It starts with Thankfulness

Peace of Christ guards our heart when we pray with thanksgiving. A thankful heart is a guarded heart. Wayne Cordeiro

Last week for “In Other Words Tuesday” we covered the very same topic, the topic of peace. Two different hosts, miles apart yet connected at the heart with the matching subject matter on peace. As our quotes were chosen not for the sake of a monthly theme, or because we thought the subject needed covered two weeks in a row they came from our individual hearts. Spiritual hearts connected in spirit to Jesus, the true source of our peace.

It was a subject that touched each of as we wrote about the difficult times we often go through that makes it hard not to worry. After all how can we possibly send a child off to war without it interrupting our tranquility? Or watch a daughter struggle with choices she made in her life without shattering our peace? Nor think about where the mortgage is going to come from when jobs are being lost greater than they are found and so much more.

We can all probably testify to the fact that we often are too swift to hand over our peace to Satan. Much quicker than we ought to be and when we do we wonder how are we ever going to get it back? Sitting at my desk over Halloween a co-worker brought in her glowing ghost to decorate with. The gal next to her recognized the ghost as the one she gave to her years ago. “I wish I wouldn’t have given that away. I’ve kicked myself ever since thinking I should have kept that.” Totally unaffected by the regret of the original owner the lady who owned it now proudly displayed it for all to see.

When I think of handing our peace over the Satan I think of that incident in the office with the glowing ghost. Things happen in life and we look around and we find Satan dangling the remains of our peace in front of our face only for us to say, “I wish I wouldn’t have given that away. I could kick myself.”

The best way to guard our hearts with the peace of Christ is to pray with thanksgiving as indeed a thankful heart is a guarded heart. Just look at our Bible Buddy Daniel. In Daniel 6 the king had just signed into law a decree that “whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except King Darius would be cast into the den of lions.” After hearing this was signed into law Daniel went home heading straight to his favorite prayer room. There Daniel “…knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” Daniel 6:10.

Daniel could have cried and complained to God. Got angry about what the goofy King was trying to do but he didn’t. He prayed and gave thanks. Thanks for what, “Healthy lions with big appetites?” No, his thankfulness was probably centered on the fact that he had a God he could count on. He had a God that was trustworthy. He had a God that was watching over his every move, one worthy of dieing for. Daniel truly was a model of what Philippians 4:6 is all about, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, WITH thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (NKJV) No matter what the news we need to go to God in prayers of thanksgiving in order for His peace to be allowed to come even close to our hearts.

1 Thes 5:18 is not a typo in the Bible or a verse that only pertains to people in “lesser” stressful situations than our own. It says, “Thank God in everything (no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks), for this is the will of God for you (who are) in Christ Jesus (the Revealer and Mediator of that will).” (Amplified)

I looked at several different translations of the verse from 1 Thessalonians and they all say “IN” everything. They don’t say we have to be thankful “For” everything. Long before the situation even happened with Daniel he had his heart already guarded with the peace of God because he was in the custom of praying regularly WITH thanksgiving.

As it does no good to let a crook into our house to steal our possessions or drive off with our car then wonder why we didn’t lock up or prepare ahead of time for these situations it doesn’t make sense to allow Satan that same privilege. Long before Satan even comes close to our peace we need to be in the custom of praying to God with thanksgiving, setting up a guard too powerful for even Satan to be able to break, borrow, or steal.

“I wish I wouldn’t have given that away” will get us no where especially as the new owner is unaffected by our regrets of giving our peace away. We serve the same God Daniel did, the same one who was trustworthy to pray to, to be thankful towards, and to lean on and to supply the necessary guard for his heart.

Being truly thankful tells Satan to go take a hike, that no matter what, we are going to be thankful to God simply because of who He is not because of what we are experiencing. It’s an attitude that will need to be installed in our hearts daily to be used not abused. Our actions will let us know which we have chosen to do.

Adopt Daniel’s custom and guard your hearts as you pray daily with thanksgiving to God. Our job is to wait for God, not for the perfect situation to come along to then be thankful! Do it today as tomorrow may be too late to catch the “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Satan’s out there on the prowl. It’s our choice whether we are going to allow him to steal that peace we could have if we would only customize our lives to fit it instead of trying to make it fit our lives. It starts with thankfulness.



Thanks for participating today in “In Other Words.” It’s always fun and educational even to read what others have on their hearts regarding the quote of the day. Have a good one!

Left Behind for the Packing

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27 NASB

As I take this verse from John and mix it well with the great line Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” I come up with something very tender for my soul. Together or separate they make a comforting place to lay my weary head.

Before leaving for His journey back to heaven Christ left with us His example to follow, His love to copy, and His peace to rest within us. Peace not like the world gives but true peace to where there’s no need for our hearts to be troubled or fearful. It’s because of that peace we do find rest for those weary souls caught in a yoke to heavy to carry.

