CGC Ladies' Meeting 31/7/09 Fruit of the Spirit: PEACE

Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
PEACE
I wondered why the the two Mrs Lims (Siew Peng and Janet) asked me to speak on PEACE…perhaps because seeing that I have 3 boys and a girl, the house must be so noisy that they hope that I myself will find peace as I prepared for this sharing.
In Hebrew, the word PEACE is Shalom
Greeting
The root meaning is wholeness. It describes the state of integrity, harmony and completeness, of a person in a community, and of a community of persons in right relationship with one another and with God.
Actual Hebrew writing looks like the word ‘DIVE’ …that’s sometimes where I find my peace ;)

The words of the hymn summarizes where to find peace:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest,
Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
Peace is the tranquility of a soul who finds rest in God.
True peace rests in the objective reality of our right standing with God and the knowledge that ultimately nothing can snatch us from His loving care.

Mark 4: 37-40 Jesus calms the Storm
In this passage, Jesus and His friends set sail across the Sea of Galilee, when a furious storm came up. And what was Jesus doing? He was asleep in the back.The disciples woke Him and said “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”Jesus turned to the winds and said “Quiet, be still!” And the winds died down and it was completely calm.And Jesus turned back to His disciples “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
There are storms on the voyage of life as well as calm seas, and serenity of heart can be ours in all weathers.
Let us learn from this passage that following Christ will not prevent us from having earthly troubles and sorrows. In this passage, perhaps the disciples thought that if Jesus could raise the dead, heal the sick, feed multitudes, He would never allow his disciples to suffer. Perhaps they thought that He would grant them smooth journeys, fine weather, an easy path, and freedom from trouble and care.
If the disciples thought so, they were much mistaken. Believers of Christ do go through our share of sickness and pain, sorrow and tears, losses and deaths, separations and disappointments, so long as we are in this physical world. Many would prefer having Christ and good health, Christ and plenty of money, Christ and no deaths in the family. But they do not like Christ and the cross, Christ and conflict, Christ and the howling wind, Christ and the storm.
It is often during the storms of life that we grow closer to our Lord because it is during these times that we are so helpless , isn’t it?
Let us reflect back over the last 5 years: were there storms in our lives?
When I reflect on my last 5 years, I think of
My Mother’s Experience with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
· SJS affects anyone, of any age, any gender. Any kind of prescription drug can trigger it, in susceptible individuals. In my case, the culprit was Tegretol.
· For five days I suffered high fevers of 40 degrees and above. Rashes started to appear on my hands, my legs, my body, my neck, my face – everywhere. The rashes then formed into blisters. The blisters grew and joined together. My skin turned from red, to purple, to black, and peeled off, leaving raw skin underneath.
· I couldn’t swallow anything, not even water, not my saliva. My mouth was so dry that my lips were cracked and bloody. I could hardly speak; my throat was so dry.
· I had to go on intravenous fluids to keep hydrated. The veins in my hands kept collapsing, and the doctors had to switch the intravenous needle from my left hand to my right, back to my left, and down to my left foot.
· My eyes were swollen shut with pus. I couldn’t open them more than a tiny slit. Everything looked hazy.
· I could not breathe. Mucus in my nose hardened into huge plugs, and I could only pull in air through my mouth. The doctors had to give me extra oxygen, but it could not get into my system because my nose was totally blocked.
· When I dozed off, I would wake up choking. Thick mucus started coming out through my mouth. The mucosa, or the membranes from my digestive tract, was stripping off and coming out from my throat, choking me.
· Going to the toilet to pass urine was a nightmare. My urinary tract and private parts were totally blistered and broken, and the acidic urine burned into the raw skin.
· After a while I could not walk. Blisters formed at the soles of my feet. I had to use bedpans. When the nurses inserted the bedpans, they scraped the blistered skin off my back.
· On the third day after admission, the hospital started treating me as a burns patient. They used Melolin dressing and wrapped it around my body and my neck. Some nurses were not trained to handle burns and blisters – they plastered the dressing on with surgical tape. When these were removed, large pieces of skin from my face and back came off as well. The dressing procedure was so painful that I needed extra doses of painkillers. But the painkillers would raise my blood pressure up to unacceptable levels – one evening, after dressing, my BP shot up to 230/100. The doctor decided that he should reduce the painkillers, and that I should bear the pain.
· Soon my relatives found out, and they all came to see me in large groups. Many of them broke down and cried – in front of me, and outside the ward.
Well, you all know that God healed my mom, and she stands today testifying God’s grace and goodness to everyone she meets.
Let us give thanks for the calm seas, and also thank God for the storms which came and went with Jesus seeing us through.
When the storms of life rage away, we can be assured that Jesus is able to still the storm, speaking peace to our souls.
The hymn writer John Newton wrote:
“With Christ in the vessel, I can smile at the storm”
and we’ve been singing this in Sunday School!

