Grace, Peace to all

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father." Colossians 1:2b

Here is comfort; grace and peace. These two go together like peanut butter and jelly or Abbott and Costello. You cannot have grace without peace following it. You cannot have true peace, especially inner peace, without grace.
Grace is not getting what we do deserve. What we deserve is punishment. What we deserve is eternal turmoil. What we deserve is strife.
However, what we get is love. What we get is peace. What we get is salvation.
Grace to each of you that read this, because what we need is grace. We need unmerited favor from God who can give us peace.
We all go through different ordeals, some are small and some seem mountainous. It is the grace of God that gets us through, as he sends unmerited love and favor toward us.

In our times of trouble God sends his grace to us and from that we have peace. Paul prayed three times for his thorn to disappear, but God didn't do it. Instead, he told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you."
God grace is sufficient for us, right after writing that in 2 Corinthians 12 Paul goes on to say that he is at peace with this thorn in the flesh because it brings glory to God.
There is another concept to think about, God gains glory through our hardships. In our weakness his power is displayed. We are made stronger by his grace, love, and mercy toward us sinners.
Peace is attainable through God's mercy and grace. Jesus the very one who embodied God's grace, stood up on a boat in the midst of a storm and simply said, "Peace, be still" and it was. In our storms of life, instead of praying the problem away remember that God's grace is sufficient for us. Pray for his grace, because following that there will be peace. The problem may not go away, but there will be peace.
 

If there's a will...

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God... Colossians 1:1a

I have noticed, by way of a sermon from a former professor, we do not truly believe to have God's will be done when we pray for it to be done. It is this way because we want our will done, not God's. 

I find Paul's opening to the church at Colossae, and Corinth, interesting. He calls himself an "apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God". Truth be told he did not want to be an apostle or even a Christian. He was perfectly content as a Pharisee who was paid to round up believers in Christ and take them to jail.

His life was great, until one day on the road to Damascus Jesus appeared to him. God's will on Paul's life changed him. He went from having everything he wanted and persecuting others to having nothing and being persecuted.

Even more interesting is the fact that Paul was completely content in both situations. When he was not in God's will and persecuting others he was content. When he became an apostle he was happy and content. Notice that when he was in God's will he was happy.

You read his letters and you get the sense that he was disillusioned and unhappy as a Pharisee striving after his own glory. Yet, when the change occurred and he gave over to Christ all he was and all he had, he became overjoyed.

When you are at the center of God's will you will have joy. I will not say you will be free from strife and stress, because Paul wasn't and we are never promised that.

We are promised the Spirit to comfort and empower us. We are told that God's grace is sufficient for all our needs. 

It is by God's will we are called.

It is by God's will we are sanctified.

It is by God's will we live.

Where there is the will of God, we must be in it.