I don’t think anyone in their right mind would turn away “true” peace but unfortunately we do. We think His peace comes with too high of a price when the price was already paid for by His blood. We don’t like giving up the things we enjoy in exchange for His kind of tranquility. Our reasoning is we will get that peace after we die and find ourselves either skipping around on the streets of “paradise” or living it up with all our buddies in “no rules attached” hell.

How stiff-necked and blind can we be? Jesus’ peace isn’t like a medication designed to be taken only once a month, He is something we need to carry in our hearts daily wherever we go. He’s not an inhaler that is brought out only when we find ourselves out of breath. Nor an umbrella that comes out strictly in the rainy season.

Whether we recognize it or not we need His peace today. It is what gets us through tomorrow and allows us to let go of yesterday. As the world is today we may never know what its like to be in total peace but with Jesus we can. We have been given His “perfect” peace to rest our weary spiritual souls upon. ( Isaiah 26:3,4 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord is everlasting strength.”) The kind of peace that is true and total and guaranteed to last forever. A peace He left behind for us to pack up and take with us.

Living in the country all my life being engulfed in the quietness around me is very peaceful until a jet flies over or a mean bull catches wind that I’m in his territory. Strolling down the ocean beach listening to the waves talk is ever so relaxing and peaceful until a storm comes or a sneaker wave shows up. Flying high above the earth in an airplane can be a peaceful moment until interrupted by wind pockets, lightning flashes, and flocks of geese.

UNTIL…..why wait for the “until” to pick up what we need to be stocking up on today. If you think about it, we are not very good shoppers. Frequently we shop for things that will only last a short while or UNTIL the expiration date stamped on the bottom of it runs out. The choice is ours. Temporary or permanent. Everlasting or short-lived. True or false. Now or never.

As we should never wait until the lights go out to get the batteries we need for our flashlight (although I’m guilty of that) we should never wait to store up on Jesus’ peace until the lights go out and we fall alive into eternity.

Christ left it behind for us to pack for our trip to Heaven. Get it into your luggage today!


Our host this day is Miss Patricia drinking on her coffee and trying to type one-handed so visit her at, Typing One-Handed. Travel light but travel with Jesus surrounded in the luxury of His perfect peace.

Diseases of the Tongue

“If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary’s love, for a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.” by Amy Carmichael


In the world of medicine there are many problems connected to diseases of the tongue. Unfortunately spiritually the issues with the tongue are no different. If left unchecked it can cause many diseases inside our own lives and out. James long ago addressed this very as he said, “But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My breathren these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?” James 3:8-11.

Before making that statement he had already talked about the fact that, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man able to bridle the whole body.” He warned his reading audience and those around him that the tongue had the ability to defile the whole body and could even set on fire the course of nature. James knew then what we know now that any animal can be tamed but no man can tame the tongue.

“No man” can tame the tongue well that pretty much ends that argument doesn’t it? After all why should we even bother to try if no one is able to tame the tongue? Isn’t that our excuse to continue to say what we want to say in whatever manner we choose to say it in? Wrong! Our Bible buddy Paul addressed that issue back in Romans when he talked about God’s love and grace wasn’t a license to go on sinning.

There’s no doubt about it, we are going to stumble and perhaps even fall in the task of taming our tongue. Try as we might we are a long ways away from that “perfect” man or woman mark we need to be aiming for. Downfalls in this area don’t mean we don’t know anything about Calvary’s love rather it taps us on the shoulder to tell us it’s time to return to it. Frequent trips to the foot of the cross to sit and meditate on what God’s love is all about is needed to refuel us for the next journey or situation down life’s roads.

We need to stop playing trivial pursuit and start to claim the wonderful victory won at Calvary on our behalf. Instead of doing what they call “majoring in the minors (spilled milk, traffic jams, broken nails) we need to major in the major things in life that truly count such as our walk with Christ.

The choice is ours on whether we are going to use our tongue to praise the Lord or curse man. Cuss at the world or thank God for the world. Yell at others or encourage those around us. Cry out negatively or sing joyfully unto the Lord. Use it to express ingratitude or verbalize our thankfulness unto God.

For such a small orifice big things can come from it. It’s up to us to decide what we want it to be. We can’t have it both ways no matter how hard we try. The choice starts in our hearts and the end results will be demonstrated in our mouths. We shouldn’t have to be tongue tied in order to control it if we would only connect it with our heart that’s associated with Calvary’s love. Indeed God’s cure for diseases of the tongue. Amen? Amen!!

Instead of opening our mouth to insert our foot let’s open our heart and insert God.

Okie dokie our host this day is Miriam over at, Miriam Pauline’s Monologue. Take time to think out what the quote means to you and then join the fun of expressing that into words, words connected to the cross that need to lead us back to the cross for our frequent refueling’s