Keeping Your Peace During Trouble
Jesus Brings Peace
Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The world is stressed out. Very few people are at peace, even those that claim to know Christ. It seems that everything that can go wrong is going wrong, at least for most people. People are on edge about their finances. People are worried about their jobs and how they will maintain and support a lifestyle they have grown accustomed to but can no longer afford. Others that have no financial problems stress over getting ahead, one upping the other guy, getting their kids to the head of the class or finding success or fame. Still many people have deep hurts and pains from broken relationships. The world is not at peace, no instead it is stressed or depressed and in turmoil. This is not the way Christians are to live and we have a deliverer.
I have finally found true peace with God. I do not boast of that in any way, but I want to share the truth that has been revealed to me in hopes it may edify you and lead you to find that peace as well. This comes from love not any judgment. Jesus brought me this peace, I did not find it. It is a gift from Him. Amazingly some think I don’t give a crap about stuff anymore and you know what, they are right. I hunger and thirst to know my God, that is where my heart is at.
John 14:26-27 “ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Even Jesus said in this passage that His peace is not the same as worldly peace. The Word of God tells us how to get this peace from Jesus. We must walk with Him, be in Him just as He was in the Father. The World teaches us to look elsewhere for peace and put our faith in trust in men or material things that rust away or are eaten by moths. In times of trouble we must lean on Jesus.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that IN Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jesus is the only way to find true peace. When we purify our hearts and possess the spiritual land God has given us, we come into His rest, which is peace. Any other way, is a carnal way and carries a difficult yoke and a heavy burden, one our flesh will not be able to carry all the way to the finish line. We cannot endure without the peace that transcends all understanding.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The Old Testament are the very Scriptures that Jesus and the Apostles told us to study as the New Testament did not exist yet when these words were written down. The Old Testament is 100% valid for today despite the many false teachings to the contrary. As I began a serious walk with God, after being a fake for my whole life, God used this verse from Isaiah to call me to repentance. In a sermon given by Derek Prince, God awakened my spirit and wrote this passage on my mind. It has since gotten me thru tough times.
Isaiah 26:3-4
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal
These ancient Scriptures will make us wise unto salvation and they speak over a hundred times by my count on the ”peace offerings” to the Lord. Just read through a chapter of Leviticus, Exodus, or Numbers and you cannot help but find numerous references to the “peace offerings” of God. Here are a few examples of how the peace offerings of God resulted in peace for the people. Jesus is our modern day “peace offering”.
Exodus 20:24 An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. If we want peace, we must go to the sacrifice. Back in Moses day that was building alters and killing goats, bulls and rams. Today that is giving Jesus your whole heart and receiving His Spirit. Without the sacrifice there will be no peace.
Leviticus 3:1 ‘When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. People like to read Books like Leviticus and believe the relevance to today is just a nice historical story. But there is hidden truth in all of this Scripture, it is indeed powerful relevant lessons for today. Just as God wants our whole heart — a heart free of all impurities and idols, God demanded sacrifices from Israel that were without spot or blemish. Jesus is our sacrifice, the spotless lamb to end all future sacrifices. But to walk with Jesus we must walk as He walked and that was without spot or said another way with a pure heart. If we don’t do this, the peace offering of Christ is of no effect to us and we will NOT enjoy the full blessings of God and will be subject to torment by you know who.
Jesus became the peace offering for all men when He died on the cross on our behalf. Jesus was our sacrifice for sin and for peace. We only find peace by going to the sacrifice of Jesus and putting our full trust in Him. The Prophet Malachi prophesied on how Jesus would walk with the Father. The covenant was one of peace that had at its foundation the fear of God. It led to a sinless life in total submission to the will of the Father.
Malachi 2:5-6 “ My covenant was with him, one of life and peace,
And I gave them to him that he might fear Me;
So he feared Me
And was reverent before My name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth,
And injustice was not found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace and equity,
And turned many away from iniquity.
When you have a real fear of God, you know He is in total control and you fear nothing else but God. The apostate church teaches us not to fear God but instead tries to carnally educate us on managing worldly fear. Sounds nice but it is a lie and keeps us from finding the peace Jesus has brought to all whom believe in Him. Jesus only did what the Father told Him to do and He was obedient to death. Never sinning, He walked in perfect peace and turned many away from sin and the resulting wages of death. That is our calling also as His disciples. Finding peace is not an option for us, it is a requirement to enter God’s rest in this life and the life to come in heaven. Consider the call in Hebrews.
Hebrews 12:14-15 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.
If God does not have our whole heart, the powers of darkness come onto us and sow seeds of unrighteousness into our hearts. This seed once established and not subsequently repented from, leads to all kinds of defilement and ungodliness. Harbor bitterness in any form and you will be set against your brother and will be practicing sin and thereby lack the holiness required to see the Lord. Do not let the devil STEAL your peace. If you walk in peace with God, nobody can snatch you out of His hand, but if you stray from the path and choose to sow disobedience, you are fair game to be overcome and have your peace stolen away.
Know Jesus Know Peace
This clever saying is so true, it is the only way we have peace which is also the only way we have eternal life. We must know Jesus, we cannot just worship Him with our lips.
