How to grow Peace

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:7)

We are promised peace a lot in the Bible, but are we told how to get it?

Yes.  Have a look at this verse, and see if you can spot the important word here…

…AND

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This verse is not just a promise of peace, but shows us that the verses that come before it must give some clue as to how to grow peace.  It is a promise that if we do what comes before, we will have peace.

So I guess we better look at this passage a little closer.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
(Philippians 4:4-9)

So what do we need to do?

• Set our mind on God.
• Read, prayer, meditate on his Word. 
• Focus our mind on Spiritual things.

If we do this, then the peace of God will be ours, and the God of peace will be with us every step of the way.

Peace with…

God’s peace, the fruit of the Spirit, is different from the world’s peace.  It involves more than the absence of conflict or fear, it involves three positive forms of Peace.

Peace with God.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:1-11

 

Peace with Man.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Ephesians 2:14-18

 

Peace with Self.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7

God’s Peace

God is all about peace.  Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  Peace is a huge attribute of God, and our relationship with Him.

So what does it mean to have God’s Peace.

God is always at peace, because:

• He knows that the world is going according to His plan.
• He knows who is in control of everything.
• He knows who He is, and does not try to be something He is not.
• He knows that as bad as things appear, He is always close to His people.

Having the Spiritual Fruit of Peace requires us to have faith in the same thing.  To take on this certainty of God, and make it our own, through the prompting and promise of Holy Spirit

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27

We are told that the peace we have when we are in the Spirit is not the World’s peace, which is dependant on circumstances; but God’s peace which is dependant on our faith, and doing what we are taught.  We are not told that we will not be troubled or afraid, we are told not to be troubled or afraid. 

God’s peace is not the world’s peace.

It is better, because nobody can take it away from us.

Peace is…

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, …
(Galatians 5:22)

What is peace?

We often think of peace in the negative sense.  For instance as being the absence of conflict, or not being in turmoil.

But the Bible talks about peace as being a positive thing.  It connect peace with spiritual fruit, and in fact the New Testament is full of promises of peace, yet also promises of conflict.  So we need to look at peace as being more than just quiet.  (Jesus told us we will face struggles and persecution, but he also told us he left us his peace.)

I think spiritual peace is closely connected to faith.  Without faith, we have no peace.  With no peace, our faith is meaningless.

Over the next few days we will look at this in more details.

Day 34 - Peace

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. (Romans 14:19-20)

Lent is a very personal thing.  It is about our own relationship with our Lord.  Do you judge other people for their observance, or lack thereof?

Do you eat food around those who are fasting, or loudly refuse food at a meal when you are fasting? 

Do you silently condemn others for doing less than you, or nothing at all, or for their pride in their discipline?

Lent is about drawing closer to GOD, but don’t let us let it be a time for drawing further away from our brothers and sisters and fellow FISH.