The Peace of God ...

There are three words, pregnant with precious and important meaning, commonly used by the apostles in their salutations and benedictions, GRACE, MERCY, and PEACE. These words include everything which man needs or can desire. Peace is the legacy which Christ gave to his disciples: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." (John 14:27)

And after his resurrection, the first time he met with his disciples when assembled together, he said, "Peace be unto you." He gives peace not as the world gives. He is the PRINCE OF PEACE, and his gospel is the "gospel of peace." It is called "the peace of God," because he is its author. It is a sweet and gentle stream which flows from the fountain of life beneath his throne. Happy is he who has received this heavenly gift; it will, in the midst of external storms and troubles, preserve his mind in a tranquil state. It is independent of external circumstances. It is most exquisitely enjoyed in times of affliction and persecution. "In the world you shall have tribulation; but these things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace." (John 16:33)

It is a fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace." (Galatians 5:22) It includes reconciliation with God. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Peace of conscience is a fruit of reconciliation with God. The blood which reconciles, when sprinkled on the conscience, produces a sweet peace which can be obtained in no other way. If the atonement of Christ satisfies the law which condemned us, and we are assured that this atonement is accepted for us, conscience, which before condemned, as being the echo of the law, is now pacified. 

The peace of God also includes freedom from jarring, discordant passions of the mind. The wicked, however prosperous externally, can have no true peace within. Their ambition and pride and avarice, and love of ease and carnal indulgence, can never be harmonized. One may be the master-passion, but the others will arise and create disturbance and turmoil within. The only passion which effectually harmonizes the discordant passions of human nature, is the love of God. Wherever this is introduced, it will not only be predominant, but bring all other desires into willing subjection. 

The peace of God is not a mere negative blessing, consisting in exemption from the misery of discord; it is a positive enjoyment of the purest, sweetest kind. It is a foretaste of the bliss of heaven. Nothing on earth is so delightful. It is therefore said to "pass understanding." (Philippians 4:7) No one could have thought man's miserable soul could possess such enjoyment in this world. But why is so little known of the peace of God in the experience of professing Christians? I leave everyone to answer for himself. 

[Archibald Alexander]

2 John 1:3 ... Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. ❤

Live It!!

 It's not how much Scripture you know.

It's how much Scripture you live.

[Toby Mac]

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2 John 6 ...  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Galatians 5:25 ...  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

James 2:18 ... Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. ❤

Do You Love Him?

You must receive Christ as your Master and Lord. A Christian is one who follows Christ. This means the surrender of the whole life to Him. The heart must be given up. There can be no Christian life, without love to Jesus. Jesus demands the first place in the affections of His followers. If anyone loves father or mother, brother or sister, wife or child, more than Him, he is not worthy of Jesus, and cannot be His disciple. But the most perfect obedience, if the heart is not in it, would not make one a Christian. 

We might devote our life and strength to Christian work, toiling unweariedly in the service of the church, giving our money lavishly for the advancement of Christianity or for the relief of suffering and yet not be Christians. Love for Christ must be the motive at the heart of all our work for Christ. "Do you love Me?" is the test. 

[J. R. Miller]

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John 14:15 ... If ye love me, keep my commandments.

2 John 1:6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

John 15:10 ... If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.❤

His Example!

When you are tempted to any vanity, set the blessed Redeemer before you, consider His example, and ask yourself, "How would Jesus, my Lord and Master, have acted in such a case? Would He have spent His time upon such trifles? Would He have spoken such and such; or done this or the other thing, which I am solicited to do? And shall I give way to that which would be a manifest deviation from His holy example? God forbid!

[John Fawcett]

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2 John 1:6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Ephesians 4:17 ... This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

1 Timothy 4:12 ... Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.❤

Spring of True Obedience

Love to God is the spring of true obedience to God.   One who is not obedient to His commandments, is evidently not a true believer; for although good works do not save us, yet, being saved, believers are sure to produce good works.

Though the fruit is not the root of the tree, yet a well-rooted tree will, in its season, bring forth its fruits. So, though the keeping of the commandments does not make me a child of God, yet, being a child of God, I shall be obedient to my heavenly Father. But this I cannot be, unless I love God.

