May the Peace

(photo credits to Dyu - Ha)

Laughter and tears, joy and fear

These are part of growing from child to man.

Yet, darkness often accosts

By the hands of angry men again and again.

Running and riding,

Kite-flying and joy,

Playing football and cowboys,

Oh, how fun to be a young boy.

Storms and sunshine,

Rainbows and rumbling,

Run for shelter at crack of lightning,

Finding on entering, the storm’s crashing.

 

Short was the darkness

Maybe imagination that passed.

Skateboards and bikes anew,

Games of tag, red robin at last.

 

Day ends and darkness comes,

Normal though it may seem.

Enters door dark and looming,

It wasn’t imagining.

 

Hands raised high bring darkness,

Crack of belt brings shock and pain.

Disillusion and lost approval,

Greater loss than the “disciplining.”

 

Less heard is laughter

Loss of joy as fear takes its hold.

Peeking round corners

Fear of what may happen still to unfold.

 

Not knowing each day’s darkness,

Wary, wondering when it will come.

Inner fear, lack of presumed love,

Seeking acceptance just for once.

 

Enter light, so bright when arrived,

Cast darkness back from this child.

Come to Me He said,

You are loved and all mine.

 

Scrabbling quickly at escape,

Swiftly following toward Light’s love.

Peeking back to ensure,

Darkness corralled, no more to hurt.

 

Child of Light and of Day,

Belong you not to the night.

Grow in faith, love, and hope,

Strengthen you with My might.

 

Wear this armor of salvation

Always standing firm to the end.

Rejoice always, pray continually,

Give thanks in every circumstance.

 

In darkness, lost your innocence,

The first, cast away by the Light.

Look not back at fear and pain,

Keep your eyes ever on my light.

 

No more a victim, innocence lost.

No more a survivor staying ahead of the dark.

Forever more than a conqueror, our Lord declares.

Free and forever united with the Light, we wear His armor.

Amen.

May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace to the end.

In all times and in every way, the Lord is forever within.

(Bible texts: 1 Thessalonians 5, 8, 16-18, 2 Thessalonians 3:16, Romans 8:37-38)

Unquenchable

                      “Do not quench the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19 [NASB]

Throughout the Bible we read descriptors of God. Some passages speak of His omniscience. No one is more knowledgeable and can know all things happening at one time. God is omnipotent. No one and nothing can defeat Him. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at one time. God is indescribable. No one word or many words can thoroughly describe God. God is uncontainable. Nothing can hold Him down or defeat Him. God is unquenchable. Nothing and no one can crush or suppress Him.

When reading 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22, Paul imperatively taught the Thessalonians what to do or not do. Upon reading this list, you might think, “I can do this.” But when you stop to consider it closer, you realize two things: the list is long, and you are only human and won’t always do good. Paul, however, did not say or expect any person to do good from his or her own moral strength. Among the tasks in this list, he told the believers in Thessalonica how they were to do good, or rather, in whose strength they could live unquenchably.  Paul recognized people are incapable of doing good on their own. He knew and taught the believers of Thessalonica that doing good all the time is impossible in a person’s own moral strength, but is choose-able and made possible through the Spirit’s insuppressible strength.

In the verses of this passage, as Paul neared the end of his letter to the church at Thessalonica, he taught how believers are to live. He gave a list of how to interact with people. Next, Paul gave a list of how to relate to and respond to God. He concluded this list with a general teaching that summed up each of these commands.

In the list of how to interact with people in verses twelve through fifteen, Paul told the believers to appreciate and esteem with great love God’s workers who have charge over them. Live peacefully with each other. Admonish the unruly. Encourage the fainthearted. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone. Don’t repay evil for evil, but always seek good for one another and all people. Verse fifteen’s command sums up the first seven commands.

In the next section of Paul’s imperative commands, given in verses sixteen through twenty-two, he told them how to relate to God. He said rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in everything. Don’t quench the Spirit. Don’t despise prophetic utterances. Though these five commands specifically pertain to a person’s relationship to God, the first seven commands from verses twelve through fifteen reflect a person’s relationship with God, too. A person cannot be related rightly to people all the time until he or she is related rightly to God all the time. It’s impossible within a person’s own moral strength to do these things. Only with God’s strength can a person be good all the time.

Because of the impossibility of a person relating rightly to people one hundred percent of the time, Paul made sure the people understood how they could “seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.” (vs. 15) His command of verse nineteen tells us how. Paul said, “Do not quench the Spirit.” This statement does not mean we can defeat and destroy the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is part of the triune Godhead and is omnipotent, remember. This statement also does not mean we can make Him smaller in stature or power. What Paul meant with this command is do not hear and disobey the Spirit as He seeks to lead you and keep you safe and helps you walk God’s “straight paths.” Don’t keep neglecting the relationship you have with God by ignoring His guidance and teaching. By doing these things, you quench the Spirit in your life. He will still exist and be near you, but you will have hardened your heart and won’t hear Him as He speaks in whispers to your spirit. Until you call upon God again, and seek Him with your whole being, the Spirit’s guidance in your life will be unheard by you. The Bible speaks of this in 2 Chronicles 6:37 and 7:14 and in James 4:10 and other passages.

If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 [NASB])

Each Christian must choose for him or herself to listen to and obey God through His Holy Spirit. Paul taught how we can make sure we stay tuned to the Holy Spirit in our lives with verses sixteen through twenty-two. He told them to rejoice at all times, pray without ceasing, give thanks in every circumstance, treat prophecies with regard, hold fast to what is good, and abstain from every kind of evil. Having this mind, this determination, we choose God over all else. This means we make sure He sits as our primary guide - the enthroned King of our life - and our reason for living. Hold fast to what is good. Only One person is good, God from whose character  the word good receives its definition. Abstain from all evil. Evil is the opposite of God.

