Get Up With God
highly caffeinated daily bible doses to help start your morning off right

Unplug. Unwind. Un-whatever-it-is-you’re-doing.

Spend the next few moments with our Great Shepherd pondering what is perhaps the world’s most beloved psalm. Let each word seep deep into your soul, fill your mind and quiet your heart.

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

(Psalm 23)

It’s SPIRIT WEEK here on GUWG, where we’re taking an up-close and personal look at each Fruit of the Spirit.

Today’s featured fruit: PEACE.

Peace with God? Sin destroys our relationship with God. So, first we need peace with God. That’s exactly why Jesus — the Prince of Peace — came. His sacrifice on the cross wiped out sin’s penalty and gives us access to peace with God by grace through faith (Romans 5:1).

What exactly is peace? God’s peace is more than just absence of conflict. The Old Testament word — shalom – actually means “completeness” or “wholeness.” The New Testament word — eirene – describes harmonious relationships.

Inner peace? The Bible tells us not to be anxious or fearful but instead to pray and let the Holy Spirit fill us with “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:6-7). Over and over, Jesus greeted his disciples with these simple words: “Peace be with you!” He wants the same for us.

Peace on earth? Peace isn’t something we should keep to ourselves. God wants it to overflow from our hearts into the world around us. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14). We’re told to work with the Spirit to promote unity among believers and to “make every effort to live in peace with all men” (Ephesians 4:3, Hebrews 12:14).

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
(Matthew 5:9)

PEACE BE WITH YOU!

Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.
(Matthew 5:44)

Think of the one person on this planet whom you despise more than anyone else. Here’s what Jesus says we should do about people like that:

Love them. Pray for them.

What would happen if people actually took Jesus’ words seriously? Think we’d have less war? Fewer shootings in our neighborhoods?

Want more peace in the world? Let it start today with you. Ask God to crack the cement around your heart and to help you love the people you hate. And then pray for them.

Need more inspiration? Here are a few additional verses for your consideration:

• A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)
• Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:27b-28)
• Do not repay anyone evil for evil . . . If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. (Romans 12:17, 20)
• When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. (Romans 12b-13a)
• Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. (1 John 2:9-10a)

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

–St. Francis of Assisi

Be still and know that I am God.
(Psalm 46:10)

Turn off the TV. Put away the iPod. Shut down the BlackBerry. Unplug the computer (not ’til after you read this, of course).

Spend some quiet time right now alone with God. It’ll make your day.

BE STILL WITH GOD

Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion
and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles,
so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
(2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

Everything seemed to be going well for Horatio Spafford. He was a successful lawyer and businessman and had a young family of seven.

But then everything changed.

In 1870, Horatio, Jr., his only son, died of scarlet fever at the age of four. Then, in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city and destroyed virtually everything Spafford owned.

In the Fall of 1873, the family decided to take a trip to England for a vacation. Horatio placed his wife, Anna, and their four young daughters aboard a steamship sailing from New York City to France. In the early morning hours of November 22, the ship was struck by another vessel. 276 people lost their lives, including all four of the Spaffords’ children.

When Mrs. Spafford arrived in England, she sent her husband a telegram. It said: “Saved alone.”

After spending a night in deep anguish, in the morning Horatio turned to a friend and said, “I am glad to trust the Lord when it will cost me something.” He then journeyed across the Atlantic to meet his wife. As the captain announced that they were passing over the place where the ship and his children had been lost, Spafford sat down in his cabin and penned the words to a song that would give comfort to many, It Is Well With My Soul:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

(Refrain)
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul

Though Satan would buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed his own blood for my soul.

(Refrain)

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

(Refrain)

And Lord, haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

(Refrain)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
(Romans 15:13)

The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26)

This beautiful blessing is the oldest contained in the Bible. Not only that, it’s the oldest known biblical text found by archaeologists. An amulet bearing this blessing was found dating all the way back to before 586 B.C. when the first temple was destroyed.

It’s been used as a blessing in Jewish services for centuries. It’s often recited in Christian services as well. It has even permeated pop culture. It’s the first line in the Bob Dylan song Forever Young. In the movie Deep Impact, Morgan Freeman (playing the President) quotes it just as a comet is about to smash into Earth. It’s also the inspiration behind Star Trek’s “live long and prosper” greeting and the Vulcan Hand Salute made famous by Leonard Nimoy as Dr. Spock. Nimoy grew up in a Jewish home and based the salute on a similar “V” gesture priests make while giving the blessing.

Here’s a translation from the Ancient Hebrew Research Center that illuminates a few more details:

Yahweh (he who exists)
will kneel before you presenting gifts,
and will guard you with a hedge of protection,
Yahweh (he who exists) will illuminate
the wholeness of his being toward you bringing order
and he will provide you with love, sustenance and friendship,
Yahweh (he who exists) will lift up his wholeness of being
and look upon you and he will set in place
all you need to be whole and complete.

MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU
AND KEEP YOU TODAY

It’s COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS here on GUWG. Today’s topic . . .

PEACE

Here’s what the prophet Isaiah said about Jesus hundreds of years before he was born:

He will be called “Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.”
(Isaiah 9:6-7)

Here’s what the angels proclaimed to the shepherds when they announced Jesus’ birth:

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.
(Luke 2:14)

Here’s what Jesus himself promised:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
(John 14:27)

Consider for a moment this real-life Christmas story of peace in action . . .

It was Christmas Eve 1914, a few months after the start of World War I. More than a million soldiers had already lost their lives in the bloody fighting. Bodies were strewn across the battlefield between trenches dug so close together that soldiers from opposing sides could hear one another’s voices.

Then something beautiful happened. Right there in the middle of the frozen battlefield, a German soldier began to sing:

Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright

“They finished their carol and we thought that we ought to retaliate,” a British soldier wrote in his journal. “So we sang The First Noel.” When the Brits finished, they were amazed to hear the Germans clapping. The Germans then “retaliated” with O Tannenbaum. When the Brits began singing O Come All Ye Faithful, the Germans joined in. As the British soldier wrote, “This was really a most extraordinary thing — two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”

The soldiers put down their weapons, climbed out of their trenches and began to exchange Christmas greetings with their hated enemies right there on the battlefield. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers joined in this most remarkable celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace, culminating in a Christmas Day cease-fire that stretched along more than 500 miles of the front.

Commenting on this story, Billy Graham once said:

How different this world would be if we could unite together around that
“Holy infant so tender and mild.”
Earth can be as Heaven with Christ.
Discord can be as peace when Christ is near.
Midnight gloom can be transformed into noonday brightness
when he abides with us.

Full peace will come only when Christ returns.
But until that day we can know His peace in our hearts
and can be messengers of His peace in the world,
as we commit our lives to Him.

Here are some final words on this subject from Jesus:

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
(Matthew 5:9)

Go in peace.
(Luke 7:50)

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

–St. Francis of Assisi

Flip open your Bible to the middle and chances are you’ll land in either Psalms or Proverbs. It’s an amazing juxtaposition of books. Psalms is packed with poetry and prayers expressing the heights and depths of human emotion. Flip a few pages and you’re in Proverbs — practical, no-nonsense wisdom for daily living.

Once a week for the next several months, our daily dose will be from one of these two fabulous books. Your heart and brain will thank you.

I could think of no better place to start than Psalm 23. Read it, meditate on it, memorize it, live it.

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

WALK WITH GOD