A mere external formal obedience is not sincere obedience in God's sight. He abhors the sacrifice, where the heart is not found. I must obey Him because I love Him or else I have not truly obeyed at all. See then, that to produce the indispensable fruits of saving faith, there must be sincere love for God.

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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John 14:15 … If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21 … He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 14:23  … Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  

2 John 1:6 … And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.❤

The Foundation

The foundation of all true knowledge of God, must be a clear mental apprehension of His perfections as revealed in Holy Scripture. An unknown God can neither be trusted, served nor worshiped. Something more than a theoretical knowledge of God is needed by us. God is only truly known in the soul, as we yield ourselves to Him, submit to His authority, and regulate all the details of our lives by His holy precepts and commandments.

[A.W. Pink]

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Job 22:21 ... Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.


Isaiah 1:19 ... If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:


2 John 6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.❤

How Loudly and Persuasively Does His Conduct Preach!

It was highly important and desirable that the Lord Jesus should not only describe Christianity in His discourses, but exemplify it in His life and conduct. In Him, we see pure and undefiled religion embodied. In Him, Christianity lives and breathes. How convincing, how animating is our Savior's example! How loudly and persuasively does His conduct preach!

Would you learn submission to parental authority? See Him, notwithstanding His exalted character, cheerfully subjecting Himself to the will of His parents; and laboring with them, as a carpenter, for almost thirty years.

Would you learn contentment with a poor and low condition? See Him destitute of a place where to lay His head.

Would you learn active beneficence? See Him going about doing good.

Would you learn to be fervent and constant in devotional exercises? See Him rising for prayer before the dawn of day.

Would you learn in what manner to treat your brethren? See Him washing His disciples' feet.

Would you learn filial piety? See Him forgetting His sufferings, while in the agonies of death to provide another son for His desolate mother.

Would you learn in what manner to pray for relief under afflictions? See Him in the garden of Gethsemane.

Would you learn how to bear insults and injuries? See Him on the cruel cross!

In short, there is no Christian grace or virtue, which is not beautifully exemplified in His life.

There is scarcely any situation, however perplexing, in which the Christian, who is at a loss to know how he ought to act may not derive sufficient instruction from the example of his divine Master.

[Edward Payson]

1 John 2:6 ... He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

1 Peter 2:21 ... For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

2 John 6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.❤

How The Days Are Passing

A Jewish man was asked how it was that his countrymen were so successful in acquiring wealth. “Ah,” said he, “we do not make more money than other people, but we keep more.” Beloved, let us be on guard this day against spiritual pickpockets and spiritual leakage. Let us lose not those things which we have wrought. Let us be sure we receive a full reward. As each day comes and goes, let us deposit in the savings bank of eternity its treasures of grace and victory, being conscious that something real and everlasting is being added daily to our eternal fortune.

It may be but a little, but if we can save all that God gives us and pass it on to His keeping, when the end of all things comes, we shall be amazed to see how much the accumulated treasures of a well-spent life have laid up on high. We shall see how much more God has added to them by His glorious investment of the life committed to His keeping.

How the days are passing! How precious these golden hours will seem sometime! God help us to make the most of them now.

[A. B. Simpson]

2 John 8 ... Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Matthew 6:34 ... Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Jude 21 ... Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.❤

Like A Babe For It's Rattle

But," says one, "are we not to have amusements?" Yes, such amusements as you can practice in the fear of God. You may do whatever Jesus would have done.

I have nothing to say against recreation in its proper place. Certain forms of recreation are needful and useful but it is a wretched thing when amusement becomes a lifestyle! Amusement should be used to do us good like a medicine it must never be used as the Christian's food.

From early morning till late at night, some spend their time in a round of frivolities or else their very work is simply carried on to furnish them funds for their pleasures. This is wicked. Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure, so called, is the murderer of thought!

This is the age of excessive amusement everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle!

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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1 John 2:5-6 ... But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

1 Peter 2:21 ... For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

2 John 6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.❤

Put It Into Practice

You see the perfection of the Apostle's method. In verse 8 he has dealt with the realm of thought. Ah, but the Apostle knows the subtle danger that is always confronting us the danger of being content with theoretical knowledge, the danger of being satisfied with doctrine only, the danger of failing to put into practice, that which we know.

You can be a great student even of the Bible and live a life that is utterly contrary to it!

It is the masterpiece of Satan to make us put theory and practice into separate watertight compartments to make men so interested in the Book, that they forget to apply its teaching. "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me," says Paul, "put it into practice!"

