I will hear what God the LORD will say; for He will speak peace (shalom—wholeness in every area of your life) to His people, to His godly ones (those who love with His kind of love in their hearts); but let them not turn back to folly (trust in self above God). Psalm 85:8.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I speak of peace to My people. And who are My people? Those who are Mine in love, their hearts are like My heart, they love with My kind of love.
But whoever loves God is known by God. 1 Corinthians 8:3.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8.
These are those who look to, rely on, lean on, and draw their support from Me. They know that on their own without Me they can do nothing worthwhile or lifegiving.
Consider this verse again, looking deeper: I will hear what God the LORD will say; for He will speak peace (shalom—wholeness in every area of your life) to His people, to His godly ones (those who love with His kind of love in their hearts); but let them not turn back to folly (trust in self above God). Psalm 85:8.
The word “godly ones” in that Scripture is the Hebrew word “chasid (חָסִיד),” but what you should notice it is a verb from the noun checed (חֵסֵד) which defines the kind of pure, faithful love who I am. Checed is lovingkindness, mercy, steadfast love, loyalty, faithfulness, grace, and goodness all in one word of who I am. And consequently, since you are in My image and according to My likeness, who I made you to be as well. I am looking for that image in your hearts.
He has shown to you, O man, what is good and what the LORD does seek from you, to do justice, to love (ahavah) lovingkindness (checed), and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8.
You should love My kind of love. You thus sow to the spirit, which brings life and peace (shalom). But if you sow to the flesh, you will reap from the flesh, and all the flesh yields since Adam’s sin is death.
Thus says the LORD, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant. Jeremiah 17:5-6.
But when you renew you mind to My Word and begin operating in the truth you reverse all that have your eyes are now open to the spirit realm. The realm of faith.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8.
There is a razor thin boundary between the security of faith-grounded confidence and arrogant, self-reliant complacency. Be careful when you start attributing the wonderful things I do for you to be the result of your superior and wonderful way you handle life, so far above everyone else.
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12.
Be careful, pride, which is grounded on your attributes alone, is devilish (folly), whereas boasting in Me, that is, in what I have done for you to make you perfect is true godly humility.
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31.
David was a man after My own heart. He had a generous, loving heart, but what I am saying is that above all, he was seeking My heart. I was his number one quest.
As for God, His way is perfect (complete, blameless, without blemish). The word of the LORD is tried. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God, the God who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect (complete, blameless, without blemish)? He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me upon my high places. He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great. You enlarge my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped. Psalm 18:30-36.
“For He that is mighty has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!” sang Mary in her humility as I honored her and raised her high above in My secret place. “O LORD, it is you who have accomplished all we have done.” Isaiah 26:12.
My plans for each of you were in My heart and written in the scroll of your life before you were formed in your mother’s womb, while you were still only conceived in My heart, known but not born into the world as yet. And they were and are plans for your shalom (the whole pie of life with nothing missing, nothing broken, and no one alone) and not for evil, to give you a future and an eternal hope.
For I know the plans that I plan for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for shalom (שָׁלוֹם) and not for calamity (evil) to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11.
Shalom is a difficult word for translation because with it, in one word, I embrace everything in your life in goodness. Shalom includes completeness, perfect health, soundness, welfare, safety, tranquillity, friendship, and covenantal harmony. It describes a right relationship with Me, your neighbor, yourself, and creation, extending from internal serenity to societal order. It is promised to you who love like Me, you who are born of Me, and I know you, and I speak shalom, shalom, double Shalom, the blessing of the first born Son, to you who trust in Me.
If you stay with Me all day, and stay with Me all night, I will make your future beautiful, precious, and bright, forever, ceasing never. I take you from glory to glory, faith to faith. Grace and glory are taken and received by faith. There is always another level, there is no limit to My kind of love and that is who I am and that is who you are made to be. My plans for you, My people, are for your shalom and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11. There is no shalom peace for the wicked. Great peace have those who love My law, the law of love, the perfect law of liberty.
I speak again and again of shalom. When I raised Jesus from the dead with all your sins paid for and gone, the first word He spoke to the fearful disciples in the upper room was “Shalom”. Double shalom. John 20:19-21. He spoke it twice. His chastisement for your sins purchased your shalom (wholeness), it made the barrier of sin fall and made us one again.
You may be thinking you do not see this in yourself or your life. It is time then you draw close to Me and listen because it is there for you in Jesus, your prince of peace (shalom).
So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace (shalom) with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:19-22.
Double shalom with a joy no man can take from you.
How do stay in this gift of perfect peace?
First, you must determine where you will look (for what you are looking at you draw into your life, whether it be in faith or in fear) and on whom you will lean (for everyone has to at some time lean on another). Do not just lean on your own understanding if you want shalom in your life.
The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace (shalom, shalom), because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for in God the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock. Isaiah 26:3-4.
Those who keep their minds stayed on Me have perfect peace, a double portion of the firstborn. Let us look at this verse in its original language of Hebrew. And note that Isaiah 26 was given to Isaiah by Me as a song of salvation.
The word translated steadfast of mind or a mind stayed on Me that brings you this double shalom is the Hebrew word “samak (סָמַךְ),” which means to lean on something stronger than yourself that supports, upholds and rests you, bestowing authority and receiving sustaining power. I use it to describe physical acts of leaning on someone’s shoulder to the spiritual reality of substitutionary sacrifice, Spirit-empowered leadership, and the unfailing support I give to those who are Mine.
