Peace and Presence

Will peace ever stop being a theme in my life?
No. Never.
And so I expand on the lessons I am learning on peace.
As I was running the other day (yes, still running, praise the Lord!), the Lord struck me with the importance of peace. Well, he’s been striking me with that quite a bit lately, but this time it was once again in a new way. I was overcome with the feeling that peace was crucial to ministry for me now but mostly in the years to come. Peace will be the healing touch I bring to a hurting, stressful, worry-filled world. Peace is what I am called to pass on. Halleluiah! What a gift to give.
Because of the wonderful gift I know I will give, whether it is my peace filling a room or actually being transferred to another individual, it is crucial that I am ALWAYS filled with peace now. I am in training. Satan knows it.
I don’t believe Satan can actually see into the future, but I do know he knows the importance of peace in every Spirit-filled Christian. Somehow, he thinks it has been necessary to bombard me with such a lack of peace throughout my years and I believe it is more crucial for me to have this peace than other individuals. I don’t know why, but I believe it has something to do with my destiny. In any case, I know it is my call and I am passionate and excited to be surrendered to peace no matter what may come.

After this time of revelation with the Lord, I heard Bill Johnson speak which always seems to be enlightening. He was speaking of the Holy Spirit and the difference between the HS being in us and the HS resting upon us. As a Christ follower, we all have the HS in us. Those who have the HS upon them change their environment because they bring the presence of the Lord wherever they go. The thing is: this requires peace. He spoke about Peter and how even his mere presence would change people around him; whomever his shadow fell upon was healed! “Shadows have no substance,” Johnson states, “but your shadow contains the presence of whatever overshadows you.” (Or at least that was the idea. I don’t know if I got the exact wording.)
So if I am overshadowed by anxiety, what will I bring to a room? I cannot depart into an environment what I do not have. And peace is the presence of more than just a calm, quiet spirit. Peace is a resting in the Lord. And when we rest in the Lord, his presence rests upon us! Peace is an expression of faith where God moves with you and into the surrounding areas. Does that not make you want to drown in peace?!? It provides an outward focus on the Lord and what he is doing as apposed to fear, worry or doubt which casts our gaze inward and we are unable to do what was intended by the Lord for us to do: depart his presence!
Johnson went into many other texts including Luke 10:5-6 and John 20:19-22 where Jesus instructs to impart peace on willing recipients or imparts peace himself. The Spirit is looking for places to rest. Our primary role in being sent out as Jesus was sent by the Father (John 20:21), is to impart the Holy Spirit into and onto the lives of others. Give a peace offering and where there is an opening to be received, the Holy Spirit will move! Glory, Glory! What a grace to share this divine gift?!

Lord, may we be mindful of your Spirit within that we may be a place where you rest upon. Fill us with your peace that it may be your presence we depart. Crown us with your glory that wherever we go, the atmosphere changes because your presence is there. Oh how it excites me! Let this excitement and peace not be displaced by fear or anxiety. I give you control over my trips to the grocery store, the library, the post office, on my runs and everywhere I go. My life will never be the same.
Peace; I am still knowing you are God.