PEACE: invite God’s presence without pressure, shame, or coercion.

I like the PEACE framework for helping people through change (myself included). It stands for Problem, Empathy, Action, Change, End Result. 

P. Problem. Prayer of Truth and Illumination

Scripture anchor
Psalm 139:23–24
“Search me, O God, and know my heart.”

Prayer reflection

God, we come to You without pretending.
We name what is real, not what we wish were true.
Show us where fear has blurred our vision.
Reveal what we have avoided facing.
Give us courage to see clearly without despair.

Silent reflection questions

• What reality am I resisting naming before God?

• What facts have I been afraid to acknowledge?

• Where has avoidance felt safer than truth?

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E. Empathy. Prayer of Lament and Compassion

Scripture anchor
Psalm 34:18
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.”

Prayer reflection

Lord, this season has been heavy.
You see the grief, the disappointment, the shame we do not say out loud.
Meet us here without condemnation.
Sit with us in the sorrow we have carried too long.
Remind us that pain does not disqualify us from Your care.

Silent reflection questions

• What loss do I still need to grieve?

• Where do I feel unseen or misunderstood?

• What emotion have I been numbing instead of offering to God?

---

A. Action. Prayer of Willingness and Obedience

Scripture anchor
Proverbs 16:3
“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

Prayer reflection

God, we do not ask for the full plan.
We ask for the next faithful step.
Give us willingness where motivation is weak.
Help us choose obedience over overwhelm.
Strengthen our hands for small acts of faithfulness.

Silent reflection questions

• What small action am I resisting?

• What step is within my control today?

• Where might obedience come before understanding?

---

C. Change. Prayer of Identity and Stewardship

Scripture anchor
2 Timothy 1:7
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power, love, and self-control.”

Prayer reflection

Father, reshape how we see ourselves.
We reject the lie that we are powerless.
Teach us to steward what remains, not mourn only what is lost.
Restore our sense of agency as Your children.
Form character in us through this season.

Silent reflection questions

• What identity am I living out right now?

• Where have I confused limitation with helplessness?

• What does stewardship look like in my present reality?

---

E. End Result. Prayer of Hope and Trust

Scripture anchor (sovereignty and freedom)
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 29:11 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," Philippians 4:13

Prayer reflection

God, we place the future back in Your hands.
Not demanding comfort, but trusting Your faithfulness.
Help us imagine a future marked by stability, dignity, and peace.
Give us endurance to walk toward it step by step.
Teach us to hope without denying reality.

Silent reflection questions

• What kind of future am I afraid to hope for?

• What would peace look like six months from now?

• Where do I need to trust God instead of control outcomes? Christ’s yoke reshapes the heart through the Spirit, not self-regulation (Matthew 11:29-30)

---

Closing Prayer

Lord, we offer You what we have, not what we wish we had.
Meet us in truth.
Strengthen us in weakness.
Guide us in obedience.
And lead us into a future shaped by faith, not fear.
Amen.

---

A Gentle Reminder for You

Prayer prepares the heart.
Action moves the feet.
God honors both.

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Jesus reassured John, confronted unbelief, and demonstrates the kingdom of heaven (Matt 11-12)

Aim: Truth about Jesus leads some to believe in Him while others refuse to believe. Doctrine: Satan and demons, Attribute: Faithful, Big idea: Belief vs. unbelief

A) Jesus reassured John, condemned unbelievers, and called the weary. – Matthew 11

11:1-3) John's uncertain if Jesus is the Messiah and asks

4-6) Jesus answers scripture, blind see, lame walk, leprosy cleansed, deaf hear, dead raised

 - 6) "blessed is anyone who doesn't stumble on account of me" 

7-11) Jesus praised John as greatest to the crowds 

 - today the least believer today has a greater privilege than John the baptist

12-15) John came in spirit and power of Elijah

16-19) Jesus condemned critical unbelievers; self-willed, irritating children refuse God's message

20-24) Jesus condemned indifferent unbelievers who ignored the great works and words

 - God holds us accountable to the truth He reveals, the greater the spiritual privilege the greater the responsibility. 

25-27) Jesus praise God for believers who come with awe and confidence of children

28-30) Jesus offers himself as the Way to the Father (Promise, call)

 - God ordained that knowledge of Him would come only through His Son. The Spirit of God must draw us to the Son, who alone can reveal the Father to us (John 14:6), Not work we do but what he does to remove our shame and guilt for sin (1 Peter 2:24).

