Fight For Peace

 




We have just come back from a beautiful summer holiday travelling around Norfolk in our newly converted van that I affectionately have named ‘Tristan!!’ It was a much needed time away, but I must admit I struggled, at times, to get into the rhythm of rest and find my peace. While spending time in prayer and reflection one morning while enjoying my morning cup of coffee, I felt God whisper a phrase to me. The phrase was ‘Fight for peace’



‘Fight For Peace’ 


Initially the phrase made me feel uncomfortable. They seem to be the antithesis of one another! But as I spent some time considering this in line with the scriptures, I began to see the wisdom in the phrase. 


I began to read scriptures about peace and see them in a completely new way. For example:


"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3


"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7


"Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14


"Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it." 1 Peter 3:11


"Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble." Psalm 119:165



These five verses are just a snippet of what the bible says about peace and as I read them thinking of the phrases ‘Fight for peace’ I was really challenged. In each of these verses we see Peace isn't a passive thing. It has to be pursued and fought for through prayer, reading the word, and declaring the truth over your life. 


When Jesus stilled the storm on the sea of Galilee he didn’t tell the disciples to think about peaceful things and manifest the storm to stop, he stood up and declared that the storm stop. Only then did peace come. 


Over our holiday there were times where I felt like I was fighting for peace, but I found that the fight was worthwhile as I saw so many of God’s blessing and felt God’s peace in a way that I otherwise might have missed. 


The challenge for each of us today is,




Where in your life do you need to fight for peace?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How my favourite clothing company taught me all about the abundance of God!

Image
For the last few days I have been thinking about one of my favourite bible verses and one which I often claim for myself and that is John 10:10 that declares  “A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!” I love this verse and there have been times in my life where I have seen my abundant God shower blessings upon me and do truly miraculous things. But, I have to be honest with you life isn’t always like that. Maybe it is for you and I am so thankful for your experience, but that’s not my experience!  I have had a really rough couple weeks. As a minister Christmas is always so busy and this year even more so as I juggle long distance study with The Salvation Army’s officer training college. The time between Christmas and new year is usually a lovely time of rest, reset and seeking God for the year ahead, but that certainly hasn’t ...
Read more

Tales from the Riverbank 2024: Telling the truth

Image
  I have just returned from a truly special and spirit-filled weekend at The Salvation Army’s women conference called the riverbank. Often when we think about time spent at a riverbank we think of words such as refreshment, rest and restoration and this year the conference did all this for me and more besides. This year’s conference theme was ‘Truth be told’ and to start off my recap series I thought I should take the time to tell “The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!”  The truth is I almost didn’t make it to the riverbank! up until 3pm on the Friday afternoon (and the conference started at 4pm!) I didn’t know if I would be at the conference or in the hospital awaiting surgery! At the beginning of May I had undergone an operation on my back and there had been a number of post-op complications.The last few weeks had been painful,  (both physically and emotionally) Frustrating and confusing and it had been a steep learning curve for me about trusting in God...
Read more

Entertaining Angels

Image
  This last week has been an interesting week in ministry and it has been a real challenge to juggle our mission of helping the needy in our community, especially the homeless.   Jesus says in Matthew 25:35-36: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” The salvation army has always encouraged its people to look after and minister to the people who are often forgotten in society. Its founder William Booth felt passionately about caring for peoples physical needs as well as its practical needs. He once said: ‘What is the use of preaching the Gospel to men whose whole attention is concentrated upon a mad, desperate struggle to keep themselves alive?’ However, as is often the case when we are doing God’s work, the enemy doesn’t like it. Unsurprisingly, as we star...
Read more