Supernatural peace.

I think this is one of the fruits of the Spirit that I’m the most grateful for.

In Galatians 5:22-23, it lists the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But also in my favorite verse – Colossians 3:12-15 – it says “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” -This is only verse 15, but 12-15 are my favorite verses in the whole bible.

“And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6

Years ago, I was listening to a guest speaker during a Women’s Conference that our church was having, and she said something that struck me to the core. It was a Rhema word for me. Went right down into my soul and stayed there, for me to utilize whenever I needed it.

“If you want to receive the supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding, you have to give up the right to understand.” – Guest Speaker (sorry, I couldn’t find her name in my notes.)

If it’s a peace, that surpasses all understanding – then…. you have to acknowledge that sometimes you are not going to understand why something is happening. Sometimes, things just aren’t going to make sense. Sometimes we live in a fallen world, and Satan has helped spurred an event on – and now you’re living with the consequences. Sometimes, it’s a part of God’s plan, and you aren’t going to figure that out for years to come – or you may never figure it out because it wasn’t meant for you. Sometimes, stuff just happens.

So – how do we get this supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding? Well – you’ve already got it. If you have accepted Jesus, then you received it – when you received the Holy Spirit. The question is – then, why, why, why doesn’t it feel like you have the peace? Because you are still fighting with your human self to understand situations. As people, it’s in our nature to want to understand, to make sense of things, to rationalize.

So, here again, we have to get past ourselves. Sometimes, we don’t get to know. Sometimes, we don’t get the answer. Sometimes, it really is just Satan trying to tear us down, or it’s part of a bigger plan that we don’t get because we can’t see the whole picture. And, I believe as part of being a Christian, this is where we just have to trust that God is going to get us through this – whatever it is. That we just have to know that our hope and our faith is in God, and he’s going to get us through to the other side. Because, as I’ve stated before, our problems are only new to us. God has seen them all before, and he’s dealt with all of them before, and we just have to take the leap of faith that he’s going to walk us through this one too. Whatever that looks like.

I’m really enjoying this supernatural peace, and really happy that I feel like I’ve really made some strides in my faith in these last several years. I had something happen this past Friday, that would’ve previously shaken me to my core. I would’ve been a hot mess. Totally spiraling, worrying, FrEaKiNg right out. I would be losing sleep over it. I mean, pure meltdown. But, when it happened, I was like “Oh ok.” Quickly assessed the situation, took some time to process it, and was like, “alright.” And that’s it.

Then, as I’m listening to the Sermon today, the Pastor says, “You’ll know them by their fruit.” And he starts talking about the real fruit vs. the fake fruit. Talking about how people should know you are Christians by what they see evidenced in your life. How you handle situations. How you treat others. How you bear fruit and witness. How you show that you follow the Lord Jesus Christ, by trying to be an example of Him here on earth. To make others wonder what’s so special about you. What’s so special? Your relationship with Jesus! How he’s helped you grow! How He is the example we should aspire to be like. And what better example of peace?

Storm outside gonna sink the boat. He’s sleeping.

Friend Lazarus dies. Keeps on ministering and preaching as He slowly makes his way over to where his friend is buried.

Gets betrayed by one of his best friends. Has supper with Him.

Is dying on the cross. Forgives everyone.

The supernatural peace of the Messiah – lives inside you. You just have to believe it. Embrace it. I know it seems like an impossible task – stop worrying? Please believe, I used to be the Queen of worry. I worried about everything, all the time. Perpetual state of worry. Consumed my thoughts. But, I had to train myself to stop worrying. To accept the supernatural peace that God had already given me. It’s already in there – you just have to figure out how to let IT consume you. If we can let worry consume us, we can also let peace consume us. I will tell you how I did it, but you do have to figure out what works for you.

I found a verse in the Bible that spoke to me. Then, I wrote it down. I wrote it down on 3×5 little index cards. Then, I put one at my desk. I put one in my car. And I put one right next to my bed. Then, I memorized that verse. And, every time my worry started to creep in – Or maybe was full blown, I would look at one of those cards, or I would start repeating that verse to myself – until it was all I could think about. And, if I felt I was good, and I could stop, then I did. But – if that worry started to creep back in, I would just start all over again. I did this for years (I think it took me about 2-3 years.) I especially practiced this at night when I was trying to sleep, because as we all know, that’s our brain’s favorite time to trip down worry lane – I also just starting praying about everything I was worrying about until I passed out. But then, slowly, I stopped having to do it as often. Slowly, I had to hardly do it at all. And then, on Friday. It didn’t even cross my mind. Oh, horrible situation that’s potentially going to have lasting repercussions – Ok. Guess we’re doing that now.

I want to leave you with 2 more thoughts today.

1 – The Bible does not say that God will not give you more than you can handle. It says, “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted more than you can bear.” – Many people seem to misconstrue that into he doesn’t give you more than you can handle. If you didn’t experience things that were bigger than you, why would you need God? Why would he have thrown us this lifeline if life was full of situations that we were completely capable of handling? When life is too much to stand, kneel.