 - Submission to Jesus brings rest to weary souls

B) Jesus warned the Pharisees demonstrating the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 12

12:1-8) Jesus confronted by Pharisees about eating on Sabbath

 - "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" 

 - 9-14) in the synagogue, Jesus teaches right from wrong logically, healing man's hand

 - "stretch out your hand", we just need to obey to experience life-changing miracles

 - Pharisees reaction to miracles, "plotted how they might kill Jesus"

15-21) Jesus heals the crowd that follows him fulfilling (Matthew 12:18-21, Isaiah 42:1-4)

22-24) Jesus heals demon-possessed blind/mute, talk/see, Pharisees call him the prince of demons

 - Pharisees and Scribes (Mark 3:22) witnessed the miracles, believe super-natural is demonic not from God

25-29) Jesus knew their thoughts, explains healing by Spirit of God, the kingdom has come upon you.

30-32) More than a failure to believe, blasphemy calls God’s work evil, a very serious sin against God. 

33-37) A tree is recognized by its fruit, we speak from our heart, good/evil comes from what is stored up inside - by words we are acquitted or condemned.

 - Today if you hear his voice don't harden your heart (Hebrews 1-4:13)

Prayer: Lord please forgive me and heal me from my habitual sins, change me from the inside out. Make me holy, that I can come into your presents un-ashamed and live righteously today. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can't change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. 

38-42) Pharisees, Scribes ask for a sign, "wicked, adulterous generation ask for sign" only sign of Jonah, 3 days, 3 nights heart of the earth Son of Man - repent be wise

 - 43-45) impure spirit comes out of a person, if unoccupied comes back with more wicked, the final condition is worse than first - so will be with this generation

Wow, Matthew 12 is Revelation in a nutshell!

46-50) who is saved, in God's family? Whoever does the will of Jesus' Father in heaven!

Applications:

1. What doubts or hard questions should you bring to Jesus?

2. How have you experienced true rest in Christ? 

3. What truth about Jesus do you resist?

Principles:

People who believe in Jesus find refuge, but people who do not believe await judgment.

Your response to Jesus determines your eternal destiny.

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90 day quick plan

Reading The Daily Edge: Simple Strategies to Increase Efficiency and Make an Impact Every Day
Find an area in your life you want to change, creating this plan should take less than 30 minutes to complete.

1. What does the ideal me look like? Think about your best day. How do you feel? What character traits does the ideal you possess in abundance? How does the ideal person help other people? What kind of impact do I want to make? What do I want people to remember me by?

2. Where am I? Examples; where am I with my health? Where am I with my kids? Where am I in comparison to my expected results? Find an objective way to measure where you are, in health it could be your weight or calorie intake. In relationships, ask the person to provide a rating from 1 (not even close) to 10 (consistently there).

3. Where am I going in 90 days? Write a clear, quantifiable goal? Think about the number above, where will it be in 90 days?

4. Why am I going? If the why is strong enough, the plan doesn't need to be perfect. If a building is on fire and my kids are there I don't need to know all the details, I'm going it.

5. How am I going to get there? Ask How? Keep asking How until you commit to taking specific actions.

6. How am I going to get there?

7. How am I going to get there?

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God gives grace to be successful to fulfill the covenant (Deut 8:1-18)

Deut 8:1-18;psalm 49:16-20;1 john 3:15-20;ecc 2:3-11

Be careful to obey all the commands, then live and multiply
 - Lord's promise
 - Lord your God led you (through wilderness 40 years)
     * humbled and tested to prove your character
Am I ready to obey?
 - Lord let me be hungry, then feeds me with manna
Thank you, Lord, for taking care of me (Deut 8:4) because you love us like a father disciplines his child (Deut 8:5, Heb 12)
 - to teach me to live not by bread alone but every word that comes from the Lord (Matt 4:4, Deut 8:3)
As with Jesus, it can be 40 days or with Israel 40 years (Matthew 4:1-2, Deut 8:2)

When Jesus was tempted to take a headline-grabbing leap from the temple, he responded by going back deeper into scripture, You must not test the Lord your God  (Deut 6:16).

What does it mean to obey?
 - by walking in his ways and fearing him
 - Lord your God IS BRINGING YOU into a good land (water, farms, plentiful, rich natural resources to mine)
 - THEN be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land HE HAS GIVEN YOU
 - In riches, remember, be careful, beware not to forget the Lord your God and disobey

How to be careful not to disobey when I'm rich?
 - Do not become proud, it was God who rescued me from slavery
 - He led me through the great and terrifying wilderness, snakes and scorpions
 - I was nearly dead, but he gave water from the rock (John 4), Jesus teaches about Living Water at Festival of Tabernacles!
 - He humbles me, tests me for my own good
 - Never say I'm rich by my doing, God has given me everything to fulfill his confirmed covenant

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Dispensationalism attempts to explain a correct philosophy of history, a unifying principle

In Ryrie's book Dispensationalism, he says,
All interpreters feel the need for distinctions.... "Any person is a dispensationalist who trusts in the blood of Christ rather than bring an animal sacrifice" and "Any person is a dispensationalist who observes the first day of the week rather than the seventh"

Dispensationalism attempts to explain a correct philosophy of history, a unifying principle. In progressive dispensationalism, the unifying principle is Christological because of the emphasis on Christ and on the Messianic, Davidic kingdom, already and not yet fulfilled. "Progressive revelation" as we see in actual, literal, plain, normal or historical-grammatical interpretation. This is consistent with hermeneutics.

