Finding Peace in a World of Confusion

     For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. (1 Corinthians 14:33)  As we follow the current news of the day many would say the world is going crazy!  Major countries in economic shambles, civil unrest increasing around the world, and major natural disasters that man has no control over (though foolishly some think man contributes to these by building, drilling and mining the earth.)  It may sound cliché but I find it true regardless of the situation if we put our hope and trust in our Heavenly Father, He will keep His promise Philippians 4:6-7.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

     As Paul is closing his letter in 2 Corinthians 13:11 he implores the reader to live in peace.  Finally, brethren, farewell.  Become complete.  Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.  We become complete by inviting Christ in and allowing His Holy Spirit to fill our very being, removing the void left by the fall of man, as we do so we can live in good comfort (in a spiritual sense) and we will live in peace as we focus our eyes on God daily.  That old “Lie Whisperer” would want to steal our peace and sadly he has stolen some of God’s people’s peace.  How can that be?  You may ask.  We can look at the example of Peter when Jesus was walking on the water in Matthew 14.  He asked to come out on the water with Jesus as he stepped out of the boat with his eyes on Jesus he did walk on the water, but then he was distracted by the stormy waters and took his eyes off of Jesus and immediately began to sink then crying out to Jesus (end of vs. 30) “Lord, save me!” (vs.31) And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

     We are all like Peter, we want to step out of the boat and keep our eyes on Jesus, yet as we do the events of the world can easily distract us, so focusing on Jesus really takes a discipline that needs to be exercised daily if not moment by moment.  Jesus is faithful to His followers and His arm is always outstretched and ready to save us, to draw us in, comfort us and give us that peace in a world full of turmoil.  King David lived in a world of turmoil surrounded by enemies most times and yet he was able to pen the words in Psalm 4 and the final verse (vs. 8) confidently states.  I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.  All of us who follow Christ can have the same assurance David had, whether he was living in a cave or a palace he knew he had to keep his mind and hope on God above and nothing else, and that inner peace, which passes all understanding, would fill him, over and over.

Dale LaFrance                                  Colossians 3:15

Romans Road to Salvation

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     As it is written,  There is none righteous, no not one:  (Romans 3:10) This is the first passage in Romans to start us off on our journey toward salvation, many of my readers may have heard of this road however many may not have so I would like to guide you down it in hopes that you will remember it and use it as a guide when dealing with a lost soul.  I have always found it best to let that person read the passage and then ask their input on it, while doing so the Word of God will do the convicting not me.  Many people believe they are good, however our first passage shows us no body is, which is supported by 3:23.  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.  With each passage we allow our lost friend to read we can follow up with a question such as “what does this tell you?” Or, “How does that make you feel?  Prayerfully trust the Holy Spirit to guide you.  Now we move on to see how sin entered the world in 5:12.  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.)  Of course that man was Adam and the death was a spiritual death when he disobeyed God, God’s Spirit was removed leaving a void that can only be replaced by Jesus Christ, as we will soon discover down this road.

     For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:12)  This is where people will say Christians are narrow minded, and in this case true believers are, these are the words of Gods not ours.  That death spoken of is eternal separation from God!  However there is hope as we see in 5:8.  But God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  We see how He did that for us in 10:9-11.  That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”  The interesting thing is, it does not matter to God what nationality or race you are it’s His desire that no man should perish and He also tells us to come as we are, we will never make our selves righteous enough to stand before Him, we can only be made righteous through the Blood of Christ.  God does not send people to hell they choose to go there by stepping over Jesus Christ. Finally Romans 10:13 tell us this!  For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  There is nothing else you can or have to do to enter into God’s kingdom, nothing!  The price for your redemption has been paid, all that is left to do is to believe and receive your free gift of salvation.  Please read the verse beside my name!

         Dale LaFrance                                  Revelation 3:20

Unity of the Body

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     Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.  It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing—Life forevermore. (Psalm 133)  When the body of Christ is in unity it is a powerful force!  Why do you think that old (Lie Whisperer) snake spends his energy on God’s people?  If he can sow discord and bring disunity into the body he can cause it to be dysfunctional and therefore for the most part ineffective.  When God’s people as a body of believers are truly united they are not power grabbing or seeking self-gratification no they are seeking to see God glorified in all they do.  It truly is good and pleasant when believers in the body work together each using the gifts given to them.  In the eyes of man this would seem impossible but through God we know all things are possible and when God’s people submit to Him in obedience the Holy Spirit will bind us together, Galatians 4:6.  And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. Crying out, “Abba Father!”

