Thanksgiving, 2021
Dear Friends,
We are just around the corner from Thanksgiving, and I wanted to write a special “Love Letter” from my heart to YOUR heart in this season of thankfulness. I am so grateful and thankful first for my Creator and Savior who has given me life and a life I get to share with you. I am thankful for each one that allows me to speak and share into their lives and by God’s grace deposit some of His glorious nuggets of truth and promises.
As sons and daughters of our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we have so many extraordinary gifts, legacies, and birthrights given to us. He holds nothing back and I want to remind us all of one in particular legacy that we can dwell in and abide in moment by moment from our Redeemer. This legacy from our Redeemer is something I believe we all need especially with our nation so divided and scattered on so many issues.
As I counsel and hear people’s hearts, this is something I hear repeatedly: What will happen to us, our nation, and our families because of all the divisiveness, the deception, and just plain denial of God’s existence? I will share with YOU what I share with them. My prayer is that you will be able to chew on it, digest it as a sweet treat, not just store it in the attic of your minds. Rather truly, sit in it, absorbing our Redeemer’s legacy to you and to me.
Our Redeemer’s legacy is called the PEACE OF CHRIST, which is given by Christ, produced, and perpetuated by His Spirit. Did you get that? Perpetuated by His Spirit! This my friends is essential! Please take hold of this marvelous revelation. Perpetuated means continued, propagated, and reproduced over and over and in every situation and circumstance.
I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous! (John 14:27 TPT)
This peace is secured in His blood as our Mediator, and He has the right to dispense it as the result of His reconciliation and atonement for YOU and for me. Our Redeemer did not just intend to have His peace just sit in our hearts BUT His heart intention and purpose for this peace is to “rule” in our hearts—to govern our emotions, our feelings, renewing our minds with His supreme command. It’s to have His peace that will be the umpire of our minds.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
since as members of one body you were called to peace. (Colossians 3:13 NIV)
The Greek word for rule means “to do the work of an umpire or referee.” A pastor once said it this way: “Think of a baseball game and as you slide into home base, you come up short. You know it, your team knows it, and the shouts from the crowd in the stands are calling you out. But the umpire shouts, SAFE! Statements like he’s blind, wasn’t he paying attention, and doesn’t he need glasses can be heard throughout the stands. 
No, not at all. He made the call, not based on our performance, which obviously failed, but based on Christ Jesus’ grace and mercy. When it comes to our own behavior before God, many of us don’t deserve to be on His winning team. However, this is where our inheritance and legacy come from our Redeemer. In our place, He played the perfect game for us and not one error can call us “out.” He suffered and took our punishment to atone for our sins so that we can have life, peace, and the resurrected power on this side of eternity as well as in the life to come. At the same time as umpire, His peace umpires our minds, and His peace wants to referee our conscience so that we can remain in a perfect place of rest, trust, and harmony.
The Lord will give strength to His people.
The Lord will bless His people with peace (Psalm 29:11 NIV)
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you. (Isaiah 26:3 NIV)
Additionally, steadfast in the Hebrew means imagination which forms and frames up our imagination and thus becomes our reality. Dearest friends, our imagination must be set apart for God and continually be based on His character, His promise, and His truth NO matter what we see all around us. Our imaginations can run wild into every conceivable notion and dark alley of fear, worry, and ultimate destruction of doom. But if we allow our imaginations to be made holy as He is holy, this transformation will give us that blessed assurance that we can confidently trust in Him.
Perfect, absolute peace surrounds those whose imaginations are consumed with you; they confidently trust in you. (Isaiah 26:3 – TPT)
When Jesus left this earth, He promised His disciples a peace unlike any other . . . “I leave the gift of peace with you – my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts – instead, be courageous! (John 14:27 TPT)
So, in the midst of turmoil, uncertainty, and life’s pressures and stresses, our Redeemer’s legacy is His overruling peace, His insurmountable peace, and His personal peace like no other. He knew we would be in a world filled with conditions of ambiguities and uncertainties, but He did not leave us stranded, unequipped, and uninformed. Rather, He left us with His own Peace SO THAT our hearts would not be troubled or be fearful no matter what is happening in this world. Remember: Take heart for our Redeemer has overcome the world.
I would say this is pretty good news for us, so we can confidently give thanks and enjoy this season of Thanksgiving. Why? Because our birthright is His Peace—His wonderful Peace that reigns supremely in our midst.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 NIV)
So, my prayer for YOU dear ones, is that the peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Him, and His perfect peace will replace all and any anxieties,
worries, or fears. May your mind and heart be ruled by His peace, not of this world’s peace but the world of our Redeemer’s peace who lives in us and all around us.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Mari Anne Andersen
Director, Freedom House Ministry
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With My Burning Heart of Love & Thankfulness,
Mari Anne Andersen
Director, Freedom House Ministry