I can’t tell you the level of conviction I’ve received in my spirit for NOT writing…but let’s digress for a second.

I was sitting on my bed, reading over the draft of an e-book I’d like to put out about…healthy stuff. I released one last year for Cyber Monday and and I wanted to have more information available to people.

So anyway, I was taking a break and began listening to a short video that I’ve actually heard a few times now. I mean, I made time to hear this message. I took detailed notes about what God was trying to say to me at that time.

I paused the video and replayed what was said, then continue on again. The video is only about 15 minutes long, but it took me nearly ninety minutes to get through it; that’s how detailed my notes were.

But as I’m putting my computer down a moment ago, listening to this message AGAIN, I hear something I hadn’t heard the last time I played this message.

I…MISSED SOMETHING??!!

As the waves of a crisis began to swell in my mind, I had to shake the thoughts away or I’d miss the download that was about to occur.

I needed to hear this particular point at the specific time I heard it. Here’s what I heard:

If Jesus said, ‘Peace be still’ then that means peace was moving.

Pastor Tony Evans

[Disclaimer: Now I KNOW the Bible scholars will say that Jesus was telling the sea to be at peace but it still fits]

Before I could throw my phone across the room, I had thoughts flooding in from every which way but it was two I settled on.

(Spoiler alert: The second thought cancels out the first}

1. So if peace chucked a deuce, it’s because it wasn’t trying to stay around anxiety and fear.

If you go back a few scriptures, this is the story of a storm tossing the boat Jesus slept on while His disciples panicked.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, which means He rules over it. If light and dark can’t be in the same space, then neither can peace and fear, or peace and anxiety…or peace and frustration, or peace and jealousy. You get the point. So Jesus dipped.

Buuuuuuut…God said He would never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and Jesus gave us HIs peace!! (John 14:27). God is not the type to run from a battle anyway and Jesus didn’t physically leave the boat…so I had to throw out that whole thing.

But then came the second and most sobering thought.

2. So if peace was moved, it’s because WE(I) moved it.

I instantly thought of my mom’s cat. My parents have a little light that they shine when they are helping the little feline stay active. They wiggle the light on the floor to get the cat’s attention before jerking the light a few feet to the right. As they move the light, Mora is bouncing around the floor to try to get it.

If our peace is not rested on Christ, we have to put it somewhere, right?

Maybe we put ‘peace’ in certain groups of people, (Black or white. Dems or Reps).

Maybe we put ‘peace’ in more money, a bigger house, a new car, another relationship even when we aren’t over the last. There are so many places we can ‘put peace’ but in the end things don’t really work out or, if they do, there’s always a feeling that something’s missing.

Jesus was very specific in the type of peace He gave. Let’s look at John 14: 29:

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (Emphasis added)

So there’s FALSE Peace and REAL Peace.

More money won’t bring you peace. More people won’t bring you peace. Another relationship won’t bring you peace.

True peace is contingent on it’s source. In order for peace to be sustained it must rest on a firm foundation. One that’s been tested under the most extreme circumstances and still maintain it’s integrity. One that can endure to the end, no matter how long it takes.

Christ has proven to be the only foundation suitable enough for peace to rest and that’s the place God wants us to rest in. For those who don’t know, the Bible is a compilation of writings by different authors that point to one person: JESUS! God’s whole mission was to get us back in right standing with Him and the only way to do that was to sacrifice His perfect Son.

We have to remember Christ in all things. When we try to find peace in other things, it brings trouble in all things because it’s not the peace Jesus gave to us.

I pray that you let go of the counterfeit peace, the one that fades, and hold tight to the Prince of Peace, the One who’s everlasting!

Love you,

Crystal