How to Enjoy Perfect Peace No Matter Your Circumstances

Another fantastic Real Life with Lisa video!  What a timely blessing this was in our family!  I hope it will be to some of you also.  All too often life gets chaotic and full of busyness and just anything and everything that feels like anything but peace.  But Mrs. Jacobson reminds us that we can ALWAYS have peace and that it's not really about what's going on AROUND us at all, but it's what's going on INSIDE of us that makes whether we have peace or not.  I hope you'll be blessed!
Just a note, Lisa Jacobson from club31women.com, is posting a weekly on Wednesday video series called Real Life with Lisa.  This is the third video she's done.  We've greatly enjoyed each one already. 
~Breanna

http://club31women.com/enjoy-perfect-peace/

Having Peace Like A River

Yesterday while sewing, I was extremely blessed and challenged by this message.  Do we take having the peace of God in our hearts and lives seriously?  As John Dees explains in this message, we should take it seriously because God does.  Do we pursue it?  How do we have this peace?  Isn't being busy for the Lord important?  I hope some of you will take the time to listen to this message and be blessed also.
~Breanna

Praise and Thanksgiving ~ Choosing Joy and Peace

"Praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting the growth of the spiritual life.  It helps to remove our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith.  It is a healthful and invigorating exercise which quickens the pulse fo the believer, and nerves him for fresh enterprises in his Master's service."

- Charles Spurgeon -

"O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

- Matthew 14:31b -

“I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart;

I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

I will be glad and rejoice in thee:

I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee:

for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion:

declare among the people his doings.

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; …

That I may shew forth all thy praise 

in the gates of the daughter of Zion:

I will rejoice in thy salvation.”

~ taken from Psalm 9 ~

This morning as I was studying and meditating on God's word, I was so convicted as I read.  Just in Psalms alone we are told over and over to praise the Lord, to thank the Lord, to sing to the Lord, to rejoice in the Lord, to declare His name.  Our Lord has blessed us beyond words.  His saving grace towards His children and all His benefits to us to innumerable!  As Christians, we have no reason to be down cast.  We have every reason to be full of joy and praising His name at all times.  Truly, how can we not be full of joy?! May the Lord forgive us for the times when we take our eyes off of Him - for this is when we lose our joy and peace.

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

- Proverbs 23:7a -

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on thee:

because he trusteth in thee."

- Isaiah 26:3 -

Joy is a choice.  Peace is a choice.  It is all in where we choose to focus - where we choose to put our minds.  And we must remember that:

"Ye are of God, little children,

and have overcome them:

because greater is he that is in you,

than he that is in the world."

~ 1 John 4:4 ~

Let us choose to set our minds on praising and thanking our Lord, to have joy and peace in Him, and to declare His wonderful name and amazing works.  As we look to His word and think on Him and all He has done, who can help but not praise and thank Him with a joyful heart?

May ye each have a wonderful weekend, and be encouraged and refreshed spiritually!

~Brittay

In Acceptance Lieth Peace

In Acceptance Lieth Peace

He said, ‘I will forget the dying faces;
The empty places,
They shall be filled again.
O voices moaning deep within me, cease.’
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in forgetting lieth peace.

He said, ‘I will crowd action upon action,
The strife of faction
Shall stir me and sustain;
O tears that drown the fire of manhood cease.’
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in endeavour lieth peace.

He said, ‘I will withdraw me and be quiet,
Why meddle in life’s riot?
Shut be my door to pain.
Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease.’
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in aloofness lieth peace.

He said, ‘I will submit; I am defeated.
God hath depleted
My life of its rich gain.
O futile murmurings, why will ye not cease?’
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in submission lieth peace.

He said, ‘I will accept the breaking sorrow
Which God tomorrow
Will to His son explain.’
Then did the turmoil deep within me cease.
Not vain the word, not vain;
For in Acceptance lieth peace.

Amy Carmichael

In Acceptance Lieth Peace

In acceptance lieth peace,
O my heart be still;
Let thy restless worries cease
And accept His will.
Though this test be not thy choice,
It is His—therefore rejoice.

In His plan there cannot be
Aught to make thee sad:
If this is His choice for thee,
Take it and be glad.
Make from it some lovely thing
To the glory of thy King.

Cease from sighs and murmuring,
Sing His loving grace,
This thing means thy furthering
To a wealthy place.
From thy fears He’ll give release,
In acceptance lieth peace.

—Hannah Hurnard

My Deepest Desire - His Plan, His Design

My Deepest Desire – His Plan, His Design

I do not need to understand His plan

I need only to trust His hand.

