Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 10:34‭-‬39 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.10.34-39.KJV

Day 11 of 30 day devotional.

The coming of Jesus Christ is not a peaceful thing, it is a disturbing, an overwhelming thing. Am I willing to be born into the realm Jesus Christ is in? If so, I must be prepared for chaos straight off in the realm I am in. The rule which has come in between God and man has to be eclipsed, and Jesus Christ’s entering in means absolute chaos concerning the way I have been looking at things, a turning of everything upside down. The old order and the old peace must go, and we cannot get back peace on the old level.

When Satan rules the hearts of natural men under the inspiration of the devil, they are not troubled, they are at peace, entrenched in clean worldliness (cf. Psalm 73), and before God can rule a man’s kingdom He must first overthrow this false rule.

Reflection Questions: What chaos must I pass through to reach peace? What disturbance is required to overcome the old order? What false rule must be overthrown?

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalms 46:10 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.46.10.KJV

Day 10 of 30 day devotional.

To be “silent unto God” does not mean drifting into mere feeling, or sinking into reverie, but deliberately getting into the center of things and focusing on God. When you have been brought into relationship with God through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and are concentrating on Him, you will experience wonderful times of communion. As you wait only upon God, concentrating on the glorious outlines of His salvation, there will come into you the sleeping peace of God, the certainty that you are in the place where God is doing all in accordance with His will.

The peace our Savior gives is the deepest thing a human personality can experience, it is almighty, a peace that passes all understanding.

Reflection Question: Have I entered the “sleeping peace” of God where I am at total rest because I know that God is working through me, I am not working for God?

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Isaiah 54:10 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.54.10.KJV

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord , choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord . Joshua 24:15 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/jos.24.15.KJV

We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. Isaiah 59:10‭-‬11 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.59.10-11.KJV

Day 9 of 30 day devotional.

When God became Incarnate in Jesus Christ for the purpose of removing sin, men saw nothing in Him to desire. But when the heart of a sinner is reached, that is a state of heart and mind able to understand why it was necessary for God to become Incarnate. The worst state a man could ever be in is never to have had a twinge or conviction of sin, everything happy and peaceful, but absolutely dead to the realm of things Jesus represents.

The majority of us are shallow, we do not bother our heads about Reality. We are taken up with actual comforts, with actual ease and peace, and when the Spirit of God comes in and disturbs the equilibrium of our life we prefer to ignore what He reveals.

Reflection Questions: Why is misplaced peace so deadly? Why is easy peace so temporary? Why is comfort the enemy of peace?

May we remember this is who we are. A country where others wanted to come to for the freedoms we have and joined us in wars to defeat a common enemy. United we stand!