     As believers truly submitting to God, dying to ourselves daily the Holy Spirit residing within each of us will unite us so that together as a body we can glorify the Father; a united body is the will of the Father.  But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:17)  Individually as we come to faith in Christ we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, as we come together as believers the Spirit attests to the Spirit and unites us as a body.  We need to be constantly on guard and submitting to the Spirit and remember the warning Jesus gives us in Matthew 26:41.  “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  If we are attempting to serve the Lord not submitting to the Holy Spirit we are walking in the flesh, and yes this can cause disunity in the body because we will not all be on the same page.  The flesh will always try to push its self to the forefront because we are selfish creatures, therefore the warning Jesus gave us must be put into practice every single day, individually and as a body.

     “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:19-20)  Here we have another promise of Jesus to the body, He will unite us as we come together in prayer.  I firmly believe a united body is a praying body and as we join together in one accord we can be a spiritually healthy body doing the Fathers will here on planet Earth until we are called to our Heavenly home.

         Dale LaFrance                                  Acts 2:1-4

Personal Requirements of Prayer

     If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.  But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.  Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me! (Psalm 66: 18-20)  Prayer is the most powerful weapon a believer will wield because the battle we wage is not of the flesh and it is not ours it is the Lords.  All believers, not some but all believers are called to pray.  We are to set aside a time each day and pray for others as well as for ourselves, as individual followers of Christ it is important to build that relationship with Him privately as well as corporately.  As we read the above passage we see that one of the requirements is to have a pure heart, Gods Word tells us He will not hear us if we regard iniquity in our hearts.  If we are honest with ourselves all of us at one time or another has held something in our heart as we went to prayer, we know that when we carry that sinfulness into prayer and do not truly repent of it, our prayers seem like they are hitting a brick wall.  Suffice it to say repentance is a must for God to hear our prayers.

     So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, “Be moved and be cast into the sea,” it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21: 21-21-22)  Sadly many have taken this passage and distorted it and in the process ruined many or lead them astray with bizarre doctrines on faith and prayer.  As we grow and mature in our walk with Christ the Holy Spirit within us teaches and guides us how to pray and what to pray for as we bring our petitions before the Lord.  So many people have taken verse 22 out of context and treat God as their personal genie in a bottle.  We need to remember that God wants what is best for us, and that may be something completely different then what we personally have in mind, that’s why we need to have trust and faith in Him.  The bottom line is we are to desire to see God’s will be done, not ours. 

     The closer we draw to God the more our desires and prayers line up with His will and we pray with more confidence and compassion. 1John 5:14-15.  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.  Our walk with the Lord can be measured by the time we spend with Him as individuals.  I have heard this question a lot,  “What is God’s will for me?”  Gods plan is different for each individual, however this I do know He desires each of us to get to know Him and He will direct us as we do, so that He may be glorified!  John 14:13-14.  And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

         Dale LaFrance                                  James 5:16

Renewing Your Mind

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     I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)  There are so many things in this world that are vying for our attention, many of which are unhealthy in a spiritual sense, which can cause us to take our eyes off of our Lord, something the Lie Whisperer is very good at!  Paul was aware of the spiritual battle that rages to captivate and ensnare us through the devices used by our enemy Satan.  As we read in the twelfth chapter of Romans Paul gives us instruction how to combat the assumptive language of the world that can lead us astray, something that can easily happen if we as individuals don’t take personal responsibility for our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Allow me to use a computer analogy, there are times when the page we are on may become corrupted or have stale information, at the top of the page we see the refresh button and all we have to do is click it to reload the page to refresh.  Well this is what we need to do daily in our walk with the Lord, we need to refresh with His Word, His Spirit, as we do this we renew (refresh) our mind and soul.  This also helps us as we tune in with Him to guard us from being taken captive by the things of this world.

     When King David stopped seeking God everyday (renewing his mind) he was taken captive by the carnal desires that crept in. One thing led to another, he was idle then lusted, committed adultery and then even murder, had David not stopped renewing his mind daily he would not have been taken captive by the ways of the world.  When Nathan the prophet confronted David he repented and then penned Psalm 5, a Psalm of repentance and renewal and in verses 10-12 he cries out for a renewed relationship with God.  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

     Speaking from experience having accepted Jesus as my Lord in 1979, there have been times when I was lax in renewing my mind daily in Gods Word and I must say it surely did affect my relationship with Him.  Not that He turned from me, but that I turned from Him.  His voice was not as clear and His presence not as near because I chose not to renew my self-daily with Him.  The Holy Spirit that was given to us as a comforter until the Lord either returns or takes us home needs to have that fellowship with the Father and Jesus because the old man is dead and I have been made new in Christ.  The Spirit needs Gods Word to be renewed, Colossians 3:9b-10.  Since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.  As our bodies crave and need food to survive and grow so does our spirit with in us.  We need to daily feed (renew) the spirit the Word of God to maintain a close relationship with Him.

         Dale LaFrance                                  Isaiah 40:31