We looked

We Looked for Peace

Jeremiah 8:15

"We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!"

One of the biggest lies the Devil feeds people is that you have to look for peace. Whenever someone looks for peace, they often compromise to obtain it. The first mistake that the people made in the verse above is that they looked for peace as if it was a possession. Peace is not a possession that you hold, but peace is the result of taking right actions.

I recently helped a pastor who was experiencing turmoil in his church. As he told me about his situation he said to me, "All I want in my church is peace." You could hear the sincerity in his heart. I felt for this pastor as it was evident he loved the people of his church. I told the pastor that his desire for peace was keeping him from having it. I told him if he would take the right actions, he would find peace in his church.

Too many churches, homes, organizations or nations look for peace and never find it because they don't take the right actions to obtain it. Having peace in the home or a church won't be easy. Leadership must make tough choices, but if they will do the right thing they will discover an atmosphere of peace. Jeremiah 8 shows us what it takes to get peace.

First, sin must be removed. Verse 14 says, "...we have sinned against the LORD." Sin is the cause of turmoil. As long as you allow sin, you will continue to see turmoil. A person who wants peace in their life must remove the sin from their life. Every time a person gets rid of sin, they experience a feeling of peace. Why? Because they removed the sin. You will never experience peace as long as sin is allowed.

Second, if you want peace, then truth must be present. The leaders said in verse 11, "Peace, peace; when there is no peace." These leaders thought that if they talked and preached about peace that they would have it. Absolutely not! Their lying caused more unrest. As long as truth is not revealed, then unrest will prevail. John 8:32 says, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Notice, once a person knows truth they are free. When people know the whole truth it brings freedom, and freedom is the result of peace. Don't cover sin in an attempt to have peace. Let the truth be known and you will find peace.

Third, if you want peace then you must put your foot down. The leaders in verse 11 were so worried about talking about peace that they forgot to perform the actions that cause peace. Right must be established. Sin must be dealt with. That means someone must have the backbone to put their foot down if they want peace. You will never find peace with weak leadership. Parents who won't put their foot down in the home will have a home filled with unrest. Leaders who are not strong enough to put their foot down are leaders who cause unrest in the group they lead.

Fourth, if you want peace, then get busy in the harvest. Verse 20 says, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Soul winning has a way of getting people refocused on what is truly important. Soul winning keeps people from being selfish and gets them focused on others. One of the biggest causes of unrest is selfishness. Get busy reaping the harvest, and you will find people will get focused on others instead of themselves.

Christian, stop looking for peace because you will never find it as long as you look for it. If you want peace, then follow the actions above and you will discover it. Peace is not a possession, but peace is a result of proper actions.

How

How God Comforts

Isaiah 51:3

"For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."

One of the greatest benefits of being saved is that God allows the Holy Spirit to live within us. This is a great benefit because the Holy Spirit is our Comforter. When going through tough times, the Holy Spirit will be the One Who will bring you comfort. It is interesting when you look at the verse above how God brings comfort.

First, He brings comfort through blessings. It says in the verse above, "...he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD;..." God reminded Israel that He would comfort them through His blessings. He would bless them by restoring Israel. Though you may be going through trials, you must look beyond your trial and receive comfort from the blessings that God sends your way. Your trials may be bad, but I promise you there are still blessings that come your way. If you are not careful, you will focus so much on the trials that you can't see the blessings that God is sending. At times, God will choose to comfort you by sending blessings in the midst of trials.

Second, He brings comfort through joy. Notice that "joy and gladness" could be found in the blessings. In other words, your perception from where you receive joy is important. If the only time you receive joy is through circumstances, then you will never receive the comfort you need during trials. However, if you choose to look inward to find joy, then you can receive comfort any time you choose. Let me explain. I receive my joy from the fact that I am saved, that God is my Father, Jesus Christ is my Saviour, the Holy Spirit lives within me and that Heaven is my home. Nothing can change these things. If you will let your joy come from these things, then you can receive the comfort you need at any time. Don't let circumstances determine your joy, but let your joy come from those things which cannot change and you will always have the opportunity to receive comfort.

Third, He brings comfort through thanksgiving. When trials come your way, you need to regularly take time to thank God for what He has done for you in the past. Being thankful for what God has given you has a way of helping you to be comforted.

Finally, He brings comfort through song. Don't stop singing when you are going through tough times. Find what I call, "Happy songs," and sing them throughout the day. There are some songs that are not as encouraging as others, so sing the songs that always bring joy and comfort to your life.

If these things are what God uses to comfort you, then you could comfort others by doing these things for others. Christian, you could be a blessing to someone today and allow them to be comforted. You could have a song in your heart and let others receive blessings from your song. You could have a joyful spirit and brighten someone's day. Yes, you may need comfort, but if you will be the conduit of comfort to someone else, then you will find the comfort you need. Stop waiting for God to comfort you, for His comfort is there, you must simply do what it takes to do it. How much comfort you receive it dependent upon whether you act upon these areas.

