The peace of God.
You don't have to be a genius today to recognise that this world and our society in general is not an environment that fosters peace.
Sadly many Christians lack that aura of Gods peace when it comes to their day to day practical living as they seem to absorb something of the stresses and cares of the world in which they live.
Is it unreasonable to expect that we should live with a quality of Gods peace in our lives that is not easily forsaken?
And if it is reasonable then why do so many in the church seem to lose sight of this?
In this blog I want to encourage all who read this that it is not only reasonable but possible to live with a great measure of peace in their lives, and to do this without retreating from the responsibilities of life in order to maintain it.
In the book of Isaiah chapter 54 we read these words
"For this is like the waters of Noah to me;
For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn that I would not be angry with you,nor rebuke you.
For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed
But my kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall my covenant of peace be removed,
Says the Lord who has mercy upon you."(Isa 54 9-10)
The phrase translated in vs 10" my covenant of peace" is translated in the king James version as "The covenant of my peace" and I like that and think that it is better.
God has established with us a covenant of His peace.
What does this mean?
It means that God has joined himself in indissoluble bonds of love with us through Jesus to be to us our peace and to grant us His peace all the days of our life.
Why does God say that He has entered into a covenant of peace with us?
Because in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 5 we read that
"The punishment that brought us peace was fully laid upon him"
In other words on the cross Jesus bore the full weight of Gods judgement and punishment for us to have secured this peace.
I think that it behooves us to reflect a little longer on this subject sometimes.
We easily forsake our peace because we do not cherish that peace or reflect on the heavy price that Jesus took upon himself to obtain this peace for us.
I think that we often are guilty of trivializing the costliness of this peace because we do not hold on to it with every vestige of our being.
The peace of God is not arbitrary.Unlike the world God does not give to us any one of His gifts and then withdraw them if our performance is not up to the mark
Jesus said in John chapter 14 and verse 27
"Peace I leave with you,my peace I give to you;not as the world gives do I give to you.
Do not let your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid."
So Jesus did not take this peace back to heaven with him but left it with us and gave it to us.
He intends for us to know and to exercise this peace to protect us from the many cares and anxieties that assail us in this life.
But notice what our responsibility is in this verse "Do not let your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid"
It is therefore up to us whether we allow anxiety to enter in and trouble our hearts or not.
We are the ones who are not to let our hearts be troubled.
We are not to let them be afraid.
Many Christians are praying that God would take the cares away from them and that he would take their fears away.
But Jesus says that we are the ones who are to disallow them.
We are the ones who take our stand.
There is a wonderful scripture in Isaiah26 v 3 which says
"You will keep him in perfect peace,whose mind is stayed on you,because he trusts in you."
From this scripture we see that the number one area where the battle for our peace is to be won or lost is in what we allow into our minds.
It is as we keep our minds set upon the Lord and His Word that we safeguard our peace.
We cannot blame our lack of peace upon anyone or anything else.
Remember that Jesus said in John chapter 14 that the peace which he gives to us he does not give as the world gives.
The world considers that a mans peace is to be given by his circumstances being propitious, a lack of financial worries or good relations or job security or good health.
Insure these things and his peace of mind is guaranteed,lack any one of these and his worries are justifiable.
How different is the kingdom of God.
The covenant of peace that the Lord has entered into with us is guaranteed to work even in the face of all of the onslaughts of hell itself.
It neither requires us to retreat from life's responsibilities or to detach ourselves from this world in order to walk in it.
What it does require is for us to believe from the heart what Gods Word says about his provision of peace and to understand from the Word of God those things that we must do to safeguard it in our lives.
I cannot stress enough that it is vital that we make the decision not to blame anyone else or anything else for the quality of peace that we enjoy.
Some Christians may be tempted to think well it is all right for so and so to have no worries but look at his life. He does not have any financial worries, or he does not have any marriage problems. Or she always enjoys good health.
The peace that God has given to us is not dependant upon any circumstances or upon any other person it is dependant only upon our relationship with God.
There is a scripture which more than any other teaches us how to abide in this covenant of peace and it is found in Philippians 4 and verse 6-7.
Be anxious for nothing,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 minds through Jesus Christ."
Be anxious for nothing, or do not be anxious about anything.
We are nowhere told in scripture that a little anxiety or a little fear is healthy and good we are told to not be anxious for anything.
All of us are tempted to anxiety and all of us are tempted towards fear and some more than others, but we can stop that anxiety from taking hold of us if we are willing to follow the instructions of Philippians chapter 4.
Some people may say "Well it is unrealistic to say that we do not need to ever be anxious or afraid"
Billy Graham was once asked if he ever was tempted to doubt and his reply was "Yes, but I know what to do with it when it comes"
In the same manner it is precisely because fear and anxiety are an all to present foe that we need to know precisely what to do with these thoughts and emotions when they come.
Notice that Philippians 4 says to "Be anxious for nothing"
There is according to Gods Word nothing no- thing for which our being anxious or worried about it is warranted.
