Have peace now and forever

The international day of peace is celebrated September 21st. In fact, the United Nations has declared that this year will be one focused on peace and safety, along with a couple other words. It makes one wonder - with all the other things going on - if God made this to happen becasue He wants our attention. The Bible talks about these specifically in relation to the end of the world. "When they say peace and safety, sudden destruction will come upon them." 1st Thessalonians 5:3

I'm not trying to say when the end will come. I do, however, want to discuss how you can have that perfect peace.

Because, of course, this world has a lot of things that bring fear to people's hearts. All the Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters combined with the increased violence and other problems make many people long for peace.

Here is how to have peace in your life. It's a peace we must share with others so others know how to be free from the burden of fear and sin and shame.

Know the Prince of Peace

Peace comes in a relationship. That can be hard for some people. Sometimes betrayal and bitterness and sadness at things that did not go the way you hoped they would can bring much pain. However, there is hope.

It is not just a hope like the world gives, such as I hope the Indians finally win the World Series. Hey, the Cubs finally did last year so who knows? What's important is that this is more than just a possibility or even a likelihood. The hope that this relationship gives is one where you have a certainty of God's love for you.

Even when things don't go the way you expect them, they will go according to God's perfect plan, which is better than what any of us can hope for. We plan for things thinking we know the perfect solution, but we don't always. We don't know the future, except for what God tells us in general about the world.

That's because we are all sinners. We all say, do, and think things that are not perfect. They hurt ourselves or others or they go against that perfect plan that God has for our lives that will make things so wonderful. Not everything will be pleasant in this world, but that is why the Bible calls it the peace that passes understanding. Philippians 4:7. It is a piece that gives us strength to go on even when things go very badly.

For instance, I know a woman who just had a stillbirth. People may wonder how she gets through it. The answer is she knows Jesus. She really has to rely on him a lot because it is very painful for her. All the world can't give the assurance Jesus can give.

She knows she'll see her little boy again, because she has trusted Jesus Christ, God in flesh, to save her from her sins.

You can do that right now. It's as easy as ABC. Admit you are a sinner and fall short of God's perfection. Believe Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the dead, because you can't get to heaven on your own. And, call on Jesus to save you, choosing to let him forgive you and make you knew inside.

You can pray something like this. "Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I know I don't deserve your perfect heaven. But I believe you died to take my punishment for my sins and rose from the dead. Lord Jesus, today I calling you with all my heart to save me and make me new inside. I trust you to forgive me and I believe that you have written me in your book of life. Not because of anything I have done but because I have called on you today because this is all because of what you did. In Jesus name, amen."

If you wander from Him of course you will struggle. However, He will always be there working in you lovingly drawing you back to Himself. You can go here to talk to someone about that life forever that begins right now.

Pursue peace with others

I have written several times, like here, about how we must all work together. We are all One race and one people. There have been people who have thought they were superior because of false pride. However, those people are wrong. We are all equal before the cross. And, God made us all equal here too.

The only difference is some of us are Saved Sinners and some of us are still Lost Sinners. Those of us who are saved need to be sharing our love as well as that of Jesus Christ so that those who are lost can be saved. After all, as I said we don't know when the world will end but it could be soon. It has been very recent for a number of people.

See, we need to ask Jesus to help us to love others despite their differences. This can be hard for some. It's easy when you have families who go to the same school and work in the same offices. At least it should be. It's harder when they are from different communities.

We need to work on building common ground. That common ground is that this is a world of sin and we need to be protecting others and helping them.

While it is true that we cannot bring God's Kingdom on our own - the time spoken of in Revelation must come first oh, a horrible time in this world I will mention later - it is also true that we must work to show God's love while we are here. We must not sit back and just wait for others to do things. We should be feeding the hungry and helping the poor and things like that and not relying on government for it, because we can do so much better as God's people helping them to help themselves.

That means getting rid of some of the sin in our own lives. It means getting rid of sensual things and things were we simply consume them for our own lust. It means getting rid of the vulgar language. It means being dedicated to good, clean, wholesome things. There are so many good things and hilarious things that can happen which do not involve vulgarity and meanness and stuff like that.

The world tries to enforce this on its own through things like political correctness. But, again, this is a human creation and therefore imperfect. No imperfect creature can ever create a perfect system. Only God can help us truly be resilient in this world so we can help others to be.

God, on the other hand, has a perfect system where we accept others and where we do work to respect others and not be bullying and treat others with kindness, doing to others what we would have do unto us. the Holy Spirit must be our guide, being filled with the Spirit means being controlled as God leads us to be the people He wants - but that includes standing for the truth of His Word and speaking it in love. This is why the Bible is so important, especially the New Testament. It shows how we should live Godly lives. And, as I mentioned before, the King James version is the one that should be followed. It is from the original Antioch Greek.

This focus on Godly attitudes toward others will eliminate the problems people have caused. It is not the political correctness as much as it is the lack of calm, consider a discussion with each other which has so damaged Society. We must get to the back to the point where we accept and understand each other, talking to understand and not just to respond.

A warning about false peace

If I am not predicting the end of the world, what am I saying?

