Peace - Day 2

We’re designed to get our inner peace and affirmation from the sufficiency and love of Jesus.  His sufficiency gives us a bottomless reservoir from which to serve and be generous. ... I’ll summarize it this way: We are not to look to our family as the source of the inner peace and affirmation that only Jesus can give.  We’re not to need our family to treat us a certain way in order for us to be at peace.  (Gary Morland, A Family Shaped by Grace, How to Get Along with the People Who Matter Most, p. 76).

Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send?  Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the LORD?  You have seen many things; but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing...So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war.  It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart. // But now, this is what the LORD says–he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel; “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”  (Isaiah 42:19-20, 22; 43:1-2)  For if, while we were God’s enemies he were reconciled us to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  (Romans 5:10).  There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  (1 John 4:18).  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ. (Phil. 4:4-8).  You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.  (Isaiah 26:3).


1. The opposite of peace is                                                                    .


2. In the Isaiah 42/43 passage, what did the people do when they saw and heard God’s signs and messages?  How did God respond to their willful ignorance?  – Yet, after His wrath, what promises did God make?

3. What was our heart posture toward God when He sent Jesus?  Thus, do we have any reason to fear God now? 

4. From the Phillipians passage, what guards our hearts and minds in Christ?  What are believers directed to do rather than be anxious?

5. In the Isaiah 26 verse, who does God keep in perfect peace?
6. Meditate upon God’s love today – the abundance of it when we were so great unworthy and rebellious.  Particularly if anxious thoughts or strife come your way, bring to mind some of the great passages about God’s grace and mercy to you.