Confident Rest & Peace - It’s Our Default Position
By Art Licursi

 

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Romans 8:6 For to be carnally(fleshly) minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Isaiah 30:15 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:

Philip. 2:5 Let this mind (mindset) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

If you are like me, the most prevailing trouble likely in your life is the inward disturbance that occurs oftentimes when we have to deal with certain outward activities, or when we must choose how we will face and react to some pressing situation.

Many times, even before outward activities come, we are already disturbed within, and this disturbance deprives us of the strength to deal with outward activities by the strength of the indwelling life of Christ. This usually is because we in our minds have entertained certain kinds of thoughts that make the power of the indwelling Christ of no effect in our lives. Our mind may have been set upon things other than that which has the enternal view in focus. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18)

The Apostle Paul says in Philip 2:5 that we need to “Let this mind (Greek, phroneo, meaning “mindset”) be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”. What was Jesus’ mindset or attitude of mind? Jesus’ mindset was consistently one of trust and utter dependence upon the Father and the Father’s speaking in Him - never acting on His own. He said, “the Son can nothing of his self” (John 5:19). He trusted God the Father unto death of the cross.

We should know that strength for our daily living comes from rest, quietness, and trust - found only in Him. Anyone who is easily irritated and anxious cannot have strength before God until that one returns to a mindset of trust in their heavenly Father, as the Father who loves them and has their best eternal interest in hand - every day. The same is true for anyone who is disturbed in heart, for any reason. We should remember that our strength depends upon inner quietness and trust in the Lord.

I recently read Oswald Chambers biography and was so impressed with him and his philosophy for daily living. I paraphrase that he said, “Trust God, and get on with the next thing in front of you”. Repeatedly I saw that the first and primary thing with Chambers was his continual trusting dependence upon the Lord in all that he encountered and all that he did.

Our rest, as we abide (stay) in union with Him who indwells our human spirit, is as the eye of a hurricane. There is an eye in every hurricane. Although the wind spins furiously around the eye, the eye itself is very quiet. Our strength lies in a life that revolves around a stable center - the love of God in Christ as the Spirit in our spirit. Outward activities may be blowing like furious winds, yet within we can be at peace. “In quietness and in trust will be your strength.”

Our confidence and “mindset of trust” must not be disturbed because of the multitude of outward activities, if we are to remain at peace. Consider the sea. Although there are high waves, strong winds, and the surface of the sea may be in great turmoil, the depths of the sea have no movement at all; everything is very peaceful below.

The life of a Christian should be characterized by quietness and trust. Paul states repeatedly that the Christian is “in Christ” and that Christ is in the Christian. This indwelling Christ is our peace (Eph 2:14). He has given us His Himself as the peaceful Spirit, now in our spirit (1Cor 6:17, 1Jn 4:13). Using computer terms, we can say that our “default position” is “in Him”, in Him who is the person and place of our rest and peace.

Then why is there this, often prevailing, problem of inner disturbance? It is when we are drawn into the fray of life that we have left our trusting dependence upon Him and lose our rest and peace. We cannot be idle in our lives and cannot expect to be idle, but we can expect peace and quietness in the midst of our busy daily life. There can be much activity outwardly, yet there is peace and quiet inwardly. The peace that we seek is the inner peace we have in the person of the indwelling Christ. When there is inner peace, all is well, regardless of the circumstance. This requires our trust in Him and in His working in our lives, by every circumstance, being for our good - not our pleasure or meeting our preference, but for our good.

Note that our Lord was never affected by the outward circumstances. When a storm raged around the boat, the Lord was fast asleep, but the disciples cried, “We are perishing!” Why did they cry? They had no rest. But the Lord remained unaffected (Matt. 8:23-27).

Consider when the band of Roman soldiers and officers came to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene”. Jesus said to them, “I am”. When they heard this, they drew back and fell to the ground. Seeing His confident peace, those who tried to make an arrest were scared by the One they sought to arrest (John 18:2-6). The Lord was never moved by outward events, but lived according to His inner being, in His union with the Father, depending upon and trusting the Father. <END>