He Will Save

He Will Save

Isaiah 33:22

"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us."

In everyone's life there will come a time when they will wonder if everyone and everything is against them. Nobody is immune to attacks and hardships. I can recall a couple of times in my life when I wondered if my situation would ever end. The phone would ring and I didn't want to answer it for I wondered if it was the next shoe that would drop. I remember going to my meetings and have people hedge about the question that they really wanted to ask me. That question was about the situation that God sent into my life. Yes, those times can seem overwhelming, and you may wonder if it will ever end. Let me encourage you that it will end. These situations that I have faced in my life have ended, and now that I look back at them I learned that God's guiding and caring hand was there for me as I went through them. Now that I look back at those situations, I see that the verse above is the recipe that you need to help you through these kinds of times.

The first thing you need to realize is that God will recompense those who are wrong. Notice the verse above says, "For the LORD is our judge,..."Christian, you may be falsely attacked, but God will make them pay for what they do. You may even have done wrong and even deserve God's punishment, but the treatment by fellow Christians is unwarranted. Let me again remind you that God will judge them for what they are doing. You will just have to take solace in the fact that one day they will pay. Job didn't understand his friends attacking him when he was going through his trials, but God judged them for what they did. I'm sure Naboth didn't understand why he had to die when Ahab was the one who did wrong. Yet, God recompensed Ahab for his wickedness. Others treatment towards you may be wrong, but you must trust that God will judge.

The second thing you need to realize is that God will defend. Notice the verse above says, "...the LORD is our lawgiver,..." If God is the one Who sets the rules, then that means He will take the side of the one who obeys those rules and will fight against those who disobey those rules. You may think that nobody is defending you, but God will defend you if you do right. You just need to keep doing what you are supposed to do, and trust that God will protect you from the attack of the enemy.

The third thing you need to realize is that God is in control. The verse above says, "...the LORD is our king;..." Because He is king, He is in control. This has probably been the most comforting thought to me when I've faced hardships. To know that God is in control is to know that it will eventually come out right. Christian, you may not understand everything that you face, but you must simply keep in mind that God is in control.

Because God will recompense, defend, and is in control, you must not fret the battle, for He will save you. I don't know what battle you may be facing today, but God will save you. Don't let the battle cause you to quit, simply take solace in the fact that God will save you from whatever it is you are facing today.

Talk

Too Much Talk

Ecclesiastes 5:3

"For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words."

One of the things I have noticed throughout my years of traveling in evangelism is that there are many people in churches who can talk a good talk, but they have no actions to back up what they say. All the talk in the world doesn't do anyone any good. You can be the best talker, but talk is cheap. Give me the person who is productive and rarely talks over the person who talks a lot but never produces.

In the verse above, God talks about the "multitude of business" and the "multitude of words." Good comes from one, but bad is produced by the other. One produces dreams, while the other produces sin. Three times in the Scriptures we find that God uses the phrase, "multitude of words."

Proverbs 10:19 says, "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise." You will notice that sin is present when a person talks too much. In other words, a person who talks too much will begin to gossip. Rarely do you find someone who likes to talk whose words don't lead to gossip. Christian, you must be careful about allowing yourself to be caught up in the world of gossip. When people talk too much, they tend to talk about people instead of ideas. Weak people will talk about people. Weak people love to tell others about the weaknesses of others. It is better to refrain yourself from talking than to get caught up in the world of gossip.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 says, "...a fool's voice is known by multitude of words." Years ago I was a youth pastor for a church out West. One of the things I noticed about young people is that there are many young people who feel like they must say something. Normally, when you get teenagers around each other, they will talk till they are blue in the face. One of the results of talking too much is their talk leads to foolishness. Let me make this plain, God is simply teaching that you don't always have to give your opinion. When you have to show your opinion about everything, you will find that your foolishness will begin to show. Sometimes, the best way to show you are wise is to simply keep your mouth shut. You don't always have to say something.

Ecclesiastes 5:7 says, "For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities:..." Vanity is the third result of talking too much. In other words, you will find that too much talk leads to someone becoming conceited. I have watched people who talk so much that they become legends in their own mind. They always have to talk about themselves. They always have to tell everybody what they have done. Christian, people are not as interested in you as you may think they are. I know this is blunt, but too many times we are so conceited that we think we need to tell everyone how great we are. They may be polite and let you talk, but you are hurting yourself by talking too much about yourself.

Too much talk will never lead to good. My parents used to tell me that God gave us two ears and one mouth because He wants us to listen twice as much as we talk. I don't know if that is true, but I do know there is wisdom in that statement. Instead of being someone who talks a lot, be a person who is busy about business. If you will be busy in the "multitude of business," then you will find that you won't have enough time to talk. The best way to keep from talking too much is to work. Working will keep you out of trouble and will help you to talk less. Determine to be a person who works more than they talk. You will find if you will be that type of person, then you will eventually be considered someone who is wise.