So the first decision that we must make is that we will not be anxious in any situation for any reason.
Instead of anxiety and worry being tolerated it needs to be resisted and stood against.
You remember how in the parable of the sower Jesus spoke about the thorns that grew up and chocked the word of God,
"These are the ones who hear the word,and the cares of this world entering in,choke the word,and it becomes unfruitful."
There is a pressure to worry and a temptation towards anxiety that we may feel, but we do not have to let it enter in.
If an undesirable person was banging upon the door of my house desiring to enter in he may well make his presence known, but I would be a fool to go to the door and to let him in.
Likewise you and I are given the guardianship of our own minds.
We get to choose what thoughts we either allow or disallow.
And if we allow and cultivate the right thoughts then the quality of Gods peace will greatly increase in our lives.
In chapter 4 of Philippians Paul goes on to urge us to cultivate the habit of constantly thinking about the right thoughts
"Whatever things are true whatever things are just and pure and noble and lovely and of a good report think upon these things and the God of peace will be with you".
There is as I said earlier a direct correlation between what we think and the extent to which the peace of God will rule and reign in our hearts and minds.
I said earlier that we may be tempted to be anxious and worried but we do not have to let this enter in.
How do we let it enter in?
By constant meditation upon those negative fearful thoughts and by speaking them out.
If we think about them and speak about them then they will certainly take root in us.
But here in Philippians Paul tells us what to do with the temptation to be anxious
"But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving present your requests to God"
We must swiftly and immediately learn to take those situations to God in prayer,and entrust those situations into His care.
In other words we cast all of the care of that situation over onto the Lord and refuse to take the care or worry of it back again.
It is in a very real sense an act of faith.
Certainly our minds will want to revisit that concern again and again but we must learn to stand our ground and to say, out loud if necessary "no that has already been dealt with.
I have rolled the care of that situation over onto the Lord and I refuse to take it back again"
Then we need to train our minds to think away from that situation and to focus on something else and to meditate upon the promises of Gods word that speak to us in whatever the particular area of need is.
And we need to do this as often as is necessary in order not to allow the anxiety to enter in.
A wise old godly woman once said to her son"Son if you let the devil ride in the back seat with you it ain't going to be long till he is wanting to drive the car"
If we tolerate anxiety and fear it wont be long until they will be consuming our thoughts.
Some people say "I have tried to cast my cares onto the Lord and to walk away but it just does not work"
Did you notice that in Philippians 4 it says in everything (there is no situation to small) present your requests to God with thanksgiving"
How many times do we leave out the thanksgiving?
If we want the promise of Gods peace then we need to follow His instructions and add thanksgiving always to our asking when we bring our concern to the Lord in prayer.
I heard a story some years ago that has helped me as much as anything that I have ever heard.
A women who was an Pentecostal missionary in the early part of the twentieth century became sick with a killer disease while on the mission field.
Believing as she did in divine healing she sought the Lord in prayer from her hospital bed imploring Him to heal her.
One night she received a vision in which she saw vividly a set of old fashioned weighing scales and on the one side of the weights she saw the word inscribed "Requests"and on the other side she saw the word "Thanksgiving"
She noticed that the side of the weights that was inscribed requests was tilted down with a heavy amount of weight while the side inscribed with the word "Thanksgiving" had virtually no weight on it at all.
The Holy Spirit spoke to her and said
"When your thanksgiving is equal to your asking then you will receive your answer from God"
She begun almost at once to lift her hands there in her hospital bed and for almost three nights and three days did nothing but praise and worship God.
And at the end of that time she was completely healed.
The final promise of this passage in verse 7 is
"And the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ"
The amplified translation says that the peace of God will garrison your hearts and minds.
Gods peace is a protective barrier to any and all the onslaughts of the evil one.
His peace is more than a sense of well being (it includes that)but it is also a protective wall around our hearts and thought life when we walk in obedience to the steps laid out in verse 6.
When I fly to Spain with my family we often find ourselves sitting near the front of the plane.
Therefore we can see into the cockpit when the door is open pre flight and observe the pilot and his assistant doing all the necessary flight checks.
This would comprise a list scrupulously compiled by Boeing who manufactured the plane and every pilot would be required to go through the list before the plane is considered ready for flying.
Why I wonder do we so often apply a more slipshod attitude towards the Word of God?
If we desire the peace of God to Garrison our hearts and minds we must bring our requests to God in prayer.
We must lay deliberately before God those thoughts that are troubling us and deliberately cast every care upon the Lord.
Then we must learn to walk away from that situation as far as worrying about it is concerned which means that we will change the way that we speak about that situation no longer rehearsing our fears and concerns but if we think of it at all thanking God that it is now in His hands and He will work it out for our best.
Thanksgiving must infuse all of our prayers and under gird all of our requests.
I believe that if we will follow these steps we will learn to abide in that peace that far surpasses our ability to try to understand and work things out.
And will will enter in to a fuller measure of His rest.