Speaking of Sunday School, every week we tell bible stories to our Sunday School kids, and one of my favourites is this one found in 2 Kings 6: 8-23: A story about the prophet Elisha.
The King of Aram was at war with Israel. Elisha helped warn the king of Israel again and again and this angered the King of Aram. He sent horses and chariots and a strong army to capture Elisha when he found out that Elisha was in Dothan. They went by night and surrounded the city.
The next morning, Elisha’s servant got up and saw an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Elisha’s servant was understandably upset when he found the Israelite city surrounded. He cried out: "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" This is a question most of us have asked, or will ask, at some point in our lives. We probably will ask it more than once! Imagine you were the servant. Imagine you were there that day, confronted with the whole army waiting to kill you.
There is nothing wrong with asking such a question in the face of overwhelming opposition. The answer is important for us, though.
Don’t be afraid, Elisha replied; “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.”
Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Have we been confronted with life-threatening problems beyond our control? Perhaps we should remember how when the servan’t eyes were opened, he could see God’s armies ready to fight on his side.
This passage tells me about the all-sufficiency of Christ, that our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for every problem in life and for any crisis we face.
The God in the OT is the same God in the NT, and His promises are as much for us today as they were during Elisha’s time.
There is a true story in the Global Prayer Digest (9/91) while tells the story of a medical missionary from Michigan who served in Africa. One day, this missionary helped a native African who was wounded in a fight, and later, the wounded African confessed that he and 5 other African friends had planned to rob the missionary earlier, but they were afraid because they saw 26 armed guards surrounding the missionary.
When the missionary went home to his home church in Michigan and related this story to his church members, one church friend stood up and asked for the exact date and time of the incident. When they compared, it was the same time as when this church friend had felt a strong leading by the Spirit to pray for the missionary in Africa. He got some fellow church members to pray together with him. When they recalled the incident, there were 26 men who gathered in the church that day to pray for their missionary friend! Isn’t that amazing?
How often do we pray for our own missionaries? We read in this coming Aug’s bulletin about our very own Chin Li going into full-time ministry. Perhaps this story will remind us to always pray for our full-time workers in CGC and elsewhere.
We need to learn to place our burdens, our problems, our issues, at the feet of Jesus. Or at the foot of the cross, just like Christian, in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, carried the heavy burden on his back until he reached the foot of the Cross, and the burden fell off and he was free. “Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said, with a merry heart, ‘He hath given me REST by His sorrow, and LIFE by His death’.
We have met Jesus at the Cross when we accepted Him as Lord and Saviour, do we still have the burden on our backs or have we laid it at down, knowing that in Christ, we can be free?
Remember the meaning of the word Shalom: completeness, contentment, soundness, wholeness, health, welfare, safety, prosperity, rest, harmony, tranquility, absence of agitation and discord, peace.

Peace in our Relationships
· At work (with argumentative colleagues, unreasonable bosses, injustices)

Hebrews 12: 14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men
1 Peter 3:11 Seek peace and pursue it.

· In the home (husbands who are overworked and often come home late, children who take you for granted, in-laws you don’t get along with, relatives who bad-mouth you or keep saying that you have put on more weight since they last saw you..)

1 Cor 7: 15 God has called us to live in peace
· In the church (brothers and sisters in Christ you don’t really get along or see eye to eye with)
Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
When faced with opposition to our ideas, our programs, our efforts to be involved, our attempts to minister or serve God, our first instinct is to fight back. Of course, there are circumstances where we must take action. However, when our first reaction is to strike back, we probably need to stop and evaluate our motives carefully. It is easy to vent our frustrations and anger at other people. It is even easier to do it under the cover of speaking or acting in the name of God.

Anger is not necessarily a wrong response, until I choose to harbor and nurture it. When I enfold anger, it drains my energy and takes up valuable inner space. Brewing anger taxes my physical, mental and emotional well- being; it also hampers my close relationships with others and with God.

Another hymn we often sing:
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer

Learn to daily lay our burden at the feet of Jesus, to pray and commit everything to God.

Let us look at some precious verses on prayer in the Bible:
John 14: 13-14
Jesus said: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
1 John 5: 14-15
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.
Mark 11: 24
Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

And so many precious verses on PEACE:
John 14: 27
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The peace of Christ is an inward peace, not dependent on outward circumstances.
John 16: 33
Jesus said: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Ephesians 2:14
For Christ Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…verse 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
Isaiah 32:18
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
Psalm 46:9-10
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth, he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.
Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.


Isaiah 26: 3-4
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 48:18
Peace…like a river
A river flows in one direction and is resistless in its flow. When we are single minded and wholehearted in our purpose and calling, we will have flowing, perennial peace.
Isaiah 9:6
And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…

Let us learn to be peacemakers
Matthew 5: 9
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

And to end this talk on a very important aspect of the fruit of the Spirit: let us all turn to Numbers 6: 24-26
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.”

30.7.09