As I mentioned in the beginning, there is a false peace coming. This is the peace of which I said the Bible warns, when they say peace and safety sudden destruction shall come upon them.

This destruction does not mean the end of the world right away. Of course, as you can see in Revelation, many things will happen eventually that will lead to the Lord needing to return to restore things. When he does, as we see in other passages about the millennial Kingdom as well as Revelation 20, it will be a world of peace that lasts.

The Bible tells of many things that I have warned before, such as the mark of the beast. Nobody can take that Mark and enter God's perfect heaven. Those who do take it will be lied to by the devil into thinking that it will give them some sort of immortality or a connection with the Antichrist that is so pleasing for the moment but will be destructive in the end.

This is the kind of thing God wants us to avoid. He has made a way to avoid it, by knowing Jesus Christ is your personal savior. As mentioned before, if you are reading this after many have disappeared, it may be that there will be a false peace developing that was also prophesized about. It will last three and a half years and will lull many into a false sense of security. This is why it is so important to know God so that he can protect you and guide you away from this.

That false peace we'll begin with some sort of Covenant that is signed or confirmed buy a world leader known as the Antichrist.

There have been many things stated by others and we don't know what is actually going to happen. Will there be some demon coming down claiming to be an alien life form? Will Holograms and artificial intelligence and other things be a major part of the deception which will come? These things we do not know.

We Do know, however, that God will protect us and save us from that terrible Wrath. Because, he is about to come sometime and bring down judgment upon the terrible evil of this world. People who have acted like Monsters doing so many horrific things, but also people who have been so prideful thinking that they can do anything they want without any consequences. Remember, that false Pride is something that I said in the beginning leads to such horrible things as racism and hatred of others and all sorts of things.

People, in their imperfect way, have tried to stamp out those things. They have been unsuccessful because only God can change hearts.

Our own hearts need to change, too, so we'll be reconciled to God and, following Him, to each other. That is the most important thing to remember. It is in our hearts that we have that peace from God. It is in our hearts that God must work to bring that peace, so we can share it with others.

Since God made us equal before the cross, let's turn to Him in unity for revival

This will mostly match the blog post I recently did for our ministry blog. I wanted to urge prayer first hrre, though. Who knows, maybe I'll update it to start like that, too.

Don't worry, this won't be as long - though the previous post provides a great model for how to respectfully cry out to the Lord and just bare your soul; and it wasn't near as emotional as it could have been.

We need prayer in this country for unity. I've mentioned many times how we must trust God to heal the many divides in America, and that repentance must occur for tthere to be true revival with this happening.

We are all one race, descendants of the same man and woman. However, I will speak here of a racial divide as it relates to the current climate in America (and elsewhere, I don't know how much it exists elsewhere, though). This is one of the numerous divisions which sinful man's ways have created, since imperfect man can't create a perfect world - we must rely on God's perfect plan.

We are clearly not together when people look down on others because of race or economic situation or anything else - like handicaps such as I've had happen. God tells us to be of one mind in the Lord(Phil. 4:2-3) (put aside differences except for doctrines which are essential for salvation and fellowship together equally in His Word). God strongly criticizes those who look down on the poor.(James 4, etc.) We are all one in Christ Jesus.(Gal. 3:28-9) We must never puff ourselves up with pride and claim supremacy over others - pride cometh before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction.

Man's best is still inherently wicked compared to God's Perfection. That is because people are selfish; it is a heart problem that can't be fixed completely by laws. As we grow in Christ we should learn to become less selfish and recognize others as our Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Plenty of people try to do this in their own power and give of themselves, but when they do so they are at best helping in ways that are not nearly as good as God's ways, and at worst are doing so only to show how good they are in front of their fellow man, just like the Pharisees did.

This is the problem with quite a few in the Millennial Generation, from what I have read recently, trying to be kind in their own strength and without God's perfection as a guide. For such people, as well as for everyone, it's important to realize none of us is perfect - all have sinned and come short of the glory of God(Rom. 3:23) - but there is a way to be saved from the punishment for our sins.

Trying but failing to always be kind in their own strength is a good definition of people at their best. At their worst? "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) God knows what is in us. Thoughts of superiority are just man's sinful boasting about being better than someone else in ways that God doesn’t look at or that are just inventions of that wicked heart.

The ways people try to solve such inequality can be problematic, too, though. I seem to remember it was Tom Seaver, one of the greatest pitchers ever, who said something along the lines that every Major Leaguer should spend a week in the minor leagues every 2 or 3 years to appreciate what they have in the majors. Whoever's quote that was, it means that people should look at others and be thankful for their status, but not to the point of feeling superior. His idea was not that everyone should be sent to the minors, but merely that it was important to have an appreciation for everything that major league baseball provides - airplane rides in huge stadiums versus bus rides and attendance in the hundreds sometimes, for instance. Actually sending every big league player to the minors for a couple weeks every 2-3 years would be very cumbersome and impossible to apply fairly between teams.

The point is that trying to help others in our own imperfect wisdom, won't work because it doesn't change the heart. Say that idea somehow became a baseball rule. It might give some players appreciation for what they have, but others would refuse, teams would be upset about losing a star at a crucial time, etc..