Around every corner and bend in the road

It is enough that He knows.

It is His will that I desire

In this confidence I cannot expire.

Through these years He has always faithful been

And He will see my journey to its end.

Beyond all hopes and dreams of mine

It is His will and His design.

His hand has beset me before and behind

And I know in the end I will see His design.

My deepest desire His glory to fulfill

I know He will give me peace in His blessed will.

And as I keep trusting His hand to guide

His plan will unfold before my eyes.

~B.A.A.

~Brittany

Learning to Sing ~ Finding Joy and Peace

Art thou weary, tender heart?
Be glad of pain!
In sorrow sweetest things will grow,
As flowers in rain.
God watches; thou wilt have the sun,
When clouds their perfect work have done.
- Adelaide Procter

"It is the life closest to the "Man of Sorrows"
who was Himself acquainted with grief
that can bring blossoms of joy and peace.
If His joy is in us, our joy is made full."
- Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

The song I sing is faint and sad,
Yet 'tis of love I'm singing;
And soon it shall be strong and glad
Through realms of glory ringing.

A song of love and sighs today,
Of love and joy tomorrow,
To Him Who poured His life away
Upon the tree of sorrow.
- Anonymous.

"We must learn to sing - to sing as we enter the valleys of shadow.
We sing as we work.  We sing as we rejoice.
Can we sing as we suffer?
How difficult it is to sing when you cannot see beyond affliction.
But the secret is to look beyond the immediate circumstance
and behold the reward in glory."
- Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

~Brittany

~Brittany

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:

but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;

but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,

that ye may be able to bear it."

~ 1 Corinthians: 10:13 ~

"The secret is Christ in me,

not me in a different set of circumstances."

~ Elisabeth Elliot ~

"All the way my Savior leads me.

Jesus doeth all things well!"

~ Frances J. Crosby ~

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,

shall keep your hearts and minds

through Christ Jesus."

~ Philippians 4:7 ~

~Brittany

Of trials, storms and hope...

Before the winds that blow do cease,
Teach me to dwell within Thy calm;
Before the pain has passed in peace,
Give me, my God, to sing a psalm;
Let me not lose the chance to prove
The fullness of enabling love.
~Amy Carmichael

Thou art the Lord who slept upon the pillow,

Thou art the Lord who soothed the furious sea,

What matter beating wind and tossing billow

If only we are in the boat with Thee?

Hold us in quiet through the age-long minute

While Thou art silent, and the wind is shrill:

Can the boat sink while Thou, dear Lord, art in it?

Can the heart faint that waiteth on Thy will?

~Amy Carmichael

Song: He Already Sees

~Breanna

Exhortation on Worry ~ Looking with Eyes of Thanksgiving and Faith

"Be careful for nothing."

Philippians 4:6

Do you cross rivers before you come to them, dread troubles that never come, expect evil from the Lord instead of good?  In other words is your soul full of unnecessary care?  For that is what the word "careful" means - unnecessary care.
"Do not worry" is a plain and simple command, but it is such a difficult one to follow.  M. D. Babcock has given a few beneficial suggestions for the person who feels defeated because of the common ailment of worry.  "The anxious Christian hurts more than himself; he hurts the faith of those who know him and the good name of his Lord Who has promised to supply all his needs.  There is nothing which we cannot pray about.  Go deeper into the text: 'But in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God.'  What we can take to God we can trust to God.  What we put our fidelity into, He will perfect by His faithfulness.  While we work for the best, He works the best for us.  We may not succeed as we hoped; we may have discipline we little expected, but the Father knows what His child needs.  What God has for us to do we can do, or to bear we can bear.  Is there not enough in His ocean to fill our pitcher?  With the need of every day will come His promised supply - 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'
"Do not forget the words further on in the text: 'with thanksgiving.'  Be on the lookout for mercies.  Blessings brighten when we count them.  Out of determination of the heart the eyes see.  If you want to be gloomy, there's gloom enough to keep you glum; if you want to be glad, there's gleam enough to keep you glad.  Better lose count in enumerating your blessings than lose your blessings in telling your troubles.
"Unbraid the verse into three cords and bind yourself to God with them in trustful, prayerful, thankful bonds, - Anxious for nothing, Prayerful for everything, Thankful for anything - 'and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' "  (from Thoughts for Every-Day Living.)
- Steams in the Desert, Volume 2, December 10th
~Brittany