To live as a Christian requires an active choice every day not to quench the Spirit. Though He is indestructible by nature, we can choose to snuff Him out of our lives. When we do that, we don’t hold fast to what is good. God leaves this choice to every person every moment of every day.

Will you quench the unquenchable Spirit in your life?

Doing so doesn’t make Him smaller than you. It makes you vulnerable to evil. You are unable to withstand evil in your strength. Only by humbling yourself and choosing the Spirit to be active in your life can you do good all the time.

Lord God, I am so weak and fallible. Sometimes I demand to do what I want and close the door to You guiding me. I act like a two-yea- old when I am not and should know better by now. Lord, please forgive me for my stubbornness. Forgive me for ignoring and abandoning You. My refusal to listen to You does not change who You are, but it changes who I am. It removes the shine of Your glory from me and makes it unbearably possible for me to do evil. When I choose to refuse You, I am choosing evil, not good. Lord, shake me when I choose to go my own way and refuse to follow You. Get my attention until I must listen to You. Forgive me my stubbornness and willfulness. Forgive me my sins. Remind me of Your great love for me and extend Your mercy and grace to me again. Make me strong to stand against the temptation to do what I want. Instead, make my heart’s desire be to do Your will so I live to bring You glory by doing good and not evil. In Your name I pray. Amen.

Saved and Sanctified

1 Thessalonians 5 (NASB)

9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

            In verse 9, not only does Paul say that we believers in Jesus are saved, but we are saved from wrath, God’s judgment. Paul is showing the opposite of God’s salvation, His wrath on humanity for their sin, their turning away from Him. We see God destined and planned for us not to experience His anger at our sin. Sin makes us unholy and separates us from Him and the relationship He created us to be in with Him. We see from verse 9 what God’s plan was from the beginning of the world, to give us deliverance from the sin into which our free will placed us. This deliverance comes by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Salvation is not something we can get for ourselves, salvation is something God has in mind for us from the beginning of the world; our life with Him was destined, but our sin stole it away. Salvation is deliverance to safety of our souls. The gift of Jesus is from God. The gift of salvation is from God. The gift of relationship is from God. There is nothing we can do to make any of this happen; salvation is from God.   

The 23^rd verse compels us to offer our whole self to God, not just a part. Often when we come to Christ, we accept with joy the gift of forgiveness of sin and eternal life, but we hold back pieces of our life. Sometimes we do this by separating our life into parts, for example school, work, church, and friends. God did not send His Son to be this sacrifice for salvation just to save part of us. Jesus did not partly die; He died completely in His human form. This is what Paul is telling the Thessalonians in this letter when he says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely.” God wants you to give Him all your life, your soul and body, your work and play, your religious times and your profane times. God wants to sanctify you completely.   

Sanctify means to be holy or set apart from profane things. How can God make us entirely holy if we do not give Him all our life? You cannot be somewhat holy. Remember what Jesus said about the cup? If the inside of the cup is clean, the wine is clean. What is on the outside does not determine cleanliness, but what is on the inside, in your spirit. God wants you to give Him every part of you, your thoughts, actions and relationships. What does this mean then? We must offer ourselves as a sacrifice, as Paul told Timothy at the end of 2 Timothy, as an offering to God. Paul said he offered himself as a drink offering to God. You have to understand, God does not ask every one of us to serve Him to the point we are arrested and killed. What He is asking us to do is give ourselves completely to God so we are willing to do just that, should the need arise, so we are willing to die for our belief in Him if the need arose. To offer ourselves completely, we must pray through each facet of our lives, give each part to God one at a time, and keep giving ourselves to Him each day and each minute.   

In these two verses, we see a progression from the moment of salvation from our sins to the journey of giving our whole selves daily to God for His purpose, being set apart for His service, being sanctified for Him. Salvation is a journey; being a Christian is a journey. Jesus did not tell His disciples just to go and make disciples. He told them to go and keep on going. Jesus told them to disciple and keep on discipling. We are to keep learning, keep, going, keep teaching, and keep growing in Christ likeness. Paul is saying offer and keep on offering, sacrifice and keep on sacrificing yourself to God so He can sanctify you entirely, your soul and body. We must each day sacrifice our desires for the purposes of God, to work wholly committed and dedicated to Him. God wants us to dedicate ourselves to Him so He can consecrate us wholly to His work and for eternity in His kingdom. This is sanctification, the giving to God all of ourselves, soul and body, so He can make us Holy, purify and consecrate us fully, for eternity. God wants us to be preserved complete, to be offered up to Him completely.   

The questions remain, have you asked God for forgiveness of your sins, all those times when you chose what you wanted and disregarded what God wanted? Have you accepted His gift of salvation from your sins? Do you offer to God daily a sacrifice of your whole self, body and soul, work, church, school, and play? Finally, if you do, accept His sanctifying power to dedicate you exclusively to Himself and His service and to preserve you to live in His kingdom and to be in His presence forever. Be set aside and consecrated, be devoted and dedicated, solely for God and for your God-given fulfillment.

Definitions: 

Salvation – a preservation of self; a deliverance from our sinful self; that which concludes to the soul’s safety or salvation; complete deliverance of the spirit, soul and body.

Sanctify - to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow, to separate from profane things and dedicate to God; consecrate things to God; dedicate people to God; to purify; to cleanse externally; to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin; to purify internally by renewing of the soul.

Entirely – perfectly and completely.

Preserved - to attend to carefully, take care of; to guard; metaphor  to keep, one in the state in which he is; to observe; to reserve: to undergo something.