Inner calm

The definition for peace for me can be described quite simply as having “inner calmness” in my life.

Either I have it, or I do not.

Recently I have been experiencing a nervous uneasy feeling that something is not quite right. So far at least, I have not been able to identify exactly why I feel this way. I know from experience though, that it is an indicator that something has gone awry in my spiritual walk. God is the personification of peace and when I am in sync with Him, I am blanketed in His peace and I enjoy that sweet inner calmness that can only come from Him. When I’m not in sync with God, I become as nervous as a prostitute in church.

So I have been praying to God and reflecting on my life as of late trying to understand where I might be going wrong, or what it is God wants me to do that I am not doing, or as the case might be, discover something I am doing that I shouldn’t be doing.

I want my peace back and I will continue to earnestly keep praying and meditating about it, searching my life until He reveals to me what it is He desires of me.

A friend of mine told me the other day that he enjoyed reading WFTD because I readily admitted that I was imperfect. He said far too many Christians that he had been around, (especially Christian leaders), turned out to be “holier than thou” Christian hypocrites. He said, “You on the other hand often admit in your writings that even though you are a Christian you still occasionally screw up.”

Hmmm That was a crude way of putting it, but my buddy is probably like many of you in disliking disingenuous people who try to hide the fact that they struggle every day in trying to be the type of person that our Father wants us to be, just like the rest of us including, that nervous prostitute in church.

Personally I think the first step to becoming a better Christian is to realize that we are at war with satan and he is attacking us daily. According to the Bible we are no match for him alone. He was created with intelligence, beauty, and dreadful power. He was created above all of the angels in heaven and he once held the most important job in heaven, guarding God’s holy mountain, (God’s actual place of residence).

To appreciate how much he hates God (and God’s most cherished creation – us), imagine for a moment how it must have made someone so full of pride feel to be cast down from heaven and discarded like a rotten banana in front of all of God’s creation. He was humiliated as none other in front of the entire cosmos and is full of hate.

Do you think he might come after us with all he can muster right up until the day he is cast into the lake of fire?

Duhhhh.

Such a powerful beast is bound to win a battle or two and admitting that we are weak and sometimes succumb to temptation in a moment of weakness is nothing more or less than just being honest. The Bible states that we have “all” sinned and are found lacking and that includes those Christian leaders that are so full of condemnation for everyone around them who is not perfect like them.

If anyone on this earth could have lived a perfect life, there would have been no reason for Jesus to have to die for our sins. So if you “screw up” on occasion at least know that you are no different than the rest of us poor slobs who are enduring a vicious battle being waged against us daily by a superior foe that controls an immense weapons cache and is motivated by pure hatred for you.

The only way to defeat him and enjoy our peace is to draw close to God, clothe ourselves in His armor, and be the person that He wants us to be

1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.