I am the Prince of Peace. As I said to My disciples, I say also to you: Peace be with you. Since I am your constant Companion, My Peace is steadfastly with you. When you keep your focus on Me, you experience both My Presence and My Peace. Worship Me as King of kings, Lord of lords, and Prince of Peace.
Jesus Calling December 2.
Today I celebrate how I am greatly comforted by the presence of the Prince of Peace as I do my work. If I had to sit alone with people and listen to their pressing crises, painful histories, and seemingly insurmountable deficiencies day after day, week after week, year after year, I would be constantly falling to pieces.
But the opposite is true. I love my work, and day after day I fall more in love with God, with people and with the process of leading them to Jesus.
How is this possible? It is because I am never alone with them. The Prince of Peace is my constant companion, and I rely on Him to perform the miracles, so I do not have to take responsibility for healing, changing or growing people. This is God’s job, and I see Him doing it in the most masterful way, beyond what I could ask or imagine. Over the years I can feel myself more and more energized by His Presence in the process.
I have never seen a direct revelation or a tangible miracle where Jesus affects the visible world around me in a supernatural way. I have never seen a blind man come to see, or a lame man walk.
Instead, I see little miracles every day, steps that people are taking into trusting Jesus, walking by His Spirit. I have learned to celebrate every one of them. As I celebrate, He allows me to see how he does sweep into the room and heal people of their addictive delusions, their relational blindness, and their false beliefs. He does this by showing Himself to them, teaching them to know how He feels about them, and who He has made them to be.
If you could hear the obstacles to trusting God that are built into people’s stories of wounding, pain and abuse, and recognize the resistance of self-protective flesh to knowing God and being known by Him, you would see that it is an astounding miracle when someone opens their heart in trust toward Jesus and begins to take steps of faith.
He is the Wonderful Counselor as well as the Prince of Peace, so He performs wonders when people are willing to experience Him for who He really is. HE performs a miracle when He opens a heart and mind to His love and truth. Truly it is Jesus who draws us to himself.
I wish that you could sit where I sit so that I could tap you on the shoulder when I begin to notice the first tiny miracles happening and say: look, do you see it, do you hear it? One after another her thoughts are beginning to align with God’s way of thinking: with His Word, His Truth. You must remember how at first he was spouting lies about God, themselves and the world around them and they had no idea that they were deceived. Now when a lie comes out, he sees it for what it is and rejects it. Oh! Did you hear that? He just spoke the truth about himself, right from scripture, and he owned it, he embraced what God says about him instead of his own self-perception. Can you see the way she is beginning to operate in freedom from the narrow confines of fleshly thinking? Can you see her pausing, ready to ask the Spirit to lead her? Willing to be silent long enough so that she can hear when He speaks to her, reveals Himself to her? Look, she is taking Jesus at His Word! Look, she just entertained the possibility that the safe place she sees in her minds eye, is from God and not just a figment of her own construction. Can you see the change in their faces, a lightening around the eyes and mouth? Can you see the furrowed brow begin to soften, the downcast eyes raised up to meet our eyes as we talk? Do you see the change in the way they sit in the chair, less tense and more at ease, the sigh in their breathing as they release themselves into God’s care, knowing for the first time where they have always been. (Son, all that I have is yours, and you have always been with me.)
Such a miracle is like watching a sunrise in slow motion. It seems to take forever, and the signs of its coming are so slight at first in the grey twilight. But the birds begin to sing louder while it’s still quite dim. Then you see the grey outline of the trees and fields. If you don’t pay close attention, you might even miss the first moment that the sun shows above the horizon, for it is sudden and unexpected the way the first rays peek out and race across the miles. And then you find yourself standing in broad daylight and not knowing when or how it happened.
So what do I see?
I see a woman who has spent her whole life in the driver’s seat, thinking that she had to be in control in order to be safe, allowing God, for the first time, to take control of her life. I celebrate her choice to trust Jesus in the only way she knows how, through the simple image of allowing Him to steer her along.
I see another women, who has believed that she is worthless since her childhood, and who has acted out of feelings of worthlessness to reinforce her belief. She hopes that Jesus will reveal how much He values her. He invites her into a tender moment, a memory of innocence and freedom that she has not known since childhood. I watch as her soul breathes a shallow sigh of relief. She longs for more. Rejoice with Me that Jesus has led her to this point and will continue with her.
I see a man, discovering his victory over sin in Jesus’ power, not in his own efforts to control his behavior. He is wanting to want Jesus more than all the things which he has sought to meet his needs. He is ready and willing to give God permission to do whatever it takes to break him of his dependencies.
Neither I nor the people I serve could experience this journey of transformation were it not for a small band of very faithful financial supporters. So thank you so much to everyone who cares enough to partner with me and with God as He performs miracles in the hearts of those in need.
