To have the authority to surrender… and interesting thought <3
A short but sweet thought for you today regarding peace.
As I read Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming Messiah, he says he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
Only one term is a title of authority and that is Prince, or Ruler of Peace.
God is called the God of Peace in Scripture in other places.
He owns peace, has authority over peace, rules peace and in Colossians 3, I find that He gives me the option of coming under that authority.
In Paul’s writing the believers in Colossae, he instructs them in practical ways to live out their faith.
The words of the entire passage are a sermon we would do well to preach to our minds and hearts often.
If we took them to heart and activated them in our lives, we would make a better testimony of what Christ has done in our sphere of influence daily, but I will focus on verse 15 today since I promised to be brief.
You also would be proud because I just pruned the previous sentence down from a rather hefty paragraph…but I digress…
So Paul, after giving clear teaching on how to live in the spirit, says:
And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts.
Colossians 3: 15
In that short sentence, Paul packs several punches:
- Peace belongs to Christ
- We see the wholeness and completeness of us pictured as being a part of a unified body
- The peace of Christ has authority and rulership
- We have to allow it; we have to give it permission to rule over us
In other words, He IS the author and supreme authority of this wholeness and completeness we seek. It is found within the context of a bigger-than-us Body. But we each play a part in receiving it by allowing ourselves to lay down our little thrones and kingdoms and LET His Peace take charge over our hearts.
He has authority yet is not an authoritarian.
The term “let” means: to decide, determine, control, rule.
So He has authority and control over peace and I have authority over my will to either refuse His authority or submit to it.
He does not demand I surrender, He surrendered first and then invited me to enter into His Kingdom as a child.
He is the Prince of Peace and each time that I place my trust in Him, I am kept in that Peace.
I have His Word on it and I have learned by experience
A prayer for us today:
Heavenly Father, like a child, I often find myself stubbornly refusing to trust that You know more than I do about a situation.
As I wrestle with anxiety or frustration or offense or anger, I find that my heart and soul enter into a state of turmoil and unrest.
Each time, again as a child, I run to You because I know that You are the only One who can help me sort through all that I am feeling and sensing.
I know that You alone know the whole story on what is going on in me and in those around me.
I have found You faithful time and again and I am so thankful that you listen to me as I pour out my thoughts and You hold me as I work through the release of my own desire to control things and people to fit my plans.
You do not grab things from my hands, but I am so thankful that as I pray for Your help, You gently loosen my grip with reminders of why I can trust You to lead me.
Thank you for Your endless patience with me and for the gentle but firm ways Your Spirit brings to my mind and heart the peace that passes my human understanding.
<3