Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
One of the sacrifices mentioned in the Tenach (Old Testament) is mentioned as a Peace sacrifice or sometimes translated as the Thanksgiving sacrifice. It is known as the ‘shalem’ sacrifice. The root behind this word is the word ‘shalom’ whereby we get the word, peace.
This sacrifice foreshadows the perfect peace and restoration that a believer has with God through a perfect sacrifice of peace, the Lord Yeshua, who offered himself 2000 years ago. The root of “shalem” is the word “shalom”, which means peace, completeness, prosperity, safety, contentment, health, blessing, and rest.
Since we are complete in Him and have peace with God, we need not entertain spirits of discontent, desperation, unhappiness, self-ambition, regret, etc … but can rest in His ‘peace sacrifice’.
Over the past year, the world has plunged into chaos with multiple major wars erupting globally and the onset of economic uncertainty. Inflation has reached historic highs worldwide. Headlines are dominated by news of ongoing conflicts and threats of further unrest. Given these turbulent times, finding peace seems nearly impossible.
Nevertheless, the Lord who is called Sar Shalom, who dwells within us, is our PEACE… He is our Prince of Peace!
It’s truly a matter of focus. And though it may take some internal discipline these days, the reality of our identity, our completeness in Yeshua, is a totally valid and real foundation for resting in His peace, a peace in the midst of real threats, and serious turmoil that passes all understanding!
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]This one of several theophanies found in the Old Testament of the “preincarnate” Yeshua (Jesus). In this story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These three men refused to bow and worship another God besides the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. While they knew that God was able to deliver them, they also knew that He might choose not to do so–and whether He delivered them or not had no influence on their loyalty to Him. These three faithful Hebrews were convinced that idolatry was a non-starter for them, no matter what! Their unquestionable loyalty brought wrath upon their heads. Nebuchadnezzar’s violent rage moved him to increase the furnace fires seven times!
The word “midst”, in the Greek, is ‘meros’ which literally means “the middle”. In the ‘meros’ of the throne in heaven is the Lamb of God. The very focus of heaven — the center of attention — is the Lamb of God!
Judges 6 begins with an angel talking to Gideon saying, “thou mighty man of valor!” However, in this passage Gideon isn’t feeling very valiant — he’s consumed with his circumstances — how poor his family is and how he’s the least of his fathers’ house. He doesn’t feel he’s done anything worthy of being called valiant, yet the angel still addresses him “mighty man of valor!”
Every time I turn on the news it seems the new buzzword is – CHANGE! So how can we just shift gears and change? Let’s learn a lesson about basic automotive mechanics. Generally a car has between 4 and 5 gears. The first gear maximizes power in exchange for speed. As you move through the gears, you can continue to go faster, yet without using any more power, and before you know it – you have to look at the speedometer – cause nobody wants a speeding ticket!
One thing I absolutely love about Israel is that fruit grows everywhere in abundance. Delicious citrus fruit, mango, pomegranate, grapes, cactus fruit, avocado — and much much more! It’s common to see people people pick and eat it as they walk by. And it doesn’t taste like your average western fruit either. It seems to be especially sweet. It must be because God has blessed the land it’s grown upon!
Sometimes it’s very difficult to rejoice in trials – especially when the trials affect ministry! Last week, one of our servers had a database server collapse, but after several days of work, the server is now back online. Although the damage was minimal, the time needed to spend researching the issue and then rebuilding the databases took days.
Reading the gospels I find myself considering and identifying with the very human experiences and emotions of the Apostles, especially as the pace and intensity of the events of their lives with Yeshua were unprecedented. I have to wonder if the pace and intensity of the days of our lives can compete with theirs. Witnessing His miracles, His authoritative and concise way of teaching, His inevitable rejection, torture and crucifixion, His astounding exuberant resurrection, and eventual returning flight to Heaven from whence He came…all this must have had a rather relentless effect upon those who walked in any way closely with Him. Would it be fair to compare our present day scientific and technical accomplishments, political gymnastics, information explosion, pandemics, media magic, and the plethora of personal events, encounters and challenges, with their apostolic roller coaster ride?