Fist and foremost, I want to thank God for all of the love He provides us when we truly deserve none. That being said I want to establish a few expectations of this blog prior to actually sharing the epiphany I had. This is a loving environment any content degrading any of God's wonderful creation will be removed; I am a human, therefore I am imperfect and may say something that is wrong or hurtful, and will do my best to review and revise such content and repost in a loving manner; lastly all my posts are ultimately just my opinions and my interpretations of what I believe God is speaking to me in this season, so if you disagree feel free to ignore what I'm saying. With all that out of the way lets get to what I started all this for in the first place, Epiphany on Peace.
Peace is something we all desire, and something we all seek to achieve. The manner in which we get there is never an easy one though. I have personally found that achieving peace comes easiest when my mind is clear, and I would wager that we all as humans achieve peace in a similar way of trying to quiet our internal screaming for long enough to calm down to a temporary peaceful state. This works but not for very long, and typically falls apart when ever we face some unexpected circumstance. However, God never intended this He actually desires for us to have a peace that passes all understanding. In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul writes one of the most memorable scriptures where he says that we fight in battles that aren't of flesh and blood, but are of spiritual powers that we need to prepare for by putting on the Armor of God ( Ephesians 6:10-18). One of the items of this spiritual armor is the Sandals of Peace, this really stuck out to me. It make sense that peace would be a part of our spiritual armor but shouldn't it be a bigger piece that protects more of us than just the bottoms of our feet? The short answer, maybe not. Long answer, God intends for us to step and stand confidently in His peace that passes all understanding.
Explanation time, as you look at a sandal now-a-days you don't see a protective piece of armor, you see a simple foam platform with some sort of simple attachment method to your foot. In ancient times having a pair of sandals was a way to protect your feet from sharp rocks on imperfect paths, fields, and battlegrounds. Being able to focus on the task at hand rather than trying to dance around a potential cheese grater like surface for your feet, brings a certain level of peace to the uneven terrain. God's peace works in a similar way of guiding our every step, protecting our focus on the battle ahead, and giving us a way to trust that that we can press forward in the name of God without the stress of being at war with Satan and his armies. While the other pieces of the Armor of God are equally important, the Sandals of Peace hold a special place in that the metaphor of sandals being our peace is interesting in a way that takes more than a passing glance to understand. Another notable point to mention about peace is its location in the order of the Armor of God. First is the Belt of Truth, meaning first you have to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and let that be the first measure of protection against evil. Second is the Breastplate of Righteousness, meaning that you have to guard your heart with God's goodness to go to battle with the powers of Hell. Then comes the Sandals of Peace, Crazy that a simple sandal would be of near equal importance to the piece of armor that covers your heart and of greater importance than your shield, sword, or even helmet. This implies that maybe there is more to the sandals than just standing on them, that standing firm in God's peace is a choice of high importance!
Equally important to notice that Paul mentions peace when speaking of the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26). Where again peace is the third fruit mentioned. When we accept the Holy Spirit into our life as a partner that God created for us to be guided, protected, and empowered by. Peace is a gift from the Spirit of God created for us to walk in and trust in and ultimately lead others into. No matter the situation we get the choice to put on peace and walk confidently in it. We get this tool to exercise especially for the hard times, guiding us in battle while being in over our head but never having to worry knowing that the outcome has already been achieved by God and we are just walking closer to that ultimate victory.
Now I get it, it is easy to say "just choose peace". But when your life is crumbling around you is a whole lot harder in practice. I struggle to choose peace too, but God has said all we have to do is receive His Holy Spirit, and choose to follow the path He has set for us. The rest is in His hands, the same hands that made the world perfectly, the same hands that shaped you before you were even born, are the same hand that made the promise of peace that we can stand on.
Thank you for reading all of this I would encourage you to listen to P E A C E by Hillsong Young & Free, and respond to this with what stuck out to you or what God is speaking to your heart.
Peace is something we all desire, and something we all seek to achieve. The manner in which we get there is never an easy one though. I have personally found that achieving peace comes easiest when my mind is clear, and I would wager that we all as humans achieve peace in a similar way of trying to quiet our internal screaming for long enough to calm down to a temporary peaceful state. This works but not for very long, and typically falls apart when ever we face some unexpected circumstance. However, God never intended this He actually desires for us to have a peace that passes all understanding. In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul writes one of the most memorable scriptures where he says that we fight in battles that aren't of flesh and blood, but are of spiritual powers that we need to prepare for by putting on the Armor of God ( Ephesians 6:10-18). One of the items of this spiritual armor is the Sandals of Peace, this really stuck out to me. It make sense that peace would be a part of our spiritual armor but shouldn't it be a bigger piece that protects more of us than just the bottoms of our feet? The short answer, maybe not. Long answer, God intends for us to step and stand confidently in His peace that passes all understanding.
Explanation time, as you look at a sandal now-a-days you don't see a protective piece of armor, you see a simple foam platform with some sort of simple attachment method to your foot. In ancient times having a pair of sandals was a way to protect your feet from sharp rocks on imperfect paths, fields, and battlegrounds. Being able to focus on the task at hand rather than trying to dance around a potential cheese grater like surface for your feet, brings a certain level of peace to the uneven terrain. God's peace works in a similar way of guiding our every step, protecting our focus on the battle ahead, and giving us a way to trust that that we can press forward in the name of God without the stress of being at war with Satan and his armies. While the other pieces of the Armor of God are equally important, the Sandals of Peace hold a special place in that the metaphor of sandals being our peace is interesting in a way that takes more than a passing glance to understand. Another notable point to mention about peace is its location in the order of the Armor of God. First is the Belt of Truth, meaning first you have to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and let that be the first measure of protection against evil. Second is the Breastplate of Righteousness, meaning that you have to guard your heart with God's goodness to go to battle with the powers of Hell. Then comes the Sandals of Peace, Crazy that a simple sandal would be of near equal importance to the piece of armor that covers your heart and of greater importance than your shield, sword, or even helmet. This implies that maybe there is more to the sandals than just standing on them, that standing firm in God's peace is a choice of high importance!
Equally important to notice that Paul mentions peace when speaking of the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26). Where again peace is the third fruit mentioned. When we accept the Holy Spirit into our life as a partner that God created for us to be guided, protected, and empowered by. Peace is a gift from the Spirit of God created for us to walk in and trust in and ultimately lead others into. No matter the situation we get the choice to put on peace and walk confidently in it. We get this tool to exercise especially for the hard times, guiding us in battle while being in over our head but never having to worry knowing that the outcome has already been achieved by God and we are just walking closer to that ultimate victory.
Now I get it, it is easy to say "just choose peace". But when your life is crumbling around you is a whole lot harder in practice. I struggle to choose peace too, but God has said all we have to do is receive His Holy Spirit, and choose to follow the path He has set for us. The rest is in His hands, the same hands that made the world perfectly, the same hands that shaped you before you were even born, are the same hand that made the promise of peace that we can stand on.
Thank you for reading all of this I would encourage you to listen to P E A C E by Hillsong Young & Free, and respond to this with what stuck out to you or what God is speaking to your heart.
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