Making Peace

We cannot manufacture peace. We cannot conjure it up and manifest it before others. Only God creates peace. Some people speak of making their peace with God, meaning that they get an understanding with their Maker before death - ask His forgiveness and finally set their spiritual affairs in order. However, I want you to consider today that it is not only important to "get right with God" but with people too and that none of it is possible without the Lord's intervention.

The peacemaker is God Himself. We are unable to make peace with Him or anyone for that matter without His divine intervention. Just as we cannot forgive ourselves of sin, or be good enough before a Holy God, we cannot make peace happen. But we can be peacemakers by allowing His peace to work in our hearts.

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God". 

Matthew 5:9, KJV

This verse implies that the children of God are those who make peace. It is through the relationship that we have with our Father that we are enabled or empowered to make peace. Jesus said "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you..." (John 14:27). Jesus is the One who make things right with God on our behalf so that we can be like Him and make peace with others.

Because He is the peace-giver, we can be peace-makers. It is not intrinsic of us, but due to the One who lives in us that peace ever happens.

Peacemakers have peace with God, make peace in their hearts with their enemies and with themselves. The Bible tells us that there is no peace or rest to the wicked (Isaiah 48:22, 57:21). A key to peace is forgiveness. Making peace can come through the avenue of forgiveness or be a dead end for those who refuse to forgive others. When we confess our sins, God forgives us and there is peace between us. True torture is being apart from the peace that come through forgiveness by God forever. We will be forgiven in the same way that we forgive others ( Mark 11:26). Now that can be a spooky thought. How do you forgive?

Peacemakers love their enemies. When we forgive those who hurt us, peace is restored in our hearts. We are to forgive others as we have been forgiven (Luke 6:27,28). Jesus was the perfect example. He forgave those who put Him on the very cross that He died on. The Bible does not instruct us to make our enemies our friends, it only says to love them. 

Love forgives and when we do that, we make room for peace.

When we also let go of bitterness and jealousy, we make peace in our own minds for ourselves. The opposite of peace is war. We truly wage war by holding onto things that do not belong to us. Sins of envy and roots of bitterness or pride can truly entangle the mind in spiritual warfare. There is anything but peace to the person who chooses to fill themselves with these kinds of things. Peace comes when we accept the fact that these are tools of the enemy to infiltrate our minds and we reject and renounce them before they reek havoc in our spirits. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Renovate your heart and mind by evicting any other spirits that are in operation in your life so that you can experience the freedom that peace can bring. 

Peace is in Christ alone.

When Sin Infects your Peace

Germs! I hate them. Yet they are everywhere. I am that girl that actually uses the little wipes they give you to cleanse the handles of your grocery shopping cart. Do you have any idea how many people have touched that??

If you could look through a microscope and see all the dangers around you, I bet you would want to curl up in a ball and live in a bubble. My first microbiology class for nursing school made us all squirm and itch. The germs are among us. Forget the five-second rule! You know that one that you claim when a bit of your favorite food falls on the bacteria-infested, feet-trodden surface that we call the floor? Yup....that rule.

The risks that we take breathing the same air on an elevator are unfathomable! I am especially leery of the folks that like to talk right. in. your. FACE, or those who may not wash their hands after they cover a sneeze. It's a scary world out here. We must beware!

Now...we could live in a bubble and in fear of every microscopic terror, or we could do the opposite and ignore the impending infections waiting to kill. OR....we could live life in a balance.

Sin is like that.

It is ever present because we are born into it. Adam and Eve, two imperfect people like ourselves were created with the inclination to disobey God. If we say that we have no germs.... I mean, never sin...then we lie. We deceive ourselves. (I John 1:10)

We cannot escape the fact that we are prone to sin because we are born with flesh. We cannot deny it, so we must be delivered from it.

As a nurse, I have seen germs at work in a body. They are sneaky critters that like to grow in dark, wet places as well as in plain sight like mold and fungus. All infections and infestations start small and seemingly insignificant, but eventually they make their presence known. Think about the word DIS-EASE. It removes comfort, rest and PEACE! The body is thrown into a cycle of war within. Your equilibrium is off. Your homeostasis is off-kilter. There is no rest until the substance that has entered is removed or annihilated.

Sin is a disease, but Jesus is the Cure!

When we are ill, we see a doctor right? The dis-ease is sometimes physical, sometimes mental or spiritual. Where there is a lack of peace, we can often diagnose sin. Our guilt will take a hold of our hearts and rip us apart from the inside out. Sin will destroy relationships with everyone you care about. It will make you look horrible and sick. It will not allow you to hold onto other things that are holy and righteous, you will abort them. Then it multiplies.

No one is safe with sin in their lives. It is a killer. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. (Romans 6:23)

Unlike anything else, Jesus can make you completely whole, healed and at peace. Whatever turmoil you may be experiencing is nothing that the Great Physician has not seen before. Let him be your cure.

Peace at all costs

What would you pay for perfect peace?

If you could have perfect peace about your relationship, your money, the kids, your job, what would that look like. Nevermind that it seems impossible. What if it were? What would your life look like then?

We strive for peace (like a good vacation will fix our lives), but to no avail. Well at least I did. Work hard now and I will have peace later. Hustle now, retire then.

But what about NOW?

One thing that I am learning about as we got through this study about peace is this....peace is not for later, it is for right now, your current situation. You may be thinking "How is that even possible? There is so much chaos all around me!". It is true that lives will toss and turn us, but let me share with you the secret of peace. Here it is....

The Lord keeps those in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on Him because he trusts in Him. Isaiah 26:3

Let's look at this verse closely.

The Lord keeps - The first thing I notice in this verse is that I can breathe a sigh of relief because God is the keeper of my peace, not me. He brings it and He sustains it. It is not something that I can "muser up" on my own.

Perfect peace - What we think of as perfect may not be perfect at all. You may think that a little extra cash will bring you the peace you desire. Or maybe if your spouse was more romantic and less critical you would have peace then. No. This is a peace that come directly from the Prince of Peace. It can not be manufactured by human willpower.

Minds are stayed because we trust - Just because you think about God (mind stayed on Him) does not mean that peace is automatic. Read the entire verse in context. Sometimes the truth is that we just do not trust God with our issues. It's too big and too much. You need to know that it is our trust that leads to our continual meditation of the One who brings us peace.

So even if life is topsy-turvy or feels like a cyclone has hit, we have the power to maintain our peace by trusting in God. The mind is a very powerful thing. Learning to wield it and place it under the authority of God can change your life!

By realizing that we have the ability to stay calm in a storm, or bring our thoughts under subjection, we destroy the power of the enemy to steal our peace.

It doesn't make sense to have peace when everything else tells you that you should be at war, but I want to encourage you that it is attainable, possible and readily available. Don't trust me on this, trust God!

Anointed Devotions

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