Got Peace?
What do you think of when you think of peace? I recently took a poll and received answers such as the beach, water, a dove, or calmness. If you look up the word peace in the dictionary, you will read, an occurrence of harmony characterized by a lack of violence or conflict; no war or fighting; absence of hostility.
I don’t know about you, but I hear about or see violence, conflict, war, fighting and hostility on a daily basis. So then, you may ask yourself, is there such a thing as peace in the world we live in today?
I want to take you back to a story found in Judges 6. The Israelites have been in the hand of Midian for seven years. Israel has lost everything due to their evil behavior and disobedience to the Lord. The Midianites have taken their animals and food. They finally decide to cry out to the Lord for help and an angel appears to Gideon as he threshes wheat in hiding. “The Lord is with you mighty man of valor!”
Gideon begans to question, asking why has all of this happened and where are all His miracles. Despite his questioning and debating with the Lord about his clan being the weakest and him being the least in his father’s house, the Lord said to Gideon, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”
Later on in vs 23, the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” vs 24 says, So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace, which means Yahweh Shalom. Yahweh is a form of the Hebrew name for God and shalom means wholeness, security, well-being, prosperity, peace and friendship. So, Gideon in his questioning, fear, and inferiority, found that God is peace.
Let’s move on to Isaiah 9:6– “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given and the government will be upon His shoulder and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
We just learned that God is peace, now we see that when Isaiah prophesied the birth of God’s Son, Jesus, he said He would be called the Prince of Peace! God is peace, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, sounds like someone knew this world was gonna need some peace.
Have you ever found yourself in a storm literal or spiritual and you felt like Jesus was asleep? The disciples were there in Mark 4:35-41. A storm had arose and their boat was filling with water, while Jesus was asleep on a pillow in the stern.
Let me pause here. If you could draw peace, I believe this would be it, Jesus sleeping calmly while a violent storm rages, the disciples are in conflict trying to get the water out of the boat and are becoming hostile towards Jesus for sleeping. vs 38 “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then, the Peacespeaker arises, rebukes the wind and says to the sea, vs 39 “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 
You may be reading this blog and wondering, how can I have peace and will this same Peacespeaker show up in my situation? Well, I am glad you asked. I want to give you seven ideas to help you when you are having a hard time finding peace.
#1 Have you made peace with God? Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified (declared righteous and given a right standing with God) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Is there anything standing in the way of your relationship of God? Repent of it and turn back to God, receive His peace.
#2 Walk in the Spirit- Galatians 5:16-23 Are you walking in the spirit which will produce peace or are you walking in the flesh which produces turmoil? When you accept Jesus into your life, the fruit of the spirit will be inside of you. When you walk in the spirit, He will help the fruit (peace) grow.
#3 Put your armor on- Ephesians 6:11-15 Put on peace each morning. Joyce Meyer says, “no peace, no power.” If we are walking in the flesh, living in turmoil, fear, worry, anxiety, then we have no power over the devil. The devil sets us up to get us upset. We need to know ourselves better, know what steals our peace, and put our armor on every day, so that we can live peaceful, victorious lives!
#4 Purse Peace- Psalm 34:14 “Depart from evil (turmoil) and do good, seek peace and pursue it.” Pursue means to follow in order to catch. Go after peace, it is yours, decide to be at peace.
#5 Trust God- Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts You.” God gives a promise but we have to do our part. He promises perfect peace, doesn’t get much better than that. We have to keep our mind on Him and trust Him. If you have lost your peace, examine your thought life, then ask yourself if you have been trusting God with everything.
#6 Pray- Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be make known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.” When we stop being anxious and pray about everything, then God’s peace will guard our heart and mind. Once again, God gives a promise, but are we doing our part? 
#7 Get rid of fear- II Timothy 1:7 ” For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.” I believe fear is one of satan’s greatest weapons he uses to steal our peace. Remember, fear is not from God. Rebuke satan and his lies and speak God’s word over your life. He has given you power, love and a sound mind.
Do not let the enemy steal what Christ died to give you. Isaiah 53:5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
Jesus knew 2,000 years ago that one of our greatest needs would be peace, so He took the punishment to get it. What a thought, what a Savior!
So, is there peace in the world we live in today? The Peacespeaker says in John 16:33, “This thing 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