God’s Call to Action & The Gift of His Perfect Peace.
I believe it’s important to let you to know that this piece has been written from recent personal experiences. I’ve been convicted within my own spirit over the last few years especially, more than at any other time in my life so far, to ask some of the questions below, of myself. I’ve been prompted to check my responses to life’s circumstances and ensure they are in step with the Spirit. Each experience has been a lesson and I thank God for each one.
God has performed a miracle in my life but not in the way you might think. The miracle hasn’t been deliverance from any of these experiences, many of which are ongoing, but it’s been in the total yielding of my circumstances to God our Father and making changes to the way I pray and call on His name right in the middle of them.
The miracle is the way He has caused me to lean on Him and trust in Him harder than I ever have done before. The miracle has been the receiving the gift of His perfect peace, the outcome of which is this… I can confidently tell you that whatever else happens now or in the future, I trust in my Lord and my faith will be unwavering.
I hope and pray that as you continue reading, this article will provide for you the same outcomes, however my prayer is also that God will give you the strength to fully yield to His control too and to trust Him unreservedly.
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How’s your faith?
In the most challenging season of your life so far, how is your faith?
When you’re battling against the darkness and you’re struggling to see or hear from God, how is your faith?
When you think about the future, and whatever may be around the corner, how’s your faith?
Christians are not immune to the consequences of ‘life’.
In Jesus, we know we have been given the ultimate in benefits such as the forgiveness of our sins, His endless grace and mercy (and we thank Him for making allowances for our stupidity), His faithfulness and provision, hope for our future, His love and protection and eternal life where we can be forever in communion and relationship with God because of the blood He shed on the cross for us.
However, being a follower of Jesus is not all walks on the beach and coffee with friends. It’s not all vacations with loved ones and basting the turkey for Thanksgiving. With life, particularly for Christians, comes pain and suffering and in the thick of our pain, the last thing we need is the idea that we should expect more but trouble, if it hasn’t landed with you yet, IS coming.
How do we know? John 16:33 says this “I have told you these things so that in me, you will have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
You will have suffering. Not, you might have suffering… you will have suffering.
Suffering is a single word that can categorise many types of pain including grief, trauma, betrayal, illness, financial loss, stress, anxiety, depression, uncertainty, insecurity and so on. But in these seasons of our lives, really - how is your faith?
1 Peter 4:19 says this:
‘So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for He will never fail you.”
2 Corinthians 4:17 says this:
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
Can we be honest for a few seconds?
What would your first response be to anyone quoting these scriptures to you during a season of darkness? Right in the middle of your pain, probably (and it has been for me) the last thing you need to hear is, ‘God’s got this, everything is going to be ok.’
Our blueprint, our inherent fleshly response to this might be to give that someone a few choice words – of the rebuking sort. You don’t need to hear scripture in this moment! You don’t need to hear that God considers your troubles ‘light’ or that your suffering is ‘pleasing’ Him!
We are too consumed by our pain, that in those moments we cannot see or feel beyond it. And the reality that we have to go through the pain – to continue to feel it for an unknown amount of time… it’s unbearable. The uncertainty is worse, what happens now? What comes next? When does the pain end?
This pain you never asked for, the pain you didn’t plan for, the pain that will absolutely interrupt your plans and change the trajectory of your next days, weeks, months, years or even the remainder of your time on this earth. What do we do?
We look to our family and friends as a source of comfort, help and support, and we thank God for the people He has placed in our lives that can be those things for us but at the moment we realise we are in pain, did we look up? And if we didn’t look up in the first moments, when did we look up?
We are called as believers, to seek Him first (Matthew 6:33) but this is so hard to do ‘first’. You’ve been thrown into chaos, your pain has had consequences on your ability to think clearly but here’s the thing: God’s power is perfected in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9) and so if all you’ve got is a ‘God help me!’, in those first moments, then that’s really all it can take. Praise Him.
So if you’re in the toughest place in your life right now, how do you know God is going to come through for you? The answer is found Colossians 1:17 - “And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Jesus Christ is the sustaining force of ALL creation. That’s you and it’s me.
But how does God see what I’m going through, can He feel the load I am burdened with, does He know that I literally cannot take one more step AND, and… does He even care and if He does, what is He going to do about it?
That, my friend, is where giving up your control and yielding to His, comes in. That’s where making changes to the way we respond, the way we pray and how and what we pray, comes in.
Do you believe in ‘practice makes perfect?’ It’s true that reciting words and phrases helps us commit things to memory and with that, I believe, can come a shift in our responses and actions. If we believe in the Lord with our whole hearts and fundamentally, what He teaches us through His word, then recite these scriptures and commit to practicing them in your daily walk with Him. These are some of God’s ‘call to action’.
“Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.” 1 Chronicles 16:11
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6
“Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.” Psalms 62:8
“But those who hope in the Lord, (another translation says, those who wait upon the Lord,) will renew their strength.” Isaiah 40:31
God doesn’t always change the circumstances… He can, He can heal and restore and bring about His miracles which will ultimately take your pain away but where He does not, you have to know He always has a plan and it’s God’s purpose in your circumstances that will prevail.
So when you think you can’t take one more step, He will move your feet and you will keep you going on and on and on… and you will not grow weary, He will hold you, He will carry you and He will not be letting you go.
So, how should we pray when we are in the middle of so much pain and desperate to be redeemed from our crisis?
One of my favourite examples of how we should pray in the middle of our pain, is found in Acts chapter 4.
There was an uprising among the leaders of the Sanhedrin because Peter and John were performing miracles and preaching about Jesus and His resurrection. They were threatened and ordered not to speak in Jesus’ name except their response to the leaders was that their authority to speak comes from God and they must do His work (read more in Acts chapter 3 and in 4:19-20).
Long story short, the early believers gathered and prayed. Acts 4:29 says this “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness”. In response to this prayer, Peter and John were filled with the holy spirit and they continued to preach boldly, Acts 4:31.
Another of my favourite examples is in Acts 6-7, the story of Stephen’s martyrdom. Stephen was a man ‘full of faith and the holy spirit’ (Acts 6:5). He performed miracles and signs and like Peter and John caused unrest among the Jewish leaders. Stephen was unhindered in pursuit of the Lord’s work. He was arrested and as he was being stoned to death, 3 amazing things happened.
- Stephen looked up and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
- He prayed for Jesus to receive his spirit.
- He asked God to forgive his killers.
See Acts 7:57-60.
Wow. What trust and what faith!
So what happens now? We have prayed. We mean it, we really do, but the anxiety is out of control. Our fear is palpable.
We are reminded in God’s word that we can lean into Him, try and rest and do our best to adopt a posture of calmness, stillness and peace.
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14
“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27
“Even there Your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.” Psalms 139:10
“I am leaving You with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27
The examples found in Acts chapters 4-7, are powerful reminders that rather than praying for our challenges to be taken away, instead, we should ask Him for the strength to persevere and remain faithful. Praying like this, means we are yielding to His control and to the will of the Father which is how we should be living as followers and believers of Jesus Christ.
My friends, take heart. Trust and believe that He will come through for you. He is bigger than our problems and even if you can’t see it now… “…we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.