The Sword & Cross of Shalom

We all wrestle with disappointments: Small ones are annoying; Large ones can be faith-wreckers.

Best case, they are tests that develop our testimonies; Worst case, they form campgrounds for undercover unbelief.

The original meaning of 'dis-appoint' was to remove a person from their appointed office / place of authority / responsibility. 

Mentally removing someone from a position of trust can be reasonable, but what if we unconsciously do that to God?

We readily agree that His ways and thoughts are higher and that He can work all things together for good.  

Yet there is often a sinister and subtle shift as we pull back our core confidence that God comes through. 

Last night we dug into the story of the shalom sword of the Shunammite woman when her son died.

As a woman of Issachar, she discerned the time, took swift action, and kept the flat edge of the sword - shalom - before her as she pressed through. 

The flat edge is what we see when we hold the sword as a Cross before us. 

And indeed, it is the Cross of Peace - of Shalom for us: The deep peace of our reconciliation with God, and so then with ourselves and others. 

As I heard Him say to me yesterday: 

'That Cross, your Peace, (must) go before you in every encounter. It should not depart from your hand - ever.  

Anything coming at you must first pass through the Cross of Peace – of wholeness, of shalom. 

Take up the Sword of the Spirit, the Rhema, the utterance of God and declare, ’It is finished!’

That Cross means that nothing can take you from Me; that all things can be turned to your good and My Glory; that the old is dead and the new has come.' 

This is a critical word: Watch the replay and hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

It's time we fully process old disappointments and engage new ones with the flat edge of the Sword and the Cross of Shalom.

Stephen

Want to go deeper? Check this out. 

Replay of this Deck Word is on YouTube. 

Replay of this entire Flight Deck is on Facebook (until 5/28/2026)