George Skoglund
Our search for security, peace, and justice continues to be an individual and a collective challenge. The Old Testament experiences of the patriarch Job and the New Testament experiences of the apostle Paul provide a framework for understanding the hope that enriches our lives under God’s care. The plan we need recognizes that we have choices to make. We have decisions that influence the direction of our lives. To find security, peace, and justice, we need a plan to form and keep a right relationship with God.
When we lose control over the decisions that set security, peace, and justice in our lives, we can feel like a pile of broken pieces. To have security, peace, and justice, we need to live in fellowship with God. When our purpose and direction in life meet God’s requirements, we please God. With Jesus Christ as our Savior and the Holy Spirit as our Helper, God provides the support we need to find rest and renewal. The foundation of our happiness now and our hope for the future is our salvation and the joy of sharing our beliefs with others. When our thoughts and actions are in keeping God’s will for us, we can access the possibilities and power that God makes available to us as mature members in God’s family.
This book is for anyone who feels disconnected from God. For people dealing with loneliness, fear, despair, and anger, “The Plan We Need for Security, Peace, and Justice” describes a systematic way to become a functioning part of the body of Christ and to complete the connection with God.
When an unwanted situation threatened the well being of a person close to me, I begged God to help me help that person. I wanted God to help me control the situation. I was thankful for the ongoing events that seemed to be working to that person’s advantage, but I couldn’t get out from under the feeling of crushing anxiety and desperate loneliness. My feeling of inadequacy would not go away. I wanted to feel that I’m under the shelter of His wings, but I didn’t. In times like these, I know that Satan is real, and he’s coming after me and trying to get to me through people that I love. Satan wants me to doubt and question God’s love for me and my loved ones. Even though I realized God showed me that He was there for that person, I didn’t feel that He was there with me as the situation continued. I didn’t understand the need for my hurt and discomfort. I wanted to understand, but I didn’t. I’m just a sinner, saved by grace, who has felt the crushing anxiety and desperate loneliness of separation from God. “The Plan We Need for Security, Peace, and Justice” is what I believe God has been trying to tell me for the last 50 years.
When life takes away security, threatens peace, and denies justice, we feel either closeness to God or separation from God. We all experience good times and bad times. What defines our character is how we act during the good times and react during the bad times. We always have the choice between living in darkness under the influence of Satan or living in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The choices we have are ours to make. Our day-by-day decisions open separation from God, fill the gap between ourselves and God, or close separation from God.