John 10:28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”
I have a page tab at the top of this screen about the importance of Knowing Jesus. It is also true that if there is NO JESUS there is NO PEACE. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. Peace is conveyed throughout the Scriptures, by my count nearly 300 times. It is a critically important concept to grasp. The Apostles conveyed and prayed for peace upon the brethren constantly in their writings. I chose Romans to show you some excerpts concerning peace, but I could just have easily picked any other Epistle as the theme of peace through God is throughout the Bible.
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, peace only comes to us from God. We cannot manufacture it or create it intellectually. True peace comes from our hearts not our heads. Any other peace is a false peace, a foundation of sand, doomed for destruction. That is one of the points Paul was making in the following passage from Romans.
Romans 8:5-9 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. If you walk in the flesh and are holding onto a flesh sinful nature, you will never be at peace my friends. Eventually the trials of life, the tribulations, the stress of the world will knock you down. Only the rock eternal — Christ is unshakeable.
Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. You see we cannot find peace on our own initiative or power. Any such peace is temporary, it is by the power of God alone that we find true peace. Once you find it, you will know what I am speaking on. You must be Born Again and transformed into a new creation to have the peace of God. You will no longer lust after the world or the things in the world, they will be meaningless to you. To find this peace, you must Love the Lord with ALL your heart. When we obey God, He sends His Holy Spirit. Click here for my post on that topic.
Romans 16:20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. We overcome the powers of darkness, aka the devil by walking in the Spirit. When the peace of God is with us, the enemy is powerless to harm us and flees from our very presence as it is the presence of God from which the devil flees. Without the peace of God, we walk in the flesh and the powers of darkness are all over us, trying to entice our flesh, to get us to break God’s laws and to remain stiff necked and rebellious to His commandments.
Ephesians 2:13-15 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace. God is the creator of true peace. It comes from the Holy Spirit when we are truly Born Again and transformed into a new creation. Making mental ascents to Jesus yet living with an unrepentant heart with idols is vain worship. It is sad to hear sermons preached on dealing with stress from the pulpits yet the very truth about God’s peace is brushed aside and remains hidden to those that harbor idols in their hearts.
Colossians 1:19-20 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Peace comes because Jesus bore our sins and it is by His suffering that we are healed and cleansed from our PAST inequities. Until we are cleansed, we are guilty as charged and the tormentors (the devil and company) are allowed to work in us to bring us to repentance. Praise be to God for His wonderful plan of salvation. Continue to practice sin and live with an impure heart, and peace never comes. Whatever faith you do have will eventually be taken away. This is what Jesus meant when He said:
Matthew 13:12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
Keeping the Peace
God’s universal law of sowing and reaping applies to peace. We want peace, we need to sow peace. We are to pray for our enemies. We are not to resist an evil man. We are to give our shirt away also if someone ask for our coat. We are not to revile against our brother. We are not to judge hearts, we are not to sow condemnation otherwise those things will come upon us. We are told to forgive to infinity. That is how we keep our peace, by walking in true love with our neighbors. This is why I believe Jesus added the corollary commandment to His foremost commandment. It was a simple way of reminding us how to keep our peace.
Matthew 22:35 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets.”
In the opening passage of this blog post, from Phillipians, Paul tells us the peace that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and protect our minds. We must purify ourselves and stay pure. This peace of God allows this and by staying pure we stay at peace with God. They work interchangeably. Our minds must be protected from evil thought and temptations and everything that exalts itself against the word of God. That is why Paul encouraged the brethren:
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ
We don’t lash out and act out in vengeance when we are offended or attacked. That is not love and it is certainly not acting out in peace. If we react the way the world does, we are being carnal, not walking in the Spirit and we will lose our peace. Beware of the devil’s schemes my friends. The enemy is lurking just waiting to get your aroused and offended and lead your mind astray. James went further and tied are being righteous directly to the peace that we sow. If you want peace, make peace. Want hostility and stress, be hostile, harbor bitterness towards anyone and act out in stress. These are all fleshly pursuits, none of which can please God.
James 3:18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Conclusion
Our enemy, the devil and his very real demons or evil spirits lurk everywhere to come tempt us, to entice us and torment us so that we will be robbed of our peace. Without peace we will be destroyed. Remember that if you are not at peace your heart cannot be right with God. He is the God of peace. This should be an alarm for you to examine yourself and see what is amiss with God. God chastises and allows our peace to be taken away so we will come back to Him with a pure heart. If we remain stiff-necked and stubborn and do not repent, seeds of unrighteousness are planted and grow unconciously in our hearts. If we don’t purify our hearts we will be continually separated from God and His peace.
Without God’s protection, we are no match for the enemy. We can do ALL things through Christ but we can also do NOTHING without Him. A time is coming by brothers where we will all be severely tested as the judgment of God begins to pour itself upon the earth. That time is near.
Rev 6:4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of peace. It is one of the most frequent words in all of Scripture. The time for harvest of souls is coming to an end. Those of us with some light from God need to stand up and be counted as that is how the true church of Jesus will be multiplied.
Stumble It!
