He will keep me in perfect peace because I persevere in thinking of Him

From: March 21-27, 2006 Study: # 436

TOPIC: “He will keep me in perfect peace because I persevere in thinking of Him” Isaiah 26:3, 4 In Jehovah there is the everlasting strength of the centuries, Isaiah says. We need the peace that only God can give. This peace does not come because there is no war, wars will continue. This peace does not come because everything is calm in our surroundings but because this peace comes from God. When we speak of peace we are not referring to external things but to internal things. What is inside of us is what disturbs and removes our well-being. We judge by the external things and not what is inside. The problem is to know God only as a person and not as the Creator of everything. For this reason many are disturbed, struggling with the external things, with what is external in their lives. When difficult circumstances come, we live restless and disturbed if there is no peace in our interior. When there is no peace we cannot see with clarity when the enemy rises against us. Nothing of what surrounds us will rise for peace but for war and evil. 1 Peter 5: 8 For this reason we cannot give our life to the Lord half way. We must give ourselves to him completely so that He can work in us. Struggles and battles will begin because we ran after this world before taking our body to destruction. Now temptation comes to us and we have to face this war against the darkness. There are many battles that we must face and experience; we will be put to the test. These battles will allow us to see who we are and what is in us so that we become more humble, have repentance and allow God to work in our interior. We need peace for all we must live through, to face what surrounds us. The preacher Moody said: "The tree of peace tosses its roots in the fissures of the eternal rock". That tree of peace is born in Jesus Christ. Storms can come, but our peace will be in our roots in Christ. Our desperation must not become madness because our peace comes from the Lord Jesus. We cannot serve others if there is no peace in us because we will be fighting, just doing things to comply and not for love. We don't want to be defeated. Isaiah 53:5 The punishment of our peace was upon Jesus. He had to take punishment in his body as if He was a sinner and He never sinned; but his body was punished. He took the punishment so that there would be peace in us. Jesus was beaten, punished and He was not sinful, we are the sinners. This is how we became cleansed and now we have peace because of Him. The entire curse fell upon His body. Galatians 3:13 Those who don't have peace live their life with a lot of difficulty. When there is no peace in them, even a smile or a simple comment bothers them. When there is no peace there is torture, we can’t eat or live peacefully and we become insecure and disturbed in our lives. Jesus had to come, to pay the price of that peace that is so necessary. We must not act like those who have no peace and harm others. This peace doesn't depend on us but on Christ. Jesus suffered five types of wounds which are well-known by doctors and by science: bruises, stick blows when they put the crown of thorns on him and they hit him on the head and body. They beat him because there was anger in those who did it. He also suffered lacerations from the lashes. He was marked, He was punished. He suffered penetrating wounds; they stuck a crown of thorns on his head. His hands and his feet were perforated. He suffered wounded incisions because the lance also perforated His side. Jesus took the entire curse on his body so that we could have peace. So we could listen without being disturbed. Our only accuser is the devil that comes to steal and to take away our peace, but Jesus paid a great price for this peace. We must learn how to produce peace in others. Christ took the whole punishment for those who have believed in Him. This peace is active for those who believe. His punishment is so that we would

have peace in Him. The theologian Matthew Henry said: "He will come to the mount of pain to get us and take us safe to God’s home". While we are in the mount of pain the more we need His peace. But, we have a home here, a house, we are beside God. He is the one that produces peace in us. In difficult days some people walk away from the Lord, but the only way that we can be in peace is if our thoughts persevere in Him. Peace is a promise for all who persevere in Him. Sometimes some say that they persevere because they watch preachers on television and they seek for God in their home, etc. But, to persevere is to persist in a purpose, in the same way the Lord works. Those who persist and work in what God has put them and under the conditions that God has placed them are the ones who will last the whole time. God will maintain us in peace as long as we work on what He has put in our hands. We must always be the same, as when we believed in the Lord. As the years go by, in some of us peace begins to weaken and then things begin to change. They stop working and then they have no peace. The way we work, live and believe should grow more in what God has put in our hands. If we stop believing we will lose the peace. We must not be confused by what men say, because each person speaks his own way to disturb us. Let us persevere because our trust is in Him every day of our lives. The one who died and received marks on His body was Jesus so that we would continue trusting Him. Even if bad circumstances come, it is necessary to look for our only refuge, in God who is our strength. 1 Corinthian 10:3 We all drank of Christ who is the rock. Let us have peace, let us never stop believing in the word, let us not be disobedient, and let us perpetually trust Jehovah. Sometimes as the years go by people instead of increasing the fire in them, their passion begins weakening until they get lost. Sometimes their hearts get hardened, because of betrayal. As the years go by the more hardened their hearts become regarding their love for God. We have to provoke ourselves to be as Paul, even when they were going to kill him he was a meek man and had peace. We sometimes believe that what we are going through, are the worst circumstances and this takes us out and makes us walk away from God. The centuries are witnesses of God’s peace so that we will strengthen in peace and stay firm in what we have believed. Be careful, when disobedience arrives there is no peace but interference, madness and then as the years go by we explode and in our older age our hearts become hard. We must persevere in God because we don't know what the future will hold for us, for it is uncertain; we can not touch it or see it. At the end Paul had to go through jail and death. In our walk we have to strengthen ourselves in peace because we don't know what the future will hold for us. Let us learn how to harvest peace now, so that in days of our necessity, peace flourishes; let us be as Paul that lifted his head and went forward with no fear of what he had to live. To God be the glory for His peace. Amen.