Perfect Peace

A man was looking for the perfect picture of peace, so he announced an art contest and invited artists to produce a masterpiece of peace. The challenge stirred the imagination of artists everywhere and paintings arrived from far and wide. Finally, the day arrived to reveal the art and the judges uncovered one peaceful scene after another while the viewers clapped and cheered. Soon there were only two pictures left to be shown. As the cover was removed from one a hush fell on the crowd. A mirror smooth lake, reflecting lacy green birches under the soft blush of the evening sky. Along the grassy shore a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed. Surely this was the winner. But then the second painting was uncovered. The crowd gasped in surprise, could this be peace? A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky precipice. The crowd could almost feel it’s cold, penetrating spray. Stormy grey clouds threatened to explode with lightning wind and rain. In the middle of the thundering noises and bitter chill, a spindly tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls. One of its branches reached out in front of the torrential waters as if foolishly seeking to experience its full power. A little bird had built a nest in the elbow of that branch, content and undisturbed in stormy surroundings, she rested on her eggs. With her eyes closed and her wings ready to cover her little ones, she manifested peace that transcends all turmoil. When the bible speaks about peace it’s the same. It’s inner peace, that transcends all outward chaos. It’s a gif of perfect peace. Philippians 4 v 6 – 7: 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. God’s peace is the Greek word: Eirene and it means to join together as one, it’s the peace we have when we have unity. It means to prosper, have quiet and rest to be set at one again. The corresponding Hebrew word for peace is the word shalom and means: Nothing missing, nothing broken, wholeness, soundness of our spirit, soul and body, completeness, fullness, rest, harmony, freedom from agitation and discord, protection, safety. Wow what an incredible meaning. Peace is a Godly character quality and not just a human emotion. That means that peace is something that we can have in our hearts regardless of our situation or circumstances. I don’t know about you, but I certainly want God’s peace. It sounds incredible. The tragedy is that many of us Christians don’t experience this God peace at all and others of us don’t experience nearly enough of God’s peace. We really need revelation directly from God so that we can consistently experience and with God’s peace. We need to find out how to have God’s peace and then how to keep God’s peace, no matter what happens in our lives. Five things we need to know about Gods peace. 1] God’s peace comes from relationship with God Acts 10 v 36: I’m sure you have heard about the Good News for the people of Israel that there is Peace with God, through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. Romans 5 v 1: Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. The starting point for having God’s peace is to enter in to a personal, real, intimate, passionate relationship with the Living God. We do this by accepting God’s gift of reconciliation He offers us all. Since the creation of the world us humans lost this intimate relationship with God. We can read about this in Genesis 2 and 3. In the garden of Eden God walked with Adam and Eve. They had intimate friendship and relationship with God, but then Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit off a tree that God told them not to. God cannot entertain sin as He is a holy God, so He had no choice but to banish them from His presence. Since then until Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, there we no permanent way for us to be reconciled back to God. God placed inside every human being the need to be in a relationship with Him and when that void in our lives is not filled by God, we will try to fill that void with anything in our desperate search for reconciliation. We try to fill that void with relationships with other human beings, addictions, destructive habits. But the real answer is by accepting God. He can fill the void in our lives. He can fill that hole in our soul. God has made the way for us to be reconciled back to Him. Colossians 1 v 19 – 23: 19 For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and by Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made Peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of His blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22 yet now He has brought you back as His friends. He has done this through His death on the cross in His own human body. As a result, He has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it. We enter this intimate, personal relationship with God when we believe the truth, stand in it firmly and don’t doubt and drift away from it. It’s this reconciliation and relationship with God that give us such peace. 2] God’s peace comes from obedience to God Isaiah 48 v 17 – 18 : 17 The Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good and leads you along the paths you should follow. 