ME-ssentials – Peaceful
Peaceful
September 3rd, 2021
What’s your ESSENTIAL?
Essential: absolutely necessary; indispensable; the essence of a thing; inherent and intrinsic, vital
Psalm 23: Yahweh is my best friend and my shepherd. I always have more than enough. He offers a resting place for me in His luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss. That’s where He restores and revives my life. He opens before me the right path and leads me along in His footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honor to His name. Even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for You already have! Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of Your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for You are near. You become my delicious feast even when my enemies dare to fight. You anoint me with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit; You give me all I can drink of You until my cup overflows. So why would I fear the future? Only goodness and tender love pursue me all the days of my life. Then afterward, when my life is through, I’ll return to Your glorious presence to be forever with You.’ (TPT)
Sounds too good to be true, you’re thinking. I was thinking it too. I was thinking, ‘You’re kidding me, right?’ Life has been a little unreal lately. I’ve been in this stimulus warp. I have experienced some of life’s greatest joys and highs recently, at the same time as being throttled with raw and intense pain and hurt. Mine is personal and compared to what many are trudging through in the world currently, my bittersweet journey pales in comparison. I have baggage I carry. We all do. But right now our world is succumbing to a type of unimaginable experiences outside of our control. We are victims of warfare, many of us are, and it is spiritual. It is about a battle for your soul and mine.
Emotion becomes exotic sometimes, right? But I thought about it as I was reading through the above passage, and the 23rd Psalm contains exotic promises and truths to me. It reminded me that what seems to be lacking in my life lately, and maybe yours too, is peace. I don’t know about you but I awaken many mornings with my heart in my throat, palpitating away, vibrating in my head and my wrists. I find myself holding my breath, waiting to see what’s going to stumble across my feed or pulse through my scroll.
It is essential for me to choose to be peaceful each and every day. It is a conscious choice and one I must concentrate on daily. I was imagining that lush meadow. I pictured the depth of green velvet grass and branches of weeping willows blowing in a pleasant breeze. I hear the brook that burbles over rocks and birds that twitter as they fly by. At once, the villain enters the picture, and a tension follows in his tracks. Flowers droop and the creek stalls and air stands still. Everyone awaits what is next, but my God surprises as He lays out a banquet where He invites my enemy to sit down in His presence and mine. The peace that washes through my scene is complete and thrilling and exhilarating. He can only steal from you and from me what we allow him to have. Hang on to your peace. Every piece of it Jesus overcame so it could be yours.
