Peace be unto you!
Behind locked doors
Fears shake and rattle hearts.
What does the future hold
Persecution? Death? Trials?
Peace be unto you!
I, the Lord
Who holds the keys
Of death and hell,
Stand among you and say –
Peace be unto you!
Within locked hearts
Questions seethe and rage
Who am I? Where do I fit in?
What is my calling now?
Peace be unto you!
I called you by name
Before the world was made
To be my witness faithful and true;
As my Father sent me
So send I you.
Within locked minds
The pendulum swings
To trust or not to trust
Where can my mind find rest?
Peace be unto you!
Touch My wounded side and hands
Be at rest in the Truth
Abide in My love
Come alive in My Spirit
Peace be unto you!
Our God is merciful and tender.
He will cause the bright dawn of salvation to rise on us
to shine from heaven on all those who live in the dark shadow of death,
to guide our steps into the path of peace.
Luke 1:78-79
I give you peace,
the kind of peace that only I can give.
It isn’t like the peace that this world can give.
So don’t be worried or afraid.
John 14:27
May the Lord himself,
who is our source of peace,
give you peace at all times and in every way.
The Lord be with you all.
2 Thess 3:16
Manifold grace
Many hued
Many flavoured
Grace splashing joyful delight
Grace infusing the air with the aroma of Christ
Grace whispering words of comfort
Wrapping hearts with loving kindness and favour
Grace which warms the heart with affection
Melting every bitterness
Balm of Gilead restoring the soul
Grace for every trial
Rainbow coloured Grace
Revealing the rich spectrum of the Father’s love.
For from his fullness we have all received,
grace upon grace.
John 1:16
(PS. The picture is my doodle using PAINT)
Well, I never felt more like crying all night
‘Cause everything’s wrong
And nothing is right, ….
You got me singing the blues…
That’s some of the lines from Randy Travis’ song ‘I never felt more like singing the blues’.
Blues. The problem with ‘blues’ is that they colour everything and envelop everything in the deep dusk of despair. Shadows deepen and shapes distort, till everything seems monstrous and threatening. One feels alone, cut off and helpless.
Perfect setting for the Dark Whisperer to get busy, sowing doubts, fears, lies about self, God and others. Self-pity lovingly waters the poisonous seeds that have been sown. The Dark Whisperer smugly waits for the harvest of Bitterness and Despair to come forth.
I was reading Psalm 43 today morning. David has the blues and he has it bad. He feels surrounded and friendless, and as always he runs to God, His steadfast friend, for help.
Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!
Psa 43:3 ESV
Light splashes colour, ruining the blue monotones.
Truth cuts through the cobwebby fears.
Brooding monsters are mere trees
And haunted ruins, commonplace homes.
I’m not in vampirish Transylvania!
No! Just in mundane Suburbania!
The Dark Whisperer’s harvest is uprooted.
Worship and praise burst forth in triumph.
I enter the Holy of Holies,
And there at the foot of the Cross-
The ultimate altar of God,
I stand redeemed and made holy,
To sing for joy
To God who is my joy
And Whose joy is my strength.
Coals flowering red
pip dawn’s yet sleeping light
nets breaking with fish at a stranger’s command
pungent smoke
barbecued fish
broken bread
hungry men being fed by the Risen Lord.
Love gave Him eyes to see
their empty boats
heavy discouraged hearts
tired, weary bodies.
Love which knelt to wash their feet
now prepared a meal for them.
Love saw a need and reached out to fill it.
Pungent smoke
eyes meeting
memories stir of broken promises.
Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?
Do you get what I am saying?
Simon, can you hear, really hear what I am saying?
I am not testing your love, do you get it that I love you? I trust you? Put your failures behind you.
Love me, love what I love: My lambikin and sheep.
If you love me, you will see with My eyes: their brokenness, their hunger, their pain
And your heart will melt with compassion
I know you love me Peter.
Are you willing to be bread that is broken in My hands?
Do you remember that moment when the multitudes were in the desert, hungry for food, yet driven by a deeper hunger for the Living Bread?
Do you remember how my heart was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd? –
Sheep – Not knowing which road to take for green pastures, vulnerable to the preying wolves, wounded with no one to tend their wounds…
Mute, helpless, tossed in stormy seas, caught willy-nilly in the dragnet of schemes of men, helpless to resist the chain-tug of the evil slave master of sin…
Simon. Do you hear me? Do you really hear me? Does your heart leap in response? Do you rise to action?
Do you see my people? Really see them? Do you see how satan holds them captive to do his will, pulling them in like fish caught in a net?
I am placing in your hands the keys of the kingdom. I am calling you to go out in My name to be fishers of men.
Go, go in My Name to draw them out of the nets and the snares, the pits and the holes. Go to tell them of peace between God and man. Go, tell them that the price of their sins has been paid.
Sin has paid its wages of death, and I received it on their behalf, now I give to them freely the gift of eternal life. The veil is torn, the net is broken and the captives are free.
Love them as I love you.
See their need. Are you willing to lay down your life, step off the throne, give up your rights that they might find life?
Are you overcome by the knowledge of your weakness and your lack of love? Don’t despair. As you are I love you.
It shall be required of you according to what you have, not what you don’t have.
Remember I have promised you the Comforter and Teacher, He will supply your needs, and fill your areas of lack.
Remember you are my lambikin, tender, beloved of me. Now go with that heart to feed My lambikin, My sheep.
(This is an imagined monologue that I have put together from John 21: 1-17, Mark 6:34-44, Hab 1:13-15, 2 Tim 2:26, John 14-17 and many more verses…)
The Sovereign LORD has filled me with His Spirit.
He has chosen me and sent me
To bring good news to the poor,
To heal the broken-hearted,
To announce release to captives
And freedom to those in prison.
He has sent me to proclaim
That the time has come
When the LORD will save His people …
He has sent me to comfort all who mourn,
To give to those who mourn in Zion
Joy and gladness instead of grief,
A song of praise instead of sorrow.
They will be like trees
That the LORD Himself has planted.
They will all do what is right,
And God will be praised for what He has done.
Isa 61:1-3 GNB
Secret places. Cubby holes where treasures are hidden to protect them from thieving hands.
Secret places. Hidden chambers in thick walls. Secret places in which to hide from pursuing enemies.
Secret places. Beautiful getaways. Secret places in which to rest undisturbed from the rushing world.
Secret places. A secret hugged to oneself, shared only with a few in the inner circle. Entry by invitation only.
The Most High invites us into His secret place. The safest place in the Universe. The world with all its problems cannot touch you there. We are His precious treasure to be watched over and held safe. Buzzing thoughts cannot pursue us into the secret place of the Most High. And in the Secret Place of the Most High, our hearts are refreshed and renewed.
Inner Circles don’t open their doors to just anybody. But the Father in Heaven loves all with a love that we cannot even begin to understand. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit open up their arms and invite us into the centre of their love.
‘Come, all you who are weary, burdened, struggling, broken-hearted, friendless, homeless, hungry, thirsty, blind, lame, outcaste… Come!’ (Is. 55.1, Zep 3:19 & Mt 11:28) There is no fine print in the invitation. It is open to all. All can enter into the secret place of the Most High.
What is this secret place?
It is a person, not a place. It is the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, ‘Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love.’ (Jn 15:4,9)
‘Make yourself at home in my love.’ You don’t have to work to impress Him. You can be yourself. And in that place of knowing His love, of knowing that we are fully loved and fully accepted, we are set free from being what others would like us to be, or what we ourselves would like to be. We are set free to be exactly who we were created to be.
Christ’s heart, my dwelling place.
speak peace always 