The Fruit PEACE - Fall Series pt. 3.5
Did you know… YOU are really, really wanted by God Himself and you do not have to earn His love, you do not have to be perfect or become someone or something you are not and be at constant odds with yourself struggling to make everyone happy. Find joy and peace in today’s podcast by knowing that God has always had His eye on you. Listen now! Enjoy!
Diana’s Notes
Welcome to Heartfelt Conversations with Diana! How are you doing?
There may be times when I share things from my personal journey with God that might offend, frustrate, or challenge your ideals, but my prayer, my heart's desire, is that you will know within your hearts that my position is one of humility and servanthood to my Savior.
And because He redeemed me to a place of love, honor, peace, and joy, I can get a little passionate, and that passion might feel preachy or judgy!
But that is not the purpose of these podcasts or the Living Hope that guides my heart to share with you. My hope is to enlighten you to the redemptive power of God's Living Word and how the enemy has tainted and twisted the very life that brings complete freedom and peace to our lives—a relationship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus, God's Son.
In our new fall series, we have been discussing the different fruits that are the characteristics of God, and these fruits are ours to help us in our faith walk so that we no longer base our reactions toward other people, our life's circumstances, our own personalities, or by the direction the rest of the world seems to be going. Instead, we are elevated—lifted up to a better way—we respond out of God's Spirit now in us, strengthening us, equipping us to live out of love rather than react out of emotions. When we enter into this relationship with Jesus, we begin to transform into the whole, tempered, balanced person He created us to be.
When we receive Jesus, each one of the 'fruits' is planted within us in a 'seed' form. This means we have it—it just needs to be developed, watered, nurtured, and little by little, we should recognize these fruits beginning to bloom and pop out for others to enjoy and taste. It is not something we can force to happen; we can't 'fake it till we make it' in this area!
When we sincerely seek God by following His Son, Jesus, then love will just begin to organically grow in the good soil of our heart, and then joy, peace, and patience all begin to bloom and grow as well. There is not an 'Easy Button' we get to push. These are developed—which simply means we can't rush the process.
Peace seems to be in short supply around our world right now. And it seems like since COVID, people—me, you, our families, and the cities, states, countries all over the world that we live in, work in, call home—have all been shaken a bit. It feels like our comfort level of life shifted from self-reliance and confidence to asking, 'What are we going to do? How long is this going to last?' Everyone's nerves got a little rattled, and darkness, chaos, destruction, and confusion seemed to creep in at every level. It didn't matter what your status was; everyone was impacted one way or another.
During this time, I almost lost my peace. My mind was racing in a million directions, and I found I was beginning to let fear of the unknown take root in my heart, in my thinking, in my day-to-day life.
I wrote this in my journal in November 2020: 'In this age of time, when we hear chants of "NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE," I must calm the storms of emotions and fear of the unknown that arise within me.'
Fear, sorrow, loss, frustration, strife—they are no respecter of persons. We as human beings have these things in common when the world seems shaky, rocky, unstable. We must not turn against each other, but that seems to be what we are doing—turning against and not reaching out.
But I am learning that the answer is not to place the focus on my perspective of justice. As a person, my measure of justice, what I deem to be justice, is based on my emotions, upbringing, opinions, ideals, agenda, needs. But God is the God of Peace and Justice. God gave me His Son, the Prince of Peace, to help me in these times of trouble and concern so that I may find rest and comfort in His peace. While God works everything out for the good, because He is a Just God and a Good Father.
During this time, I almost lost my peace. My mind was racing in a million directions and I found I was beginning to let fear of the unknown take root in my heart, in my thinking, in my day to day life.
I wrote this in my journal November 2020
In this age of time, when we hear chants of “NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE” I must calm the storms of emotions and fear of the unknown that arise within me.
Fear, sorrow, loss, frustration, strife, are no respecter of person. We as human beings have these things in common when the world seems shaky, rocky, unstable. We must not turn against each other but that seems to be what we are doing. Turning against and not reaching out.
But, I am learning that the answer is not to place the focus on my perspective of justice. As a person, my measure of justice, what I deem to be justice, is based on my emotions, upbringing, opinions, ideals, agenda, needs. But God is the God of Peace and Justice. God gave me His Son, the Prince of Peace to help me in these times of trouble and concern so that I may find rest and comfort in His peace. While God works everything out for the good, because He is a Just God and a Good Father.
I spent 33 years demanding justice from people who could not pay the bill, the debt, because it was not theirs to pay. I had been wounded, hurt, and someone needed to pay for my brokenness, but when we force justice from others by the way we treat them, we never receive the healing or the justice, but we can certainly create deeper wounds. We may experience temporary relief because we blew off some steam; but soon it will boil over again because the root of the injustice was never resolved.
Sometimes, bad things just happen in life. I believe most people desire good, but we live in an imperfect world and with that can come some who are bad, who do not desire good for everyone, that the abuse or pain or maybe even evil that they grew up in, were exposed to - has altered the lens in which they value other people.
But we are all precious in God’s sight. He created all of us and desires for every single one of us to have a good, fulfilling, whole, abundant life.
