Possessed by Peace
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John 14:27; Luke 24:36-43; Isaiah 26:3-4
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.
I remember as a boy absolutely loving getting together with my extended family at Christmas. Grama and grampa, aunts and uncles, cousins. We would gather at my Uncle Mike and Aunt Shirely’s for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to celebrate. This did not happen too often as my mom, Ken and I lived up in High Level, 800 km north of Edmonton, a 12 hour drive from civilization. As I have reflected back on those times, I realize what made them so special besides being together, playing games, and watching the Pink Panther was the peace that seemed to exist during those times.
You see, I grew up in a home that did not have much peace. Quite often, the fights were loud and could get physical. Ken, my adopted dad, unbeknowest to me at the time, threw the knife block out the front door more than once. Problems were plenty. Eighteen percent mortgage rates, the National Energy Program, fried baloney and spam. Ken was fooling around with another woman and mom was spending money like it was water. We did not have any family up in High Level, so the only council and guidance for my mom and Ken were friends, work associates and fellow recovering alochohalics; AA.
We did not attend church, though my mom and dad did know the Catholic Priest in High Level, or he knew them, Father Robert Lesruerises, who they invited to Christmas Dinner on December 26, 1978 and presented our family with a Bible. I remember there being a peace with Father Robert that was foreign to my experience. That same peace I found residing with my Uncle Roy and Aunt Betty and my Grandpa and Grampa Zielsdorf as well (that’s why Christmas’ spent with my extended family were so special). And that is one of the reasons why I have, and had, always found myself drawn to my Uncle Roy and Aunt Betty and Grampa and Grama Zielsdorf…peace.
I am 50 now, half a century old (still a young buck compared to some of you). What I have found, is that peace can be easily lost, but hard to find, depending upon our orientation. We can lose peace, just as easy as spring turns to winter in April in Alberta. One moment we are basking in the heat of peace, the next freezing your tails off in bewilderment of a sudden storm. The question is: what is the makeup of that peace? Is it manmade or God-given?
Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
I am prone to the peacelessness that my mother suffered from. The truth is we all are. My mom tried to cover up her restlessness with ‘things’, possessions - money, husbands and friends. I am prone to seek refuge from restlessness, or peacelessness, in possessions as well as causes, declaring “There is the source of my disturbance.” The truth is the source of my disturbance is me. It’s allowing worry, anxiousness, distrust, doubt to sneak into my life one more time, one more minute, one more hour…once again. I lay awake at night, because I worry about tomorrow - bills, taxes, government decisions and the future for my daughters and families to come. The truth is I make poor decisions out of disobedience and distrust of the Lord. I don’t believe He has everything right. Ultimately, do I believe that He is good and has my best interests at heart? The disciples refused to believe Jesus would die, even though He plainly told them, three times. They refused to believe anything good could come from Jesus dying on the Cross. We refuse to believe that anything good can come from ourselves dying on the Cross.
This is why, we find the disciples stunned, afraid, overjoyed when He appears to them, even the third time, after the Resurrection and the events of the Crucifixion. Luke writes,
And as they were saying these things, He Himself stood among them. He said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. “Why are you troubled?” He asked them. “And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself! Touch Me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” Having said this, He showed them His hands and feet. But while they still were amazed and unbelieving because of their joy, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and He took it and ate in their presence.
Has there been good that has come when we have found ourselves on a cross God has placed us on? Has there ever been dross, or junk, in my life that I would not have dealt with unless God arranged it so? Good knows our doubts, our troubles, the ghosts that we know, see or think we see. So He eats a fish to calm our doubts, our fears, our hearts. He says, “I Am here, if only you will trust Me, see Me and believe in Me.” There are too many times when I fail to see the Lord in my circumstances, or trust Him with what is happening in the world around me. The disciples did not trust that Jesus knew what He was saying or doing, when He fortold them that He was going to Jerusalem to die. Peter wanted to stand in the way and was soundly rebuked by Jesus for doing the work of the Devil.
Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, be killed, and rise after three days. He was openly talking about this. So Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and looking at His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan, because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s!”
When we are faced with troubling circumstances, do we tend to think about our concerns or God’s concerns? With the trouble we are facing today, I see a lot of concern in my life as to what am I going to do, rather than what is God up to or going to do. Is there more concern in my life with what I am going to do, rather than what God is up to or going to do? Am I more concerned with what I am going to do because I have taken my eye of The Ball?
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Is my mind on Christ in troubling circumstances? To have one’s mind “stayed” upon the LORD is samak - to sustain; to lay or place something on a person or animal. To have perfect peace, total well-being, in times of trouble, my mind will be sustained in God, when I trust God. A mind trusting in God, will be sustained by God. I have no peace, because my mind is not focused on God.
“Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven.
Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and I do your commandments. My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly. I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.
The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity; he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.
Trust in God is formed by exercising faith. Faith is formed by believing in Jesus and the testimonies of His saints and His Word. I perish and lack peace because my nose is not in the Word, which testifies about the trustworthiness of God, of Jesus. When I know that I can trust God, I exercise faith and put trust into action. The disciples more than anything were desiring peace, all of Israel was looking for God’s blessing of peace (Ezekiel 34:25; 37:26). That peace was linked to the coming of the Messianic Kingdom and the promised Messiah, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6, Zech. 6:13). The problem was, Israel did not recognize Jesus as that Prince of Peace because He was not the king of war they expected! Jesus conquered the spiritual realm by sacrificing Himself in the physical realm securing peace between God and man.
Having secured peace between God and man, Jesus is the only One who can give the peace that man seeks in this world.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Interesting when Jesus appears amongest the disciples, locked away in a room because of their fear of the Jews, Jesus says, “Peace to you!” (Luke 24:36; John 20:26). What was Jesus saying with this greeting? “All is well”. Security, prosperity, total well-being to you because of your right relationship with God. The disciples believed and trusted in Jesus and now as a result of Jesus’ death and resurrection, his death for their sin, their souls are saved; our souls are saved if we trust and believe in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on the Cross. We stand justified in peace with God through Christ.
Jesus said,
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.
Peace is the possession of every believer today in Christ Jesus. As Romans 5:1 says again, “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is not to say we will not have trouble in this world, in fact Jesus says we will have trouble, because we believe in Him and follow Him, because of His name (John 16:33; Mark 13:13). But we are to live and have confidence (peace), in this world, because He has overcome the world (John 16:33).
You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Peace will never be fulfilled as long as we continue to look for peace in men and the things of men. Peace is only found in one man and one place. Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace.
The Lord gives His people strength; the Lord blesses His people with peace.
Renew your Peace
Believe in Jesus, trust Him and His Word (John 3:16-18).
Confess your sins (Isaiah 48:22; 57:21 - “There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.)
Read the Word daily and follow what God says (2 Timothy 3:16).
Pray constantly (Luke 8:1; Philippians 4:6).
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.