30 Jun Peace of God
Everyone desires to live in peace but many people misconstrue what it means to have peace. To some people, having much money to spend at one’s whims and caprices is to have peace as they think that deliverance from financial challenges will bring peace. To some other school of thought, peace means to be in possession of power to rule the whole world or nations. But according to the Lord Jesus Christ, the peace of God is not as the world giveth, that is, it is not according to the dictates of worldly definitions.
The first thing that we have to know in seeking for peace is that genuine peace could only come from God. (I Cor. 1:3) Therefore, if you have not identified with the living God, you are not in a position to seek rightly for peace and it will remain ever elusive. If you are not in Christ you cannot have peace and it takes you as an individual to make that choice to be with God. Many people are out there they have the opportunity of hearing the gospel everyday and yet they have not changed, they have not given their life to Christ, and when you ask them do you want to live in peace? Do you want peace to reign in your home? They will say yes but yet they are not getting on the right track to get their heart desire fulfilled.
Knowing God gives the right direction towards the pursuance of peace. Believers must know that peace is not automatic and that is why it has to be pursued according to the Psalmist. Although the provision has been made by the Lord Jesus Christ, you must consciously seek for peace relying on the help of the Holy Spirit. To start with, a believer must be ready to go through the exercise of weeding and planting. In the study of agriculture, weeding is all about removing things that will not make crops to grow properly so it is required that to cultivate a land for farming, you have to weed first, if you don’t weed and you planted crops, at the end of the day you will have the growing crops get choked up by weeds. The result is poor harvest or no harvest at all. Likewise you must see yourself as a piece of land that has to be cultivated following the due process of weeding and planting if you must experience peace. Before coming to Christ you must have naturally had a lot of earthly man’s antecedents stored up inside of you which are at variance with Christ nature and it is therefore necessary for you to weed out all the ones that are not Christ-like for you to be able to live your life to the ultimate in the Lord Jesus Christ. What are such things that are to be weeded out? Hatred, suspicion and fear must be done away with. (Gal. 5:19-21). Those must be replaced by planting love, joy, understanding, patience and mercy knowing that the kingdom of God is all about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Rm. 14:17 – 19).
Furthermore, all the parts of you must be in harmony if you must experience peace i.e. your soul, spirit and body must be in consonance with one another. In other words, your outward self must be in harmony with your inner self (Matt 23:1-5). A hypocrite cannot have the peace of God. You must live what you profess. If you are not the same outwardly as you are inwardly, then there is a serious battle between your inner man and your outer self because you are trying to be two different persons. Christianity is not a practice of pretence but of sincerity. If your inner life and your outer life are at variance then you are living a life of pretence and you cannot have peace of mind and peace in your soul. (Mk. 3:25) You have to live the same life everywhere if you must lay claim to the peace of God as your heritage in the Lord.
You must be forward looking in your quest for peace. When you dwell on the past, then you are bound to get bogged down with distress, unhappiness, frustration and confusion. To live in the past is to live a life of defeat and definitely peace will be far from you. Do away with past guilt (Heb. 8:12). Look forward to a bright future and let your thought dwell on positive dreams. In addition, avoid indecision; take a clear stand for Christ. There is an inner peace that fills one who completely decides for God. You cannot serve two masters. (Matt. 6:24).
On a final note, always remember that God’s peace passes all understanding. When you cannot understand, when you cannot see, there remains an inner peace of mind and a peace of soul that no outer conflict can shake or disturb. (Phil. 4:7). Strive to maintain constant relationship with God who is the giver of peace and put your trust in Him. (Is. 26:3) Learn to depend absolutely on the Holy Spirit to enjoy the peace of God because He is your teacher and He will teach you all things. (Jn. 14:26)
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