2 – My favorite verse ❤

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy & dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:12-15

Let’s Pray

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You! Thank you for being bigger than our problems. For sending us a Savior that has overcome the world. Thank you for the gifts of the Spirit. Thank you for your supernatural peace. That you lay these blessings on us, and in us. That we may practice your Word, and draw closer to You. That we may continue to bless others, as You have blessed us. Thank You Father God for the supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding. Thank you Father God, for giving us Rhema words when we need them, for speaking to us and connecting with us. For the personal relationship you seek to have with us. Thank you Father God that You are amazing, and incredible, and everything we need, all the time. That You just want to bless us, with whatever we need. That you have provision of more than enough for all things. Thank you Father for your amazing goodness, and that you share that goodness with us, each and every day. IN JESUS’ NAME!! AMEN!!

Several weeks ago, there was an incident. We were supposed to be having a family function, and one of my family members treated my son and I very poorly. I’m not going to dive into the details, but let’s just go with the fact that it was bad enough that the entire family was upset and it was a pretty big deal. Now, let’s go a step further, and note that I’m a formidable Mama Bear – so needless to say, I was livid. I was shaking because I was sooooo upset.

But, we continued with the family function, and the day, and went on. As the next day arose and I entered my prayer time, I prayed for God to give me a word to forgive. I knew that this was what needed to happen, because enough things have happened in my life, that I know, nothing good comes from drinking the poison of anger, hurt, etc., and expecting the other person to die. I needed to forgive for myself. I also knew this is what needed to happen because I have changed the way I think over the years (see The Now, Back to the Basics, Good day, Reminder, I choose Joy) So, I prayed for a Word. Help me God, to forgive.

Then, I went to church, because where better to hear a Word. Went through the whole service, and no word. Ok. Well, I also heard we were having a guest speaker that night, and he’s always someone I enjoy. So, I went home for the day, and went about my business. Still battling and wrestling with the situation before me. As the time drew closer, I was walking out onto the porch, and my pinkie toe caught my weights laying off to the side, and let’s just say that the rest of my body kept going, and my toe didn’t. I jammed it good and proper. I sucked wind and gasped, and stood very still as my body tried to assess what just happened here. After a few moments, I regained my composure and continued doing what I was doing. About half an hour later, it was time to go to church, so I finished getting ready, and as I was walking out the door, stated to my husband, that I was concerned about my toe – but I would be back after a bit. I get to church, and we start worship, and about half way through, I realize my toe is UPSET. Like starting to become overwhelming. But, I’m here now, and I’m waiting for a word – so I guess my toe will have to wait. About halfway through the sermon – there it was – the Word I was waiting for. As the sermon finished up, I KNEW that my toe was an absolute situation, so as soon as we were “dismissed”, I bolted for the car. As the days went on, I was on the fence about whether or not my toe was broken (and I’ll admit, 6 weeks later, I’m almost positive I broke it because it still hurts and it sits a little funny now. *I did not seek medical attention, because there’s almost literally nothing that they actually do for a broken toe.)

But I told you all that to tell you these 2 things, 1-I believe that God held my pain off, to ensure that I could make it to church to get my word, because aside from the initial pain – I seriously just thought I jammed my toe good – not that it was broken, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have gone to service because I would’ve been elevating it and treating it like it was broken. And 2 – The Word.

“ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

John 20:23

There it was. Someone else’s potential forgiveness from the Lord, depends on my attitude. And, there’s another corresponding verse that adds to this statement.

“¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Matthew 6:14-15

Woof. Talk about some responsibility. This verse comes right after the Lord’s prayer – I find it a little interesting in looking at it now, that it was not tagged onto the end of it to be a more constant reminder of our responsibility to forgive others.

But there it was. God forgives me of all my sins, and I know that. Sooooo, if I’m in a consistent state of trying to be more like God, then fill in the blank…. *answer – I have to forgive others. Oh, ouch. Even when it doesn’t feel good. Even when they have egregiously hurt me. Even when, I doesn’t feel like I should forgive them. I have to get past myself and forgive.

Our Savior’s final act – “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

This goes hand in hand with the calling, we as Christians, are supposed to be doing. Love one another. That means loving beyond the hurts and offenses. How are we supposed to continue to love, as the Father loves, when we’re harboring resentment and anger? We can’t. First, we have to forgive.

Follow-up, I will note that the family member called me the following day, to apologize. They didn’t make excuses, they didn’t try to push the blame off. They just apologized. Which helped the healing process, of course, and was a great step. But, I didn’t need them to apologize because I had already forgiven them in my heart. I knew that I needed to get past myself, and acknowledge the fact that they could decide to never apologize, and forgive them anyway. I think it was one of the best things I’ve experienced as a Christian, is learning how to do that. Now, again, I’m only human, and it’s not like I’m just going to instantly know how to do this every time, or that I’m going to get past it so quickly in the future – but it was a great step in my walk in faith. It was a great lesson God walked me through. And, I am very grateful for it. Because I also know when it was happening – that I couldn’t see how we were going to get past this, but God saw it – and he was like, “Don’t worry, I got you.”

Let’s Pray

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you!! Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you, for drawing me nearer to you, that I may learn to be more like you every day. Thank you for helping me through life’s trials and tribulations, that I may practice your ways and be the light to those around me. Thank you Father that you are bigger than my problems. That you have faced all my problems before me, and that you are on the other side, and in them, and in me. Thank You Father God for your Word. That is strengthens me and sustains me. That it nourishes me and gives me hope. That You Father God, are making me a new creation, that you are helping me get past myself to be more like you. Thank you for always being there, and helping me every step of the way. IN JESUS’ NAME!! AMEN!!