The Perfect Peace of Christ

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3)

The revelation of God's love for me just gets richer and richer.

He is ever-present, going nowhere. His life and presence in and around me has nothing to do with me.

It has everything to do with Christ Jesus, and what He accomplished at the Cross.

The New Covenant which He enacted ensures that nothing will separate me from the Love of God the Father.

Nothing.

"37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)

and

"5Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5)

The days of depending on my own efforts are over.

I no longer have to wonder if God is on my side or not.

Paul the Apostle really could not have made it any clearer:

"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)

That "if" is a mere supposition which lays the groundwork for everything else that Paul expounds upon.

He is for us, because of what Jesus did for us at the Cross.

Paul continues:
"32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

We must esteem what Christ Jesus did for us at the Cross. If we do not esteem His sacrifice, then every other promise which God our Father has made for us is tenuous at best.

"33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." (Romans 8:33)

It does not matter what the world throws at us. It does not matter what anyone says about us. It makes no difference what anyone has to say about us. No matter how great or small the person may be, it is GOD who justifies us!

"34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Romans 8:34)

Jesus intercedes on our behalf at the right hand of God the Father, and no one can undermine us. No one can undermine our perfect standing.

What is different, what is changing for me today, after all those years of reading and remembering those verses, is that God is now clearly so present to me. For the longest time, I used to think that I had to conjure up His presence in my life. Today, I recognize Him as stark, alive, vibrant, loving, inescapable for all of His beauty.

He's alive, and He cares for us. He is at work, and He asks us to rest in Him.

All of this is so new, so vibrant, so wonderful to me. He asks us to believe Him. He asks us to look at Him, not at ourselves, not at our circumstances, not at our adversaries, not at our circumstances. Look at Him, and see Him who has been from the beginning!

Thank you, Jesus!