18 Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had Peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling like waves. Romans 8 v 5 – 6: 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. These verses tell us that we will have peace, if we live our lives God’s way and not ours. And that when we are dominated by our own sinful nature, we will not have peace. So how do we know if our sinful nature is dominating us? Galatians 5 v 19 – 21: 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful [ corrupt ] nature, [ self ] your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality,[ illicit sex, sexually unfaithful ] impure thoughts, [ perversion, not being pure ] eagerness for lustful pleasure, [ sexual promiscuity, taking part in sexual sins ] 20 idolatry, [ worshipping other gods ] participation in demonic activities, [ drug abuse, witchcraft ] hostility, [ hatred ] quarreling,[ rivalry, making trouble ] jealousy, [ being jealous ] outbursts of anger, [ being angry ] selfish ambition, [ being selfish ] divisions, [ conflicts, making people angry with each other ] the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, [ factions, causing division among people] 21 envy, drunkenness, wild [ wasteful ] parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Why do we lose our peace when our sinful nature rules us? We feel guilt and shame, the same guilt and shame that separated Adam and Eve from God when they sinned. This is what separates us from God and robs us of our peace when we sin. Obedience to God and His ways is how we get and keep God’s peace. 3] God’s peace comes from trusting God. John 14 v 27: I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. [ My peace ] And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid. [ Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled] It’s a matter of trust in God. When we trust in ourselves, we will be troubled, fearful, agitated, disturbed, intimidated, cowardly, unsettled, not at peace. The opposite is also true and the end result of us being obedient to God and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, to be in charge of our lives, is deep and lasting peace. This peace is a confident assurance in any circumstance. With Christ’s peace we have no need to fear the present or the future. 4] God’s peace comes from giving all things to God Philippians 4 v 6 – 7: Don’t worry [ or be anxious ] about anything; instead, pray about everything.[ And every situation ] Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. 7 If you do this, you will experience God’s Peace, [ That tranquil state of a soul assured of salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with it’s earthly lot of whatever sort that is, ] which is far more wonderful [ beyond our imagination, surpasses our comprehension, transcends all understanding ] than the human mind can understand His peace, will guard [ Garrison and mount guard ] your hearts and minds [ thoughts ] as you live in Christ. When prayer replaces worry, God’s gift of peace that transcends human understanding, comes in and that peace acts as a sentry that guards us. It guards our mind and emotions, so that we are not overwhelmed by the sudden onrush of fear, anxiety or temptation. Imagine never worrying about anything. It seems impossible. We all have worries on the job, in our homes or at school. The truth is that psychologists tell us that 30% of what we worry about doesn’t ever happen. 30% of what we worry about has already happened, 12% is about unfounded health concerns, 20% is worrying about small stuff that doesn’t matter. 8% is all that is left. 92% of the time we worry for no reason at all. Paul’s advice is to turn our worries into prayers. Do you want to worry less, then pray more. Whenever you start to worry, stop and pray. God’s peace is different than the worlds peace. True peace is not found in positive thinking, or I the absence of conflict, or in having good feelings, it comes from knowing that God is sovereign, not us. Our citizenship in Christ’s Kingdom is sure, our destiny is set, and we can have victory over sin. Philippians 4 v 6 – 7: Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayer, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. God’s peace comes when we give all our worries to God. 5] God’s peace comes from God. God’s peace helps us to be very peaceful. We can have peace with ourselves. Colossians 3 v 15: And let the Peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. Paul tells us to let God’s peace be umpire or referee in our heart. Our heart is the centre of conflict because there our feelings and desires clash. Our fears and hopes, distrust and trust, jealousy and love. How can we deal with these conflicts and live as God wants? Paul explains that we must decide between conflicting elements by using the rule of peace. Which choice will promote peace in our soul? We can have peace with other people. We can have peace with other cultures and sub- cultures. Ephesians 2 v 13 – 18: 13 But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to Him because of the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ Himself has made Peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. 15 By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make Peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new person from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of His death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 17 He has brought this good news of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from Him, and to us Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. We can have peace with our church family. Romans 14 v 17 – 19 : 17 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and Peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God. And other people will approve of you, too. 19 So then, let us aim for harmony [ Peace ] in the church and try to build each other up. What a fantastic character trait God’s peace is. Something we need to ask God for and be aiming to have and keep. 2 Thessalonians 3 v 16: May the Lord of Peace Himself always give you His Peace No matter what happens. The Lord be with you all.