By Brenda Groves
The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
We recently celebrated the birthday of a childhood friend of mine, and I can’t think of her without remembering the infamous “War of the Red Hots” episode.
The whole ugly battle began over these little round cinnamon candies. If I close my eyes, I can still see the explosion as the bag burst open and hundreds perhaps thousands of the tiny disc flew in all directions.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
My best friend and I were around twelve years old and had just peddled our bikes back from the store. We were in her parent’s den watching TV when her older sister entered the room and demanded our loot. (1 box of Brach’s Bridge Mix and the 1 lb. bag of Red Hots.)
I was all for handing them over because this was a regular occurrence and her big sister always won with this threat “I’ll smother you in your sleep when you LEAST expect it.” (Oh, you mean like when she’s asleep. Duh!)
You know, I didn’t sign up for all this drama, I just came over to watch the Brady Bunch. Besides, I didn’t pay for the stuff in the first place. “Ah, easy come, easy go,” that was my motto.
Apparently, my friend decided that now was the time to take a stand for younger siblings across America because she clutched the candy tightly and said, “NO!”
Gasp!
She curled up like a pill bug and held on for dear life as her older sister lunged for the candy. (Ding. Ding.)
Now there was hair pulling, bending back of fingers, kicking, and biting from both sides. I paced back and forth like an anxious little puppy dog. They were in a lock down, each wrestling for control of the bags when the eruption occurred. Ping. Ping. Ping.
Red Hots peppered all four walls of the room and when the older sib produced a pillow over my friend’s head I finally ran for help.
What caused this war? Sweet tooth? Brains infected with red dye #6. God says, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?” James 4:1
Year ago, I passed a billboard on Hwy. 45 that said, “IMAGINE PEACE.”
And this is how the “image of peace” came to me many years ago.
It happened during a Memorial Day weekend where my hubby had our TV tuned into war movies. On day three I was feeling a bit shell shocked from all the commotion, so I closed my eyes for a rest. In my mind I saw an intense battle taking place and the form of Jesus walking away with his back to me. I watched as He calmly walked right through the middle of the war zone. Gun fire exploded all around with people shouting but Jesus just strolled right on through like nothing was happening. It wasn’t as if He didn’t care, He just did not let the surroundings affect Him.
I felt like He spoke to my heart, “this is how you can live in this world, no matter what is going on around you. The war zone at work, home or wherever you are, if you abide (stay) in Me, you will experience My perfect peace.”
How do we abide in Him?
“… If you abide in My word (the Bible), you are My disciples (students) indeed. And you shall KNOW the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:31-32
| I had known the Lord for several years, I recall His supernatural peace flooding my heart the night I got born again, so that I knew I was going to heaven and spending eternity with my Heavenly Father. Yet, in my daily life I was still experiencing tormenting/worrisome thoughts. I was still getting sick, depressed about things, and not seeing the total freedom that God’s word promises we can walk in. I knew some scriptures, but His word was still just a mental assessment, in the sense that I agreed with it, yet the understanding of it had not seeped into my heart, so it was not affecting change in my daily walk. Finally, I got fed up with living a ho-hum Christian life, just waiting until I get to heaven someday to see these promises fulfilled when Jesus said in John 10:10 that we can have abundant life here. So, I became a true disciple of the Lord Jesus and committed myself to getting to know this wonderful Person who had saved me. But it wasn’t until I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (with the evidence of speaking in tongues), that things rapidly began change in my life. I desired and sought out and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this precious gift that the Lord has for all believers. Suddenly, intimacy with the Word of God exploded in my heart just like that bag of red hots exploded in the den that day. You know, the “peace of God that surpasses all understanding” that Phil. 4:7 refers to, does not just happen, as if God drops it out of the sky on us at certain times. The peace of God is a fruit of our newborn again spirit, Gal. 5: 22-23, and 2 Peter 1:2 tells us how we can walk in it day to day. How? In knowing the “Prince of Peace” through intimacy in His word and spending time in His presence. |
“Grace and PEACE be MULTIPLIED to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, … ”
We don’t have to just imagine peace anymore. Peace HAS come to each person who knows the Person who brings it. Jesus, the “Prince of Peace.”
So quit struggling for control of the bag of Red Hots. Let go, and let God love you, protect you, heal you, deliver you, guide you, provide for you and fight for you … you have His word on it.
Peace be still … it is His will.
Contact Brenda Groves at: bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
