So, Tuesday we finished up our series on decisions and walking them out. Our topic of discussion this week: letting peace guide our decisions.
Kevin lead the discussion off by taking us to Phillippians 4:6-7: "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 hears and minds in Christ Jesus." Kevin noted that the first thing people typically do when facing a situation is to worry about it and try to figure out what to do on our own. However, the first thing we're supposed to do is take it to God for Him to show us what to do. That takes all of our guesswork out of it.
Kevin looked up Webster's definitions of a couple of key words:
-- anxious(ness): extreme uneasiness in the mind or brooding fear about something. This is mindset in which we often start out.
-- decision/decide: to make a final choice of judgment.
He also looked up the Greek definition (since that was language used back then) of the word "peace": it means clearness, which the implication of pureness and sincerity, with an understanding of being guided by sunlight. He went on to point out that in the same way the courage is not the absence of fear, peace is not the absence of struggle, or a storm. It is finding the stillness (like the guiding sunlight) in the storm. As Aaron can attest to, it's being in the middle of the ground fighting in Iraq, with bullets flying and all the chaos, and still being able to know what you're supposed do and to accomplish your assignment. Decisions made out of emotions, whether they be anger, or fear, or anxiousness, pan out as quickly and with the same amount of stability as those emotions. When we take our circumstances to God, like Kevin mentioned in Proverbs 18:10, it's going to a safe and settled place, and the decisions that come out of it are settled as well.
Elizabeth also noted that we have to practice having peace in the little things about life before we can expect to know how ot have peace in major events. If we freak out over losing our car keys (like I did earlier this week), then even we find out the were five feet from us the whole time (like I did earlier this week), we have already set our attitude down the wrong path, and it can affect those around us in that situation (like I did earlier -- no wait, there wasn't anybody else around. I'm good.). And Dayton added that since we give to others only what we have ourselves, our lack of peace can spread around us like a domino effect. But the good news is that the peace that we do have can have that same effect and draw people closer to God.
We just have to make sure we've come to that place of peace with our decision so we can move forward steadily. We've all yelled at the ball player who missed the catch because he/she started to run off without securely having the ball in their hands; but we've made exactly the same play when we try to move forward in our decisions without making sure we've got the peace of God for the situation first! Kevin reminded us about the prophet Elijah, and how he ran away in fear of Jezebel trying to kill him, and when he stopped to listen for God, God was in the still, small voice beyond the wind and the fire. We have to slow down enough to find our peace; then we can move forward successfully. Dayton also mentioned how we can see the situation much more clearly when we take the time to stop and look at it, and can identify the peace of God, instead of running at it full force to try to fix it ourselves. (I think it here that Dayton used the analogy of being the middle of a fight and only being able to see "buttholes and elbows" instead of our solution. Good point, and probably our funniest of the night.)
Okay, recap time!
-- The first thing we're supposed to with any situation is take it to God! (Never mind the fact that already knows; He still likes to hear it from you!)
-- Anxiousness is unsettled; decisions are not.
-- Having peace is having clarity even in the midst of chaos.
-- Our peace (or lack thereof) spreads to those around us.
-- You have to slow down enough to find your peace (and not just buttholes and elbows!).
Peace is God's key to having success. It's how we recognize Him in the midst of this insane thing we call life. And it's crucial to accomplishing our purpose and what He's called us to do. Because, like Kevin said Webster used as the sentence to define a decision, "One blow decided the fight."
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Ok, now that I’ve had time to process our discussion and read the blog, I can throw in my opinion. I have to start by saying what a great job Alicia does of capturing what happens on Tuesday nights and putting that into words. I think peace is something that all of us, Christian or not, search for. We all want that assurance that everything is going to be ok, even when it feels the world is crashing down around us. We all crave that inner comfort that “this too shall pass.” For some reason, when I think of peace, I think about a storm raging all around me but I’m in this pocket of protection; I have peace amidst the storm. Driving home Tuesday night, I was thinking about all Kevin said and what I might want to put on the blog and one thing that came to me was something that happened when I was seven. My family went on a vacation to Florida to Disneyland (is that the one in Florida?). We were in our hotel room and I remember sitting at the table doing my schoolwork. Right outside our room was the pool and my mom said she remembered seeing a seagull fly into the glass doors to our room. We looked outside and the glass lamps on the light poles had fallen into the pool. I think I remember looking at the ocean and seeing a mass of gray; a hurricane was heading right for us. My mom grabbed the Gideon Bible from the room and took me into the bathroom while my dad gathered all of our stuff and put it against the one protected wall in the room. So while a storm was surrounding my family, we were desperately searching for peace. My mom opened the Bible and turned to the story of Jesus calming the storm, reading it out loud. I find it rather funny that Jesus was able to sleep during a storm. The boat was probably rocking and the wind was howling and I’m sure the disciples were screaming like little girls :-) Yet Jesus was able to sleep despite everything going on around Him. Once the disciples woke Him and explained what was happening, all it took was one word from Him and everything was ok; one word and there was peace. One of my favorite verses is John 14:27: “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.” And adding to this is Ephesians 2:14 which says that God is our peace. He doesn’t only give it, He is it! I think sometimes we can feel so overwhelmed and we freak because life isn’t going as we planned but we just need to shift our focus away from all of that stuff and back to God, the source of our peace.
One of the most important decisions we can make is how we react to things, our attitude. I went through a time when I felt as if I was always loosing things. I’d get upset and after looking “everywhere” I’d ask God for help. It might have taken a few hours or a few years but I’d find it. After a while I realized that if God is going to help me anyway and misplacing that item won’t do irrevocable damage to my life (it never will), I might as well relax. I’ll look for the pen I like so much, but I won’t pull my hair out about it. I’ll think about my options (I have other pens) and go from there. I think once we can feel that way about the small stuff, its easier to have that attitude with the big stuff. If He helped me find my shoe, He will help me find my keys. If he protected me when I was at the party I shouldn’t have been to, He’ll protect me when I’m on a Mission trip in another country. Realizing that God protects and helps us in any situation prevents us from having that spiritual amnesia that was discussed. Storms are not always prevented in our lives. I take comfort (and find peace) in the fact that whether I’m right or wrong He is able to guide me in the right direction and help me make better decisions. I just have to allow Him to do what He already promised He’d do.
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