Peace Instead of Weakness

Do not begin to be anxious (Phil. 4:6, PBV).
Not a few Christians live in a state of unbroken anxiety, and others fret and fume terribly. To be perfectly at peace amid the hurly-burly of daily life is a secret worth knowing. What is the use of worrying? It never made anybody strong; never helped anybody to do God's will; never made a way of escape for anyone out of perplexity. Worry spoils lives which would otherwise be useful and beautiful. Restlessness, anxiety, and care are absolutely forbidden by our Lord, who said: "Take no thought," that is, no anxious thought, "saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?" He does not mean that we are not to take forethought and that our life is to be without plan or method; but that we are not to worry about these things.
People know you live in the realm of anxious care by the lines on your face, the tones of your voice, the minor key in your life, and the lack of joy in your spirit. Scale the heights of a life abandoned to God, then you will look down on the clouds beneath your feet.
--Rev. Darlow Sargeant
It is always weakness to be fretting and worrying, questioning and mistrusting. Can we gain anything by it? Do we not unfit ourselves for action, and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith.
Oh, for grace to be quiet! Oh, to be still and know that Jehovah is God! The Holy One of Israel must defend and deliver His own. We may be sure that every word of His will stand, though the mountains should depart. He deserves to be confided in. Come, my soul, return unto thy rest, and lean thy head upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus.
--Selected
Peace thy inmost soul shall fill
Lying still!
-Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert, October 8th
~Brittany

Peace in the Heart ~ The Music of Life

In me... peace (John 16:33).
There is a vast difference between happiness and blessedness. Paul had imprisonments and pains, sacrifice and suffering up to the very limit; but in the midst of it all, he was blessed. All the beatitudes came into his heart and life in the midst of those very conditions.
Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it a second and then saw that it was not his famous and valuable one. He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered that some one had stolen his and left that old second-hand one in its place.
He remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his audience and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen: I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul." And he played as he had never played before; and out of that second-hand instrument, the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul.
It is your mission, tested and tried one, to walk out on the stage of this world and reveal to all earth and Heaven that the music is not in conditions, not in the things, not in externals, but the music of life is in your own soul.
If peace be in the heart,
The wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty,
The midnight flash but shows the path of duty,
Each living creature tells some new and joyous story,
The very trees and stones all catch a ray of glory,
If peace be in the heart.
--Charles Francis Richardson
-Streams in the Desert, for September 28th
~Brittany

Peace through Christ

~Brittany

"Peace lies in the trusting acceptance of
His design, His gifts, His appointment of place, position, capacity.

It was thus that the Son of Man came to earth--embracing
all that the Father willed Him to be,

usurping nothing--no work, not even a word--that
the Father had not given Him."
~ Elisabeth Elliot ~

"Children of the jungle tribe I knew years ago did not complain
because they had not been taught to."

~ Elisabeth Elliot ~

"Lord, we give You thanks for all that You in Your mercy have given us
to be and to do and to have.
Deliver us, Lord, from all greed to be and to do and to have anything
not in accord with Your holy purposes.
Teach us to rest quietly in Your promise to supply,
recognizing that if we don't have it we don't need it.
Teach us to desire Your will--nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else.
For Jesus' sake.  Amen."

~ Elisabeth Elliot ~

-taken from her book, Keep a Quiet Heart

~Brittany

Peace and Contentment

Breanna and I have been so blessed by several of Elisabeth Elliot's writings.   A while back we had gotten "Keep a Quiet Heart" in from the library, but had to return it before we were done.  Mom was so sweet and bought the book for us and surprised us by leaving it on our bed along with a sweet note. :-)  (Thanks so much Mom for all that you invest into us. <3 )  Here are a few sections from what I read yesterday that stood out to me.  I hope some of you are as blessed by it as I was.

A spirit of calm contentment always accompanies true godliness.  The deep peace that comes from deep trust in God’s lovingkindness is not destroyed even by the worst of circumstances, for those Everlasting Arms are still cradling us, we are always “under the Mercy”.

It isn’t troubles that make saints, but their response to troubles.  Even miracles can’t make us holy.

Everything about which we are tempted to complain may be the very instrument whereby the Potter intents to shape His clay into the image of His Son—a headache, an insult, a long line at the check-out, someone’s rudeness or failure to say thank you, misunderstanding, disappointment, interruption.  As Amy Carmichael said, “See in it a chance to die,” meaning a chance to leave self behind and say YES to the will of God, to be “conformable unto His death.”  Not a morbid martyr-complex but a peaceful and happy contentment in the assurance that goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives.

~Elisabeth Elliot, Keep A Quiet Heart~

~Brittany

~Brittany

Is Your All on the Altar?

