{"id":89,"date":"2014-04-23T00:48:41","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T04:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/groot\/?p=89"},"modified":"2014-04-23T00:48:41","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T04:48:41","slug":"peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/groot\/?p=89","title":{"rendered":"Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\"><strong>Passing the Peace<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\">Paul always greeted and closed with the words, &#8220;The peace of God be with you&#8221; in his pastoral letters.\u00a0 And so we say, &#8220;And also with you.&#8221;\u00a0 We then pass this greeting to one another.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\">I have been in the habit of ending my notes and emails with the words, &#8220;God&#8217;s peace&#8221;, before signing my name. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Why peace at all&#8230;and why God&#8217;s peace?!<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\">A peaceful heart, is often determined by the situations and\/or environment we are currently in. \u00a0We are so easily unsettled, even if our day does begin peacefully. \u00a0Whether it is our own doing or the &#8220;fault&#8221; of others, we can <em>lose<\/em> our sense of peace &#8216;just like that&#8217;.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\">And yet, we do want peace in our lives and in our world. \u00a0 As difficult as life is, we still search for it. \u00a0As elusive as it can be we \u00a0still hope to obtain it for ourselves. \u00a0Is it no wonder that God&#8217;s claims about His peace are appealing to us? \u00a0Is it no wonder that the words, &#8220;a peace that passes understanding&#8221; or, &#8220;a peace that the world cannot give&#8221; \u00a0give us hope, beyond hope, amidst the difficulties we face?<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\">And Jesus, our Prince of Peace. \u00a0What is the gospel of peace that He has given us? \u00a0So many of His people, God&#8217;s children, are not <em>peaceful<\/em>, are not <em>peace-giving<\/em> and rather than speaking <em>words of peace<\/em> are quick to give others a <em>piece <\/em>of their mind. \u00a0How can peace overflow from our lives if we aren&#8217;t experiencing it daily? \u00a0 How can we obtain the peace that God describes in His Word? \u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\">Because my mind and heart are so tightly connected, it is what I choose to focus on or center my heart and thoughts on that determine my &#8220;peace-meter&#8221; at any given moment. \u00a0If I choose to look at my situation, the people involved or my &#8220;to do&#8221; list and let these things determine how I am doing or feeling, than alas, \u00a0I am truly in an unstable position. \u00a0But, if I intentionally turn my thoughts to God and decide, at all costs, to seek Him with all of my heart and &#8220;let go&#8221; of those things that pull me down, then His Spirit has the opportunity to work in my heart and give me the Peace He has promised me. \u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\">The apostle Paul says, &#8220;<strong>Pursue peace<\/strong>&#8220;. \u00a0Do you get the word picture that I get? \u00a0To pursue something is an intentional act. \u00a0It has a focus and it takes energy and motivation on our parts. \u00a0God is not asking us to pursue something fleeting or mind-numbing. \u00a0He is not encouraging financial gain or relationships as a means to peace. \u00a0He Himself is our peace. \u00a0We must pursue Him in order to realize His peace in our lives. \u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #003300\">May you bask in the truth that &#8220;Christ in you is the hope of glory&#8221;&#8230;He is our peace&#8230;<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/groot?moderation_action=report_form&object_type=post&object_id=89&width=250&height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Passing the Peace Paul always greeted and closed with the words, &#8220;The peace of God be with you&#8221; in his pastoral letters.\u00a0 And so we say, &#8220;And also with you.&#8221;\u00a0 We then pass this greeting<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/groot\/?p=89\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Peace - Groot Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/groot\/?p=89\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peace - Groot Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Passing the Peace Paul always greeted and closed with the words, &#8220;The peace of God be with you&#8221; 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