safe zones & battlegrounds

There are some places that ought to be safe.  I mean safe as in you feel welcome, at peace and calm.  That would include where you can let your guard down because you know you won’t be attacked physically or emotionally.  These kind of places are important.

The first is our homes, and maybe you realize as I do that it is very easy to let our homes become a battleground rather than a safe zone.  This happens when we let our guard down, when we stop doing what God called us to do, when we start thinking about ourselves rather than helping others.  For our homes to be safe we have to realize we are on the same team and win when we are together.  Husbands and wives.  Parents and kids.  Family.  We are challenged to make our homes safe places.

Another place that ought to be a safe zone is our churches, and if you are like me, you’ve seen lots of church that look more like war than peace.  Again, when we think that our agenda is the only agenda or only right way, war breaks out.  Often people can’t control their lives away from church, and they try to control what they can.  Thus the battle begins over the color of the walls or the carpet, over the music or the version of the Bible, and many more things.  We have to make sure our churches are safe zones so that more and more people will meet the one who really makes us safe.

The last place of safety that I want to let you hear about, that I needed to hear about, is around us.  When our lives are in turmoil, we tend to be war or battle mode.  There is a lack of peace and the presence of stress.  There is a lack of faith and the presence of fear.  When people are around us that follow God, they ought to feel safe and loved.  The responsibility is on us.  Seeking God.  Letting His peace hold us.  We have to chose the safe zone rather than the battleground.

Proverbs 3:5  NASB

Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

2 Timothy 1:7  NLT

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Philippians 4:6  NLT

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

1 Thessalonians 5:6  NLT

So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.

John 14:27  NLT

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

I needed to hear that.  I need to act on that.  Our families, our friends and those who need what we have need lots of safe zones where the name of Jesus and faith in God is being lived out by those who are trusting God.

Don’t let anyone rob your peace and turn your safe zones in to battlegrounds.