This may surprise you but in Leviticus and Numbers I use this word as a verb to describe the sinner’s hand being laid upon the head of the sacrificial lamb or other clean animal offering (Leviticus 1:4; 3:2; 4:4; 16:21; Numbers 8:12). The sinner “leans” with intent, placing his hand on the head of the pure unblemished lamb and thus transfers his sins to the lamb and in turn receives the purity of the lamb “that it may be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.” Leviticus 1:4. In this acted prayer of substitution I was teaching My people that sin’s penalty is transferred and borne away by another life. It was the shadow, the substance of which is My Son. The same verb is used when the high priest pressed both hands on the live goat on the Day of Atonement, confessing the nation’s sins and thus covering the sins of the nation for another year. Leviticus 16:21.
My prophet Isaiah laments that I “saw that there was no one to intervene,” Isaiah 59:16, to atone and bring righteousness to man. The word there is of the same root and conveys that no one could be found on whom the nation might safely lean for righteousness. I had to send the perfect sacrifice, the only man after Adam that was born from above and was without blemish to bear your iniquities—My ultimate, divinely appointed Substitute anticipated by every sinner who ever laid hands on a sacrificial offering under the Old Covenant now fulfilled and paid in full in the New Covenant by My Son.
So steadfastly leaning on Me for all that you need for life and godliness brings shalom peace. But to lean on someone you must trust they will give you support and not let you fall or fail under your need.
Trust in the LORD forever, for in God the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock. Isaiah 26:4.
Come with confidence to My throne of grace and what do you do there?
The second part, you cast all your cares on Me because I care for you. 1 Peter 5:7. Give to Me all that is causing you torment, worry, anxiety, or fear and let Me take care of it. And rejoice when you give it to Me so I can take it into My own hands and know you will not keeping dragging it back to you to occupy all your mental time so that nothing is left for Me to fellowship with you.
And how do you cast that care on Me? By speaking it and releasing it in prayer with Me. Let us do this together, My part is the power and making all things work together for good for those who love Me and are called according to My purpose, and your part is faith and praise that believes and receives. Here is how you cast your care:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7.
Come, let us reason together, though your sins are red as crimson I can make you white and pure as snow—washed clean in the blood of My Son as you stay in the light. Give it all to Me, do what I tell you with your thoughts there after as I command in the next verse:
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9.
And you need to be proactive with Me. Speak to things. Command things as I do. They hear. Fevers, storms, diseases, lack, fear, lust—you can get rid of them all today if you will just put on My full armor, take up the sword of the Spirit and let Satan flee from you.
Here is how you do it:
And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.” Mark 11:22-26.
First you must be established in righteousness by faith in My Word, your mind stayed on Me, so that you have faith in the Scripture you find that gives life to you, peace and health because it directly addresses what you are facing. Once you have it you are ready to take down the mountain and cover it in the sea. How do you do that? Just like I told you in that passage. You speak the truth to it and take down the lie. You change circumstances that stand in the way of My Word to the promise in My Word flooding in by answering what the devil has come against your mind or body with by the Word that trumps it. It may be symptoms and reports of sickness, it may be pain (“Oh, no you don’t unclean spirit of sickness and pain, He bore my sickness and took my pain, and by His stripes I was, am, and will always be healed”, “He is the LORD my healer”), it may be dread of poverty or lack (the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want and the Lord supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus, based on as you tithe and sow into My work you reap bountifully), it may be guilt over a past sin (“I have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of my sins,” and “my sins and offenses He remembers no more, He accounted them all to Jesus and gave me His righteousness so I do not remember them either”), it may be anger or offense at another (“Love never takes offense and He has poured His love into my heart by the gift of the Holy Spirit!” and “no weapon formed against me will prosper for my vindication is from the Lord”)—whatever it is, My Word has the answer to take it down in the heavenly Court. Submit to My jurisdiction, speak the truth of My Word (the perfect law of liberty) to resist the devil, the accuser of the brethren, and he will have to flee from you for I have already judged and condemned him. You just have to enforce it, for when the thief is caught he has to pay you seven times over what he stole from you up to all the riches in his house.
Now, listen to My heart in this because I seek to give you the best life filled with shalom, shalom. What you see as faults, failings, sins in others are not your business to concentrate on all the time in offense. Those are Mine to take care between Me and that person. For everyone must face Me for an accounting of their life on earth in this window of time. Each person is Mine and I am their judge. Not you. So don’t burden your mind and heat about them day and night. I will do justice. Do not trouble your heart about the faults of another, your focus must be on Me to go forward to your high calling. Do not let bitterness hold you back from your healing and your shalom. If you keep your focus in love, I will be your no fault insurance. I will pay for all you’ve endured in full without bothering the other. Like Joseph, whom his brothers tried to murder and then sold him as a slave so they would never see him or hear of his dreams again, but I had other plans for his shalom and not evil, to give him a future and a hope. And he chose to leave the others to Me and make it his business to follow Me. And I took care of it.
Get used to it. From the time of Adam people sin and practice lawlessness. But for you who love Me, you practice righteousness by knowing peace in Me, the peace that passes worldly understanding.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace. James 3:18.
Every day and every night you are in My presence, pure and bright. The brightest light is in your heart, your spirit is My lamp within you, and I light it with the truth of My Word imparting the delights at My right hand forevermore so I at every moment pour My love into your heart as the blood of My Son continually cleanses all your sins away as your path in My light leads on to perfect day.
I love you. In Me you have found your peace (shalom), I am your home. And there you will find that I make all things work together for good in your life, even the sins of others against you, because you love Me and have made it your business to follow Me along the plan for your life. Stop gossiping, judging, complaining about and blaming others, that is not your business and is a distraction from your purpose and time is short in this window of time to waste it on such an idle pursuit. Let Me take care of that and I will.