This doesn't mean that we should stop working, of course. The work of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s was long overdue in allowing blacks and whites to share the same drinking fountains, restaurants, and so on because we are all humans. However, it didn't change everyone's hearts, and getting the "right leaders" in power won't either because in the end, this is a problem for God the Holy Spirit to fix.

We should, as born-again Believers, have a part in it, of course. We should be at the forefront of Godly change, relying on God's principles which he lays out in his word, the Bible. We can also take stands when appropriate as individuals.One great symbol is how a Kent States team reached out during the national anthem recently, going into the stands and each player standing beside a person of a different race. That is just part of the concept of befriending others, listening to them and their concerns. It can be very sad to imagine that racism makes one fear getting shot for no reason. Some news stories have sounded more like they were from 1916 and not 2016. Indeed, as a handicapped person I have some of the same fears black people do about getting mistreated since it would be easy for someone to decide to bully me and not be able to respond. (Of course, visualizing everything as I hear about it doesn't help.)

We can easily reach out and listen and share and come to an understanding of how to work together to still encourage everyone to follow the Lord and trust Him to ultimately make things better. This world is a wicked place, and it won't be perfect for any of us until we get to Heaven. However, we can certainly band together and be part of showing who Jesus really is, and the compassion he always has for the oppressed. We want to be Godly example so they, too, want to know Jesus Christ as Saviour and follow Him with all their hearts.

The best and most important thing we can do, once we know Jesus personally, is pray. And, we should be praying with those of other races so we can all praise God for the good things He has provided along with trusting Him to bring about change in this country that is true change because it is on the inside.

I mentioned talking with each other, but getting together as different races and holding a prayer meeting would really be great. God inhabits the prayers of His people, and He can work in hearts yet once we turn from our sins and trust Him.

So comma let's do that, let's get together as 1 people, One race, and pray for an end to racism, for an end to white supremacy, and for people to turn to God to change them on the inside. Because that attitude of Supremacy is really a selfish one that comes out of a lack of contentment. And, because contentment is one mark of a Godly person, when people become more Godly in he will focus on him more then their racist attitudes will end.

Will some focus on worldly things? Sure, we all do that, it doesn't matter who we are or what our background is. From time to time we all sink into that habit of wanting what is in the world even though it will disappear some day. We are to have property and it is helpful to have money and things like that, but we should not be coveting it or mistreating others to get it. The same Commandments which show personal property is supposed to exist - Thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not covet - also tell us not to want what someone else has in a greedy way.

When we are covetous, we should simply repent of our own covetousness and just agree that being of a certain race or background should not give someone priority, so we can pray against the false pride of some Then, encourage others to also accept others as equals. The problem is that so many people have been taking from the poor and from the minorities in this country in an attitude that is totally against God. There has been lots of oppression and we need to pray that people will realize that there should be no difference at all between us no matter what our backgrounds. All are one in Christ Jesus.

When people see this, then they will realize there's something different about us and want that same Godly spirit. That is getting our hearts right with God, which is necessary for a repentance revival.

There are, of course, other problems which we must all repent of. Sure, some cculture have things in them which are unBiblical, but we should focus on what God's word says and realize we have done the same thing. People talk of the violence and degradation of women in rap music, but there are heavy metal and even lighter music lyrics that also showcase mistreatment and objectifying of women and other satanic things. The horrible vulgarity of some is equally bad among all races. People talk about the way certain people wear their pants, but they refused to talk about their own immodest ways.

The key, then, is that we should all be united to work together to turn from our sins as a nation, to repent and follow the Lord, because it is God's ways that are important and not our own. Where a culture does not violate God's ways we should accept it and where it does we need to first look at our own culture. Jesus says that if a person has a mote in there eye, we can't take it out unless we remove the beam in our own; then we can see to remove the most in the other person's eye.

If we fail to recognize our own need to repent and trust Jesus to save us, of course, it will be all for nothing. What matters is our eternal destiny, the things of this world do not matter in light of Eternity. So, why use selfish, foolish pride to appear better than another culture when in fact that stuff doesn't matter to God. What matters is what we do for Him that is also according to His principles; if we try to do something unGodly and say it's for Him He will not receive it well, it will be burned up as 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 show..

So, we must certainly be accepting them sitting next to us in our pews or our neighborhoods, just like we need to accept anyone new who comes in to hear the Gospel and/or grow in Christ. That Gospel is the most important thing, after all. One day we will all together gather around the throne to celebrate, every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

If you have never trusted Jesus Christ personally to save you from your sin, you are only a single, sincere prayer of repentance away. You simply must: Admit you're a sinner and come short of God's perfect glory with thoughts, words, and actions; Believe Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take your punishment for your sins and rose from the dead; and, Call on Him to save you from your sins, Choosing to repent - turn from your sins - and trust the Lord to make you new inside. For if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away, all things are become new.(2 Cor.5:17) You can go here for a more detailed plan of salvation - here in Spanish for the full site or here for the first part of the "Look to Jesus" study - and visit our radio show page for great shows on doctrine, spiritual growth, etc..