[Martyn Lloyd Jones]

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Philippians 4:8-9 ... Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

John 13:17 ... If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

2 John 6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. ❤

Sermons in Shoes

The demand of the day is for a higher standard and style of Christian life. Every follower of Christ must represent His religion purely, loftily, impressively, before that multitude of “Bible-readers” whose only Bible is the Christian.

We need more sermons in shoes, men and women going up and down the roads of life preaching Christianity by their imitation of Christ!

[Theodore Cuyler]

Matthew 5:16 ... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

1 Peter 2:21 ... For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:


2 John 1:6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.❤

Lord of Our Living

I have studied the New Testament enough to know that our Lord Jesus Christ never made the sharp distinctions between “secular” and “sacred” that we do! I think it is wrong to place our physical necessities on one side and put praying, singing, giving, Bible reading, and testifying on the other. When we are living for the Lord and living to please and honor Him, eating our breakfast can be just as spiritual as having our family prayers.

There is no reason for a committed Christian to apologize, “Lord, I am awfully sorry but you know I have to eat now. I will be with you again just as soon as I am through.” Well, we have a better way than that in our living for God, and we see as we consider His feeding of the 5,000 the meaning of His Lordship. Jesus Christ is Lord; Lord of our bread and Lord of our eating and Lord of our sleeping, and Lord of our working! Brethren, our Lord is with us, sanctifying everything we do, provided it is honest and good.

[A. W. Tozer]

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ... Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ... Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

2 John 6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.❤

Which Class?

Two lads were once talking together about their teachers in the Sunday school.

"You should be in our class," said one boy, "our teacher knows so much!"

"You should be in our class," said the other, "our teacher loves so much!"
In which class do you think most children would prefer to be?

[George Everard]

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1 Corinthians 13:2 ... And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

John 13:34 ... A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

2 John 1:5 ... And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.❤

#LoveWins

There is precedent found in the Word of God where Christians have not only the right to dissent from the law of the land, but to resist it completely when it goes against our religious beliefs.

This is found in Acts 5:28-29 "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men."

I encourage every believer to resist to the best of their ability to what's occurring in this nation.

[Christopher Gregory]

James 4:7 ... Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Romans 12:9 ... Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

1 Peter 5:9 ... Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

2 John 1:6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.❤

The Golden Key That Fits All Locks

What a magic spell there is in love!  The absolute devotion of a beautiful soul that loses itself in the hallowed mission of radiating peace and joy and sympathy all around.

When other charmers have failed to charm, many dull, unsusceptible ears have been arrested and won by the music of kindness. By it old-age renews its youth,
sick pillows are smoothed, burdens are eased, tears are turned into smiles,
dirges are turned into songs.

Love is, of all magical charms, the most irresistible.

Love is the golden key that fits all locks!

[John MacDuff]

1 John 4:7-8 ... Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:10 ... Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

2 John 1:6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7  ...  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.❤

Catch Up

The church suffers today from Christians who know volumes more than they practice.  It would be well to let our walk catch up with our talk.

[Vance Havner]

1 John 2:6 ... He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

2 John 1:6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Colossians 1:10 ... That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Galatians 5:25 ... If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.❤

Walk the Talk

It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven.

[Matthew Henry]

1 John 2:6 ... He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

2 John 1:6 ... And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Galatians 5:25 ... If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.❤

Preach the Truth

Watering down God's Holy Word is Satan's weapon of mass destruction. Preach the cross and stick to the Bible.

[Johnny Lee Clary]




1 Corinthians 1:18 ... For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.


Mark 16:15 ... And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.


2 John 1:7 ... For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.


2 Timothy 4:2-3 ... Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; ♥

Moment by Moment

Never a trial that He is not there; Never a burden that He doth not bear;
Never a sorrow that He doth not share, Moment by moment I'm under His care.

Never a heartache, and never a groan, Never a tear-drop, and never a moan,
Never a danger but there, on the throne, Moment by moment, He thinks of His own.

Never a weakness that He doth not feel; Never a sickness that He cannot heal,
Moment by moment, in woe or in weal, Jesus, my Savior, abides with me still.

[Daniel W. Whittle]

Joshua 1:5 … There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

2 John 1:2 … For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

John 14:8 … I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. ♥