I like that term "already and not yet" - this is how we accept God's promises by faith. When God says something, it's as good as already happened.

So far I"m enjoying this book, it makes sense to me as a Project Manager, it shows scripture in a logical sequence of events, leading somewhere. It helps us understand the ideas of spiritual maturity and God's kindness in wanting all to come to Him in faith and repentance.

Scofield's Reference Bible defines Dispensationalism as "A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture."
1. Deposit of divine revelation
2. man's stewardship responsibility for that revelation, and
3. the time period during which a dispensation operates

This doctrine makes it clear, there is only one way of salvation - "by God's grace through the work of Christ... on the cross."

The Etymology of the word dispensation is Latin verb, "to weigh out or dispense" the English word has these 3 principal meanings; 1) action of dealing out or distributing; 2) action of administering, ordering or managing; the system by which things are administered; 3) the action of dispensing with some requirement. "dispensation is a stage in a progressive revelation, expressly adapted to the needs of a particular nation or period of time... Also, the age or period during which a system has prevailed"

The Greek word oikonomia comes from the verb that means to mangae, regulate, administer, and plan. The word itself is a compound whose parts mean literally "to divide, apportion, administer or manage the affairs of an inhabited house." The central idea of dispensation is that of managing or administering the affairs of a household.

Scriptural use of the word dispenstion (oikonomia), used in Luke 16:2 translated "to be a steward" this is also found in Luke 16:3,4; 1 Cor 9:17; Eph 1:10;3:2;Col 1:25;1 Tim 1:4 (translated "stewardship", "dispensation", "administration", "job", "commission") - the noun (oikonomeo) appears 10 times, Luke 12:42;16:1,3,8; Rom 16:23; 1 Cor 4:1,2;Gal 4:2; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 4:10 and usually translated "steward" or "manager" (but "treasurer" in Rom 16:23

Christ's teaching is confined to two parables in Luke 12:42;16:1,3,8. In both cases it's a concern of the steward or manager of a household.

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Find peace, security and true freedom by Obeying God’s commands

I love @joyfultoons, this one got me into Leviticus 25:1-55 where the Sabbath year and year of Jubilee are discussed in regards to the scripture referenced. Some principle truths that people still employ is letting land rest, allowing the soil to replenish. This is accomplished through crop rotation. But when it comes to the year of Jubilee I saw some interesting discrepancies between what the Bible teaches and how we live today.

Obedience to God’s commands may seem confining as a cage. But in His commands we find peace, security & true freedom pic.twitter.com/CbOJupsN6b

— Michael Waters (@JoyfulToons) July 10, 2016

The Year of Jubilee is essentially every 50 years land is given back to the ancestors and freedom is proclaimed throughout the land for all who live there (Lev 25:8-13). It speaks of agreements around buying and selling, defining fair market value. Lev 25:17 jumps out at me as it says "Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other." This is the first discrepancy I noticed between how we live today and what the Bible teaches.

• Show your fear of God
• (by) Not taking advantage of each other

Promise #1: Next comes the conditional promise, "If you want to live securely in the land, (then) follow my decrees and obey my regulations.  (Then Promise) Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it (Lev 25:18-19).  This is the second discrepancy I noticed, as we live with dollar cost averaging and climbing "latter of success" - God says followers who obey Him will live securely. 

• If you want to live securely in the land
• Follow my decrees and obey my regulations
• Land will yield large crops, you'll eat your fill and live securely in it.
• Principle: God blesses "land benefiting the obedient

Promise #2: But you might ask, "what will we eat during the Sabbath year and year of Jubilee?" it's a good question.  God actually answers that question in Lev 25:21-22, saying in essence "Be assured (confident/certain), I'll send my blessing (God's sanction/support/endorsement, God's favor, protection, grace) that brings benefits, gratitude, advantage, help so abundantly that you can live from it for the next 3 years". This is the third discrepancy I noticed. Most people I know put their confidence in themselves and count there blessings and abundance as from their own labor/output. The Bible teaches that these are from God for His purposes and he gives and takes away (Job 1:21). In his article titled What God Gives When He Takes Away Jon Bloom says, "What we really love and trust aren't truly seen until we are tested by loss...core error of Prosperity theology: prosperity obscures, rather than reveals, how much fallen humans love God."

So what is God trying to tell me today? 

• Don't take advantage of people, rather show fear of the Lord - by obeying his commandments. Love people as He first loved us (John 15:9-12)
• God brings the surplus and ability to follow and obey him
• Peace, security and freedom come from obeying God 

assurance, blessing, 

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