Walking With Christ

⚓ Floatie:  Peace we don’t recognize

Matthew 10:34  “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.(ESV)

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✒️ Forge:  When Peace Feels Like a Battle

We long for peace—but the kind we want isn’t always the kind we need.  We think peace means the absence of conflict.
But Jesus didn’t promise peace as escape.  He promised peace as alignment with truth, even when that truth causes division.

Isaiah 26:3  You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.(ESV)

Peace with God might cost you peace with the world.  Peace in your soul might only come after you let the war rage through your pride, pain, and pretense.

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⚒️ Anvil:  Peace Isn’t Passive

Many believers never experience real peace because they refuse to fight for it.

• They want healing without exposure.
• Reconciliation without repentance.
• Clarity without confrontation.

But peace is forged in surrender.  It cuts before it comforts.

You can’t make peace with your past if you’re still lying about it.
You can’t find peace with God while you’re still pretending you’re fine.

Philippians 4:7  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.(ESV)

Notice—God’s peace guards you.  That means you’ll still be under attack.  But you’ll have something stronger holding you together.

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🔥 Ember:  The Pain of Real Peace

There was a time when I was content to be numbed by false peace.  I let my life slip into an easy rhythm of denial, convincing myself I was okay when I wasn’t.
It was a shallow stillness—quiet, but not clean.  I wore a mask.  I smiled through exhaustion.  I quoted truth I wasn’t living.  I was the living embodiment of “fake it ‘til you make it’.
I didn’t want to face the ache beneath the surface, so I covered it up and called it maturity.

But the moment I stopped pretending, that’s when the fight really began.

Peace didn’t come soft.  It came like a scalpel—cutting deep, exposing what I had buried, and showing me how much of my “strength” was a facade.

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🌿 Covenant Triumph:  Peace on the Other Side of the Sword

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.(ESV)

The world offers counterfeit calm.  Jesus offers peace that holds up when everything else falls down.
But you don’t get that peace until you surrender to the One who carries the sword.

Let it cut.  Let it wound.  Let it heal.

Because peace isn’t the reward for pretending.
It’s the gift given after the war inside finally ends—and you let the King take the throne.

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[⚓ Floatie] [✒️ Forge] [⚒️ Anvil] [🔥 Ember] [🌿 Covenant Triumph]
This post follows the Forge Baseline Rule—layered truth for the discerning remnant.