Peace

1) Peace

Wouldn’t it make sense to live in peace if we could?
We’ve mortgaged our futures, financed our lives and overspent our overtime. How can we ever live in peace?
I’ve been caught here before, and the swirl of emotions almost sent me over the edge.
One time I cried out, literally, on my way to work on a dreary, rainy Wet Coast, (intentional,) morning, “God I need your help!” I had banking that was coming due in the next week, and I had no means, which I could see, of meeting it. I felt the pressures stacking up on me. The future looked bleak. So I cried out again. It was dark, I was alone, and no one could see inside my car.
As I stopped the car to go to work, I felt a prompting. It was in the form of a question, “Are you okay today?” It caught me off guard because I think I was expecting some divine directive. Instead, I got a question, “Are you okay today?” I had to respond with a yes because from what I could tell my world wouldn’t fall apart until next week. Then the peace came with assurance, “If you are okay today don’t you think that I will take care of you tomorrow?”
You know? He has. He did then, and he has every day up to and including today.
He will do it for you too. Just ask.
Peace.

You don’t have to live; You get to!

Freedom

Freedom Choice

I want to be a person of freedom, a person who lives in freedom, and a person who gives freedom to others.

I want to be one who ‘gets to’ or chooses to, rather than one who ‘has to.’

Freedom is all about choice, so I need to live a life of choice and not one of rules or the dictates of another.

In order to be a person of freedom, I need to have freedom as a personal experience. And, how do I get experience in freedom? The answer is quite simple really. I need to make good choices.

Good choosing requires engagement at all levels instead of leaving it to ‘random’ or chance. It requires that I live life responsibly and become fully informed as it relates to my world. It is actually the antithesis of what many believe freedom to be.

For many, freedom is just the absence of rules, and anarchy if you will. But, for those who would live in true freedom, the governance or rules come from an internal guide.

A person who lives in freedom will not put you down. They do not get their power from your demise. Rather they are dispensers of good will and helpful information that gives you the power to choose.

You Don’t Have to Live; You Get to!

Process, Uncategorized

Process

There was a process, but at the time Joseph, the Dreamcoat Joseph, must have thought it was just pain and suffering! Joseph was mistreated, on second thought; his siblings grossly mistreated him. It doesn’t get much worse than being discarded and left for dead, but then it did. They, being the ultimate dysfunctional family sold him. While putting the cash in their pockets, they collaborated the deceit and lie about his whereabouts.

Joseph went from his original stack of family problems to a whole new paradigm of endurance. He knew what it was to have ‘no-say’ when it came to the affairs of his life, but even this deepened to a whole new level. It took over 13 years to process the dreams that Joseph had in his heart. He had no way of knowing that he was moving toward his dream. He wasn’t just in a holding pattern. He was progressing toward his desired end, but nothing of the process looked anything like his dream.

So, what is your dream? If you are like me, you want to step from where you are to where your dreams have you. You can take a step, but it will probably be into the process. Just don’t forget about the one who is behind the process, the one who created the dream in you.

Joseph’s words, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Process.

Attitude

You Don’t Have to Live; You Get to

“When I was a kid…”

The times I heard that phrase growing up, I couldn’t even begin to count.

One of the changes that my wife and I made in our parenting different from our upbringing was to make an attitude adjustment in our children.

Instead of ‘guilting’ them to eat their food, i.e. “You know there are children starving in Biafra, they would give their eye teeth to have a meal as you have right now.” We challenged their attitude.

“You don’t have to eat that; you get to!” We emphasized the privilege of the moment, but with a different, positive spin. Why, because, attitude is everything. It is everything for children sitting at a table, but it is everything for us in our adult world as well, well almost everything. There is a whole lot we can say about action, but that will be for a different time.

The way we think determines the way we act. The way we act determines our outcome in life.

So, when challenged with, “Do I have to eat this…potato?” We would immediately reply, “You don’t have to; you get to!”

This effort worked in many other areas of parenting. As soon as they asked the question and we started to respond, “You don’t have to;” our children would fill in the rest, “I get to.”

But, think about it for a second. Isn’t it better to approach life and circumstance with an “I get to!” attitude?”