Peace Is Come, but Where Is It Now?
By: Mary Hood
Tags: God, Advent, Christianity, Control, Peace

Thoughts form into words as anxiety replaces peace and I silently pray I will remember them when I have a moment to write them down. I am working and cannot stop what I am doing.

My phone rings. I look at the number and don’t recognize it. I delete it. I know I will get a voicemail message if it is so important.

Years ago, when phones stayed at home on a leash, my mother asked, “Why don’t you ever answer your phone?” I answered, somewhat short and frustrated:

“Because my phone is for my convenience, not yours.”

Words have meaning

This week I light the candle of peace. Whatever candle you light to prepare for the Christ child, whether it be faith, love, joy, hope, peace, or any other attribute of the Son of God, know these are exceedingly more than temporal words.

A supernatural conception

“The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.’” (Luke 1:35, NASB).

I bet Mary experienced times of anxiety. The mother of God is quite a responsible undertaking. I am certain that rumors and accusations taunted her and her family throughout her days on earth.

Even knowing her child was virgin-born, she had to wait, trust, and cling to the words and prophesies spoken to her by Simeon, the devout servant in the temple, and Anna, the prophetess, years before all became self-evident.

Who teaches us?

“These people are dried-up riverbeds, waterless clouds pushed along by stormy winds—the deepest darkness of gloom has been prepared for them.”(2 Peter 2:17, TPT).

God places high expectations on those who teach His Word. False teachers will not go unpunished.

The whole counsel of God begins with the whole of God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2, NASB).

I believe the Spirit of God waited for God the Father to speak instruction and that He executed the Father’s plan, just as when the fullness of time came, God, the Father sent Jesus to be born, and just as God the Father will, in the last days, tell the Son when to come again for His bride, the church.

When Jesus ascended into Heaven after His resurrection on earth, God sent the Holy Spirit to believers to testify and bear witness to all truth. He makes the attributes of God tangible.

I cannot know God apart from the Holy Spirit. Nor can I experience true peace without a personal relationship with the three persons of God.

Peace resides in every true Christian

Satan seeks to have full control of mankind, is accomplishing it in the lives of believers and non-believers alike, yet so many are unaware of his devices.

Praise God, the Holy Spirit is still, even now, convicting, indwelling, working, speaking and delivering those who choose to hear His voice and actively follow Him.

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.” (Gen 50:20, NASB).

In the Old Testament, Joseph, along with many others lived their lives with an outward, not an indwelling Holy Spirit to guide them. With no assurance of permanence, even David prayed “take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” Many times, only a solid faith and trust in the God of their fathers and the words of the prophets were all they had to rely on.

Hope, peace, love, joy, redemption, and reconciliation are just as alive now as then.

Who is Jesus?

“And He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Peter answered and said, ‘The Christ of God.’(But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day.’ “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this is the one who will save it. For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself? “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels. But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:20-27, NASB):

According to Wikipedia:

“Christ comes from the Greek word χριστός (chrīstós), meaning ‘anointed one.’ The word is derived from the Greek verb χρίω (chrī́ō), meaning ‘to anoint.’ In the Greek Septuagint, Christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Mašíaḥ, messiah), meaning ‘[one who is] anointed.”’

The Messiah, the anointed one of God. “Of God”, the part of God that is anointed to be the messiah.

Peter identified Jesus as God. Almighty Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God.

God, born in the flesh, came to earth to save people from their sins. He is peace, love, faith, joy, and love in the flesh, in the Spirit, in the Heavens.

Father, Son of God, Spirit of God. Three distinct personalities in one holy God.

There is no other voice to hear, no other one to follow, no other one to worship.

I don’t remember the words I wanted to write, but the Holy Spirit did want me to write. This is it.

My phone is still ringing. Leave me a message.

May you find peace. May you find God.