When I woke up this morning and was thinking on a difficult situation, this old favorite hymn came to mind.  It’s been a while since we’ve sung it, and I was amazed as I read the words.  I guess the Lord wanted me to hear this message this morning.  It is my hope that this song will minister to some of you as well.  May the Lord bless, and guide, and strengthen you, and may He help us each to lay all things on the altar so that He can fulfill His perfect will in our lives.  I know someday we will see the bigger picture.

~Brittany

Is Your All on the Altar?

You have longed for sweet peace,

And for faith to increase,

And have earnestly, fervently prayed;

But you cannot have rest

Or be perfectly blest

Until all on the altar is laid.

Would you walk with the Lord,

In the light of His Word,

And have peace and contentment always,

You must do His sweet will,

To be free from all ill,

On the altar your all you must lay.

Oh, we never can know what the Lord will bestow

Of the blessings for which we have prayed,

Till our body and soul He doth fully control,

And our all on the altar is laid.

Who can tell all the love

He will send from above,

And how happy our hearts will be made,

Of the fellowship sweet

We shall share at His feet,

When our all on the altar is laid.

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?

Your heart, does the Spirit control?

You can only be blessed

And have peace and sweet rest,

As you yield Him your body and soul.

An interesting thought to ponder....

The way you keep your house, the way you organize your time, the care you take in your personal appearance, the things you spend your money on, all speak loudly about what you believe. The beauty of thy peace shines forth in an ordered life. A disordered life speaks loudly of disorder in the soul.

~Elisabeth Elliot

~Breanna

Don't Forfeit Your Peace

Don’t Forfeit Your Peace

It would not be possible to exaggerate the importance hymns and spiritual songs have played in my spiritual growth.  One of the latter, familiar to most of you, has this line: “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer” (Joseph Scriven).  Prayerlessness is one of many ways by which we can easily forfeit the peace God wants us to have.  I’ve been thinking of some other ways.  Here’s a sampling:

1. Resent God’s ways.
2. Worry as much as possible.
3. Pray only about things you can’t manage by yourself.
4. Refuse to accept what God gives.
5. Look for peace elsewhere than in Him.
6. Try to rule your own life.
7. Doubt God’s word.
8. Carry all your cares.

 If you’d rather not forfeit your peace, here are eight ways to find it (antidotes to the above eight):

1. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165 KVJ).  “Circumstances are the expression of God’s will,” wrote Bishop Handley Moule.
2. “Don’t worry about anything whatever” (Philippians 4:6, Phillips).
3. “In everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving.  Then the peace of God … will guard your hearts” (Philippians 4:6-7, NEB).
4. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me … and you will find rest” (Matthew 11:29, NIV).
5. “Peace is my parting gift to you, my own peace, such as the world cannot give” (John 14:27, NEB).
6. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15, NIV).
7. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13, KJV).
8. “Cast all your cares on him for you are his charge” (1 Peter 5:7, NEB).

 “Grant, O Lord my God, that I may never fall away in success or in failure; that I may not be prideful in prosperity nor dejected in adversity.  Let me rejoice only in what unites us and sorrow only in what separates us.  May I strive to please no one or fear to displease anyone except Yourself.  May I seek always the things that are eternal and never those that are only temporal.  May I shun any joy that is without You and never seek any that is beside You.  O Lord, may I delight in any work I do for You and tire of any rest that is apart from You.  My God, let me direct my heart towards You, and in my failings, always repent with a purpose of amendment.”  - St. Thomas Aquinas

~Keep A Quiet Heart, by Elisabeth Elliot 

~Brittany   

Joy, Peace, and Confidence in Trials

I was very blessed by this devotional this morning, and challenged yet again.  The Lord has been teaching me so much this year, and one of the things He has been helping me learn recently is to rest in joy in Him in my trials.  So trials seem bigger than others, but as I seek to have an overall attitude to joy in the providential happenings around me, it makes such a difference.  I hope that this devotional is a blessing and encouragement to some of you as well.  May your Lord's Day be blessed!

“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings.”  - Psalm 112:7

Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to; they have never proved his faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear: but you profess to be of another spirit; you have been begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess?

Again, if you should be filled with alarm, as others are, you would, doubtless, be led into the sins so common to others under trying circumstances. The ungodly, when they are overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God; they murmur, and think that God deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do?

Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order to escape from difficulties, and you will be sure to do the same if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea, “Stand still and see the salvation of God.” For if you give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure which nerves for duty, and sustains under adversity. How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God’s high praises in the fires, but will your doubting and desponding, as if you had none to help you, magnify the Most High? Then take courage, and relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God, “let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

-Charles Spurgeon Morning Meditation, September 15th

~Posted by Brittany