Vent

Do You Need to Vent?

Job 32:19

"Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles."

When I was young, every once in awhile I would walk through the kitchen while my mother was cooking and I saw that she left the lid on a pot cracked open. One day I asked my mother why she did this. She said that the air inside the pan needed a place to vent so that it wouldn't boil over. Once in awhile if my mother didn't keep a close eye on the pan, I would see the contents inside boil over because their was not enough air to vent. They say the same has to be done when fermenting wine. They say that a hole must be kept in the barrel so that the air could vent to keep the barrel from exploding.

A person asked me, "Have you ever come to a point when you felt like you were going to explode." Truthfully, I believe everyone comes to that point sometime in their life. There comes a point when you can only take so much, and if you don't have a way to let it out, you end up exploding. The danger about an explosion is that there is always a fallout after the explosion. An explosion always causes casualties. There must be a way to vent so that you don't have an explosion. Let me give you some suggestions when you need to vent.

First, let me remind you that exploding will hurt your testimony. Proverbs 16:32 says, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." God commands you to rule your own spirit. The reason you need to rule your own spirit is because you will hurt your name if you explode. I have watched good people ruin their testimony because they exploded. Christian, you have worked too hard to have a good testimony, don't let your frustration boil over to the point where you explode. After your explosion it may take months, and even years, to repair the damage done to your testimony.

Second, exploding will hurt others. I wonder how many innocent people have been hurt because someone exploded and spewed a bunch of words that they really didn't mean. I wonder how many people have been physically abused because of someone who exploded and didn't control their rage. You must be in control of yourself to keep from exploding. Being "slow to anger" will only happen if you have a way to vent.

Third, the best way to vent is to pour your heartaches and frustrations out to God. Let me remind you that 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." Christian, God really wants you to vent to Him. He doesn't mind when you get alone and vent your frustrations to Him. There have been many times in my life when I would take a walk and unload my frustrations on God. Venting to God kept me from exploding and hurting my testimony and others. God is big enough to handle your frustrations, so vent to Him.

You will face times in your life when you will need to vent. In those times I would advise to take a walk and pour your heart and frustrations out on God. Everybody needs a way to vent and someone to whom they can vent. God is that person. Take advantage of a God Who is willing to let you vent to Him.

Esther

It's Not About Esther

Esther 10:2

"And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?"

I have a confession to make. I have read the Book of Esther well over one hundred times, and I have always thought that the Book of Esther was about Esther. However, when you come to the final chapter, the conclusion of the whole book, you see that the Book of Esther is not about Esther, it's about Mordecai. Yes, Esther seems to be the main character, but God concludes the book by saying, "And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai,..." Notice, Esther is not mentioned one time in this last chapter.

God wants you to notice Mordecai more than he wants you to notice Esther. Though there are many principles we can learn from this lady, the main character from whom we are to learn is the one who worked in the background. It was not the one who was in front of everyone who was the hero, but it was the one who, behind the scenes, saved the people of God from destruction.

One of the great attributes of Mordecai is that he was a patriot for his people and God. When no one else would stand against the wicked Haman, Mordecai put his life on the line and saved Israel. Not only did he put his life on the line, but he motivated Esther to put her life on the line for the sake of the people of God. Mordecai was a true patriot! His heroism should never be overlooked when you reading the Book of Esther.

As I examine the life of Mordecai, it compels me to ask the question, where are the patriots of our day? Where are the Mordecai's who will motivate their leaders to stand? Where are the Shadrach's, Meshach's and Abednego's who are willing to be thrown into the fire for the sake of Christ? Where are the Daniel's who will go into the lion's den for the sake of prayer? Where are the David's who will stand against the giants? Where are the Jonathan's who will go against the heathen's army while everyone else sits idly by and watches the enemy destroy their cause? Where are the Gideon's who will stand against all odds and fight the liberals whose armies look like the sand of the sea? I ask, where are the patriots of our day?

Christian, you don't have to be in the limelight to stand for truth. You don't have to have position to be the one who stands. You don't have to be a part of the "in group" to make a difference for the sake of Christ. You don't have to have the bully pulpit to turn a nation around for Christ. It only takes the spark of a patriot who will risk life and well being for the cause of truth to catch fire.

Let me ask you, will you be the Mordecai of your workplace, church or nation? Christian, it starts with one standing for truth for others to begin to stand. It is never easy being the first one to stand, but if you will stand, your stand will motivate others to stand. You may think that you have no influence, but let me remind you that most patriots never had influence before they stood. It was their stance that gave them the influence. Stop waiting for someone else to stand for truth and be the Mordecai of your world and stand for truth so that the cause of Christ may be saved. Don't wait for someone else, stand up!