Peace On Earth, Peace in You - Your Nightly Prayer - December 15th

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Peace on Earth, Peace in You
Your Nightly Prayer
By Peyton Garland

TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE

“He himself is our peace.” Ephesians 2:14

SOMETHING TO PONDER

I was a precocious, worried child. No one had to teach me anxiousness or perfectionism. This potent concoction was simply how my brain, subject to a fallen world, was poorly wired. Certainly, adulthood has only given greater opportunities for anxiety and worry, but I’ve also learned that perfectionism simply isn’t an option. Try as I might, I’m good at some things, bad at many things, but perfect at none. 

I don’t like such a truth, though, especially not when it comes to my roles as a believer and mother. Needless to say, when you don’t want to let go of your strivings and impossible standards, it’s hard to find and secure peace deep in your soul. Grace and mercy still seem like gold stars one must achieve, and each imperfect day makes them (falsely) feel out of reach. Perhaps you can relate. 

I’m convinced peace lives in the soul, that grace and mercy must settle there to sustain our human state. The mind wanders too easily, is too fickle, and susceptible to endless, useless rabbit trails to house such a treasure as peace. The heart gets carried away by the slightest notions of a seeming love or cultural identity to care for something as tender as peace. But the soul is what’s saved, what God secures for eternal goodness, and I believe that is the best home for such a gift as peace. 

Peace sometimes feels like the golden egg in a video game, though, the one little nugget that explains the big picture and fills in all the storyline gaps, but it requires a familiarity, a deep, rich knowledge of the game’s purposes to be recognized. In a fallen world, peace might not grant you complete knowledge of why both good and bad things happen in your life, but it grants a perspective that will not only sustain but also preserve your hope. However, the only way to discover this spiritual egg is to be familiar with and truly known by the Author and Perfecter of Peace, Christ Himself. 

In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Notice the possessive pronoun He uses when He says, “my peace I give to you” (emphasis added). He is the only access to a one-of-a-kind peace that steadies your soul when everything in you believes it’s easier to cave to fear, anxiety, and worry. Your limited humanity will not let you control peace. It won’t let you earn it or procure its permanence in your soul. Unfortunately, my dear friend, you and I and all the people and things in this world will not keep our wandering hearts from flitting in and out of anxieties, broken relationships, and health problems, so peace must come from something outside of earth. 

Peace must be heavenly. And perhaps that’s why Silent Night whispers to baby Jesus, “Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.” Jesus can rest in who He is, the very essence of peace, healing, and hope. 

This Christmas season, may we remember that we have direct access to this peace because we have direct, personal, intimate access to the baby in the manger who has saved the entire world, granting us freedom from our humanity and eternal access to a settled soul, not based on anything we are or can do, but on the unmovable, unshakeable, forever faithfulness of Christ. 

Merry Christmas, friends! 

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER

Jesus,
Thank you so much for not forcing us to bear the burden of sustaining peace in our lives. You recognize our frailty, but you love us even still. Help us humbly remember that, try as we might, we can’t control everything in our imperfect world, so it’s up to us to look to you for our ultimate peace, comfort, guidance, and rest. This Christmas season, bless us with such heavenly peace that rested in a manger two millennia ago. Let us bless others with the great news of your peace at this joyful time of year. In your holy name, Jesus.
Amen. 

THREE THINGS TO PONDER

1. Peace isn’t achieved—it’s received.
Do I still treat grace and peace like rewards to earn instead of gifts freely given by Jesus?

2. Peace belongs in the soul, not the mind.
Am I trying to find peace through control and understanding rather than surrender and trust?

3. Heavenly peace is already mine.
This Christmas, will I rest in the truth that true peace comes only from knowing the Prince of Peace Himself?

Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.

Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Timothy Eberly

Peyton Garland is an author, editor, and boy mama who lives in the beautiful foothills of East Tennessee. Subscribe to her blog Uncured+Okay for more encouragement.

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