Here is the second prayer of this advent season! If your video does not play automatically, simply click the play button. The caption below it will make more sense after the 30-second prayer.

How do you define peace?

There is unrest everywhere, but there is often an unrest in us. The beginning of it is from a deep, good desire to see something worked out: a family member well, a justice served, a conflict resolved, a relationship healed.

But it can turn to worry and anxiety easily. What worries us is usually rooted in fear: either of our own personal experiences or from a perceived threat (that person won’t get well and may die, the job will be lost and we won’t be able to provide, I’ll never be free or whole, etc.). When we become worn and weary walking through hard things, it’s easy to feel helpless in the face of our fears.

We ruminate over every possible outcome until peace has no room in our hearts. Much like the family of Joseph had no room for he and Mary when they arrived to Bethlehem.

God has provided ways to bring us peace. For the harder-to-overcome, it isn’t slapping a band-aid on a gaping wound, but rather a tender salve that needs reapplying.

There is a deep truth to our ache for things to be made right.

Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, goes beyond a desire to stop fighting or peace as we know it. In essence, shalom is how things are meant to be; a slice of heaven.1

Isn’t that what we all ache for?! This kind of peace for all things to be made new again, returned to the way it was meant to be? (Rev. 21:5) The world can bring only temporary peace, but God’s peace is rooted in a promise that is lasting.

Numerous times in the passages of John, Jesus is preparing His followers to “hold fast” in a difficult time.

God is continually saying to us, Whatever troubles you, I will take care of it. Not always in the way we think He will. He understands our hesitation. Remember, He is shifting our expectations of Advent to 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙮.

• 🕯Expectation is closed-fisted; what we determine will happen or needs to happen for resolution of our situation.
• 🕯Expectancy is open-handed; anticipating God will act with our best interest at the core of His heart for our transformation.

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So go ahead. “Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders— he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out. He’ll never let good people topple into ruin. ”(Ps. 55:22)

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (Deut. 31:8) “I will hold you up by My righteous hand.” (Is. 41:10)

He speaks peace to the chaos and panic of our heart and mind.

It’s the inner calm spoken to the Israelites when sandwiched between the Red Sea and the Egyptian warriors, seemingly with no way out. Moses didn’t know what God would do next. But he believed God would do something. He tells them, “Be still, for the Lord will fight for you.” The word for still here in the Hebrew language is “peace”. It’s a calm, or stillness of heart.

We don’t know how our God will make a way. But we can trust that He will. We have no clue when our suffering will end, but we can have peace beyond the understanding of our circumstances or the world’s understanding; a calm-of-heart type peace.

Jesus has come. He will keep coming for you and for me. And as we wait for Christ to bring final peace upon the earth, to restore things as they are meant to be, the true peace of Advent, I pray for the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and bring calm to our unrest this Christmas. The Lord is near. (Phil. 4:5-7)

Stay with this peace advent breath prayer this week, and the previous one of hope. Take your time to breathe them in and out. Be gentle with you, for the Lord is gentle with you.

🕯Click HERE if you would like to read a post with more depth about fear as the root of worry and anxious thoughts (not clinical anxiety disorder).

🕯Click HERE if you missed the first #adventbreathprayer last week.

🕯Share this prayer. Encourage a friend or family to sign up for this season through the shareable link below. Once open, copy and paste the url in the web address bar to share.

See you next Monday!

Hope and Peace,

1 Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. in “Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be”

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