PART FIVE: "Peace! Be Still!" How to settle our soul in the midst of wars and rumors of wars...

Stillness in our Soul--like a 'sea of glass'

In Matthew 6:9-10, Jesus instructs us how to pray--He starts by saying, “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name (*holy is your name*), 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." I want to break this first sentence down because I believe it speaks volumes for how he desires us to position our heart and to how set our mind (aka our eternal perspective or biblical worldview: Colossians 3:1-4). I could spend forever talking about the significance of being able to call the God of this universe our very own 'Father' and the inherent comfort, protection, provision the reality of our adoption and inheritance entails, but I want to focus on the location & posture that this prayer draws our attention to.

Just like in Revelation chapter 4, when John is caught up in a vision and called to "come up here", through an open door, which enters the very throne room of God--this is exactly what Jesus is inviting us to focus on and participate in. If you don't have an immediate picutre in your mind of the throne room of God, seated in heaven--I would strongly encourage you to read Revelation 4 and meditate on this reality--this is a REAL place and Jesus is ALIVE and seated at the right hand of the Father. And when we pray, this is exaclty the throne that we are boldly approaching because of the blood of Jesus and the Grace of God. Jesus sits right next to God and says--'yea dad, my blood covers them, they are clean and come directly to you now.' This is our reality now because of what Jesus has done!!

In the Lord's Prayer--Once we visualize God, our Father, in heaven, we are called to declare his holiness--"holy is your name"! In Revelation 4 we see that declaring the holiness of the God and asking for His kingdom to come and his will to be done is actualy an invitation to participate and partner with the eternal reality and activities of the throne room in heaven! All day and all night--ALL of heaven never stops declaring his holiness and eternality--He was, He is, and He is COMING AGAIN!

Revelation 4:6-8 And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

The next aspect/characteristic we need to understand about the throne room of God is that, all around, there are flashes of lighting and loud rumbles of thunder!

Revelation 4:5-6 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the sevenfold Spirit of God. 6 In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.

This sounds an awful lot like a storm scene--hmm, sound familiar? Possibly the exact description of the storm the disciples encountered when they crossed the sea while Jesus was sleeping in the boat (Mark 4:35)? Okay--so we see the picture now. But the next visual we see as we approach the throne of God is a literal sea or body of water that is so still and at peace, that there is not a single ripple in the water--it is so still that it literally looks like glass. So to draw the parallel-- as the storms in life rage around us...when we boldly approach the throne of grace, we have to first encounter and walk across that sea of glass. Jesus gives us the same opportunity that Peter had to walk on water (Matthew 14:22-33). When we keep our eyes on him instead of the raging storm we see and feel all around us--we begin walking in faith, believing that no matter what we face on this earth--our eternity is secured and with Him and one day we will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4)! We see in Revelation 15:1-2 that there will actually be a literal day when we are standing on THAT sea of glass!!! But this time, the sea will be mixed with fire because the trials we encountered on this earth will have purified our faith like fire purifies gold (1 Peter 1:6-7)! He settles and stills our soul, giving us peace that surpasses all human understanding when we set our mind on things above (Phillippians 4:6)--that is: God himself, seated on his throne, and Jesus ALIVE and sitting right next to the Father, interceding on our behalf, who is coming back to take his pure and spotless Bride (the Church) in glory to be with him for all of eternity!

Revelation 15:1-2 15 Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance. Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God’s wrath to completion. 2 I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire. And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name. They were all holding harps that God had given them.

1 Peter 1:6-7 6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.