Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
I Peter 3 ... 10For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. 12For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 13And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 14But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; 15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
16Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 17For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
In the above scripture, there are several instruction for us ...
- let him refrain his tongue from evil,
- and his lips that they speak no guile
- Let him eschew (avoid) evil,
- and do good (doing that which is right in the sight of God for that is good)
- seek peace and pursue it
It is so important for us that we live daily setting up our lives on this earth to enable us to keep our hearts from evil, from hatred, from envy, from strife ... That we live honestly with each other, not in guile, deception and such ... and that we set up our lives in a way of peace.
It is up to us to know the way of peace and to know what causes peace for us and what causes disruption for us and to deliberately set up our lives, in so much as possible, in the way of peace.
For me, not necessarily for you, I avoid all morning appointments. I do not want to be disturbed by activities of the flesh in the mornings. I want to be able to read the blog and consider all the instructions given on the blog that day. I want to examine myself by the various scriptures. I want to read the Bible and receive what God would give me. I cannot deal with fleshly things and do these things. So I set my way with the basic "rule" of no morning appointments.
Your life could be exactly opposite and be correct for we differ in life but not in Spirit. What is important for each of us is to know what works best for us and when something disturbs us or annoys us to steals from us to rearrange it when possible so we can live in peace. (Guarding peace)
Yesterday I went to late lunch with an acquaintance. She had been to eye doctor that day and was complaining about the problems as she waited to see doctor. It reminded me of the first eye doctor I went to in Lubbock. He had large waiting room and over booked so you had to wait a long time (sometimes 2 1/2 hrs) to see him. People were noisy. TV in waiting room blaring.
The doctor I now see for eye exams has a waiting room for 8-10 people so he doesn't overbook. Usually they begin working with me within about 5 minutes of my arrival. I am never disturbed by the office staff. This all works for me and allows me to live in peace in that setting so there is no reason for my tongue to complain to others. But it was not that case at the first eye doctor.
In many things, we do have choices. It is better to structure things according to peace rather than to tolerate disturbance. For when we are disturbed, we are likely to be tempted to tell other people of those disturbances, spreading evil to others by our words.
One way of keeping peace it to structure our environment in a way of peace which works for us personally.
Here are some definitions of peace which we can use to examine ourselves and see if anything is disturbing us. If so, perhaps it can be reconstructed by us.
peace:
- quiet, calm, silence
- tranquil
- free from agitation, anxiety, dread
- free from disturbance, turmoil
- not contentious or quarrelsome
- freedom from strife or disorder
- untroubled