God is a loving God, He is also a Just God and even though some in the world believe there can be no peace for anyone until they receive their justice, those of us who believe in Christ, already have the assurance that when we KNOW PEACE, the Prince of Peace, we also KNOW JUSTICE. Jesus IS the PRINCE of PEACE. We can not even begin to know justice or peace without HIM.
We are all a part of the human race. We must unite in knowing that we can only overcome evil with Good! Not more evil, not more destruction, not more riots and chaos, not more anger and violence and blame… These only fuel the distraction of how divided we become when we rise up against each other. Help us, help me Lord to know deep within my own heart to trust that YOUR Word is reliable, trustworthy, dependable and I can find comfort, rest, and peace knowing that You are in control
Underneath that entry I had a couple of verses written down
Romans 12:18-20
As much as possible, live in peace with everyone. Don’t take revenge, dear friends; Instead, let God’s anger take care of it. After all, Scripture says, “I Alone have the right to take revenge. I will pay back, says the Lord.”
But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you will make him feel guilty and ashamed. “
Romans 12:21:
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good.
Why should you care about what God says? Why should you believe He only desires good things for you, that He is for you? How does this belief bring Peace into your life?
Listen to how the first line in Ephesians 1:11 begins….
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Listen…
He chose us, long before we ever chose Him. He wanted you in His life, in His kingdom before you even decided you believed. You can have PEACE in knowing you are wanted. Really, really wanted by God Himself and you do not have to earn His love, you do not have to be perfect or become someone or something you are not and be at constant odds with yourself struggling to make everyone happy.
Find joy and peace in knowing that God has always had His eye on you.
Listen to Ephesians 1:11-22 in the message translation
11 It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living,
12 part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
13 It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free - signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit.
14 This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
15 That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the Christians,
16 I couldn't stop thanking God for you - every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks.
17 But I do more than thank. I ask - ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory - to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally,
( that is my prayer for all of us, that we will be intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally AND….
Lean into and listen carefully to verses 18-22
18 your eyes focused and clear,(me… our spiritual eyes focused and clear, why?) so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians,
19 oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him - endless energy, boundless strength!
20 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven,
21 in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever.
22 He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church.
When we receive Jesus that means we are home free, as it says. Meaning that we are safe, we are protected and we are secure. Trouble will come, evil will try to knock on our door, but we are cared for by the God of the Universe. He will work everything out for our good when we rely on Him, when we seek Him first and turn towards His protection rather than running away from Him. And He has called each of us to do a part, something no one else is gifted with but you. You are uniquely qualified for a purpose, a calling, that God desires to reveal through you. But it is a very slow process, and God cares more about developing our character so that we are able to stand strong because our roots are deep in Him. And when our roots are deep, we are able to bear more good fruit to be enjoyed and shared.
And as we develop, grow, mature in our understanding of Who He is and what Salvation really means, His fruit, His character takes deeper root in our lives and we see the evidence of HIS goodness manifesting in our lives and without forcing change, we transform little by little and fruit of our growth begins to pop out like beautiful orchards of sweet, juicy fruit.
When we have the fruit of God’s love growing in our heart orchard, and the joy fruit trees are taking root and producing fruit in our attitude and emotions, we begin to feel good about ourselves again because we are confident in God's love for us.
Then, we notice the seeds of Peace are also beginning to take root. We are well on our way to an intimate, personal relationship with God and now because little by little we have been entrusting our lives to Him, seeking His way over our way, then the evidence of that Trust begins to show up as Peace.
We are not as edgy, skiddish, timid, intimidated, afraid, suspicious. Our hearts and minds shift off of the world’s mindset of selfishness, self-centeredness- stingyness, demanding- being void of true joy and absolute peace to where we understand and value human life and dignity the way God originally designed and planted within us.
His seed of good, life, joy, community, neighborlyness, kindness, generosity, LOVE for others, it is already in us. But because we live in a fallen world now, our spiritual awareness of God’s sovereignty may not be healthy, we may be mad at God so we push away our belief , our hope and trust in Him, some may say they do not believe at all, but the Creator of our very existence is still over ALL things - and for those of us who chose to believe, - take courage , God’s character is now in us, so don’t lose hope or become frustrated
…it all takes time…
You don’t see farmers planting a field of corn or wheat and then stand out on the field yelling, grow corn- grow wheat!!! Hurry up!!! I need a crop right now!!! LOL! No! They know they have to till the land, plant the seed, water, fertilize it (feed it with nutrients - like God’s Word) and water the crop and do a lot of …waiting!!!! Waiting for the right time for the crop to be harvested because it needs to grow, develop, mature.. But it is a process that farmers can not rush.
So, as we talk about these fruits- don’t be in a hurry. Don’t expect an overnight crop! HAHA
Just learn to relax, rest in PEACE knowing Jesus is your Good Shepherd now, and He will guide you and lead you on your path. Your journey will not look like anyone else's, so don’t let the pressure of trying to fix yourself tempt you to skip the work.
What is our work? Trust and Obey. That’s it. Once we stop fighting it and demanding God do things our way, we begin to see and experience…
A) Just how GOOD GOD really is to us …
B) how much stress we remove off of our own shoulders because we aren’t trying to control everything in our environment. When we Rest and Relax in Christ - our fruit develops into a sweet, juicy harvest that brings power, freedom, strength, and the ability to overcome any obstacle in our path.
As we head into the holidays:
When work is piling up, when the dogs are making a mess, and the kids are driving you crazy and supper needs to be on the table, and the phone is ringing and the emails haven’t been answered and the in-laws are coming for an extended visit, when the car breaks down on the highway and you are already running late, when life happens!
Let’s turn towards Jesus and remember that He already took care of all these emotions rising up within us, because when He left this world to go be with the Father until He comes again. Jesus left us the most outrageous, audacious gift we could have ever hoped for. HIS PEACE
These are the words of Jesus from John 14:27 in the NLT:
I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid
If you want to have peace in your life. If you really want to get the strife and always feeling frustrated ,always anxious and being worried and stressed. Or Of feeling like you are owed something from someone because you have nothing but emptiness in you - you may be surrounded by people, but you feel all alone, abandoned, unseen, unloved, invisible to God and the world -
Today, if you truly desire to receive healing from that and be fully restored to a new heart, a new life, a new way- there is only ONE WAY-
Jesus says I AM the Way, The Truth, and The Life
Earlier in John, John 14:6
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me
When we receive Jesus, we have His peace, but we are responsible to learn to lean on it by following Him, to allow Him to disciple us (train us up) in an intimate and personal way.
We will pick up from here next week,
As we head into elections, let's pray for peace so that we can have a world filled with Love, Joy, Peace, ….. A hope for a brighter tomorrow for ourselves and for future generations to come!
Say a prayer for peace during and after our elections. That the United States will remain a Nation united in freedom for love of country and love for one another.
I have put a link from Pastor Eric’s message last week on the notes for this week on our website
Heartfeltconversations.com - https://www.heartfeltconversations.com/
I hope you can check it out and remember- Keep your Chin Up - Eyes fixed on Jesus!
A spirit-led life that lines its perspective up with what God’s word says, not what the world says, That is walking by faith.That is Trusting God
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing -
Zephaniah 3:17 ESV
NOW! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)
God Bless!!
Songs to inspire you
We The Kingdom - Peace (Live At Ocean Way Nashville)
North Point Worship - "Anchor of Peace" ft. Desi Raines (Official Music Video)
Scriptures from This Weeks Podcast
Isaiah 9:6
"For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given; And the government shall be upon His shoulder, And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Romans 12:18-20
"As much as possible, live in peace with everyone. Don’t take revenge, dear friends; Instead, let God’s anger take care of it. After all, Scripture says, 'I Alone have the right to take revenge. I will pay back,' says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you will make him feel guilty and ashamed."
Romans 12:21
"Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good."
Ephesians 1:11-22
A passage discussing our purpose in Christ and the spiritual blessings we receive through Him.
John 14:27
"I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid."
John 14:6
"Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'"
Matthew 11:25-30
A passage where Jesus invites all who are weary to come to Him for rest.
Mark 4:39
Describes Jesus calming the storm and His disciples' awe at His power.
Acts 3:19-20
Discusses repentance and times of refreshing from the Lord.
Philippians 2:12
"Continue to work out your salvation with awe-inspired fear and trembling."
Foundation Verse
Romans 8:11
The Spirit of God, Who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Chrisr Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living in you. “
Additional Resources
Prayer of Salvation
Jesus has given salvation, healing, and countless benefits to all who call upon His name. These benefits can be yours if you receive Him into your heart by saying this prayer:
Heavenly Father, I come to You admitting that I am a sinner. Right now, I choose to turn away from sin, and I ask You to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I believe that Jesus rose again from the dead so that I may be justified and made righteous through faith in Him. I call upon the name of Jesus Christ to be the Savior and Lord of my life. Jesus, I choose to follow You, and I ask that You fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit. I declare right now that I am a born again, child of God. I am free from sin and full of the righteousness of God. I am saved in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This prayer and the comment above, were taken out of the book:
Secrets to Powerful Prayer - Discovering the Languages of the Heart
By Lynne Hammond and Patsy Cameneti
If you have just received Jesus as your Savior, please write Lynne Hammond Ministries at:
PO Box 29469
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55429-2946
Or, email one of the ministries listed on the Additional Resources Tab and let them know that you are a brand new christian and need some direction on the next steps for your new life in Christ.
Or email us here at Heartfelt Conversations with Diana and we will pass along your information for you.
Congratulations if you are a brand new Christian or if you have Returned Home! Welcome!!! Get in God’s Word and get it into you!
Diana’s Home Church:
Valley Family Church - Pastor’s Eric and Alexa Jones
www.valleyfamilychurch.org
Other recommended Jesus-centered churches who teach the True Word of God:
Elevation Church - Steven Furtick
https://elevationchurch.org/
Joseph Prince Ministries - Joseph Prince
https://www.josephprince.org/
Joyce Meyer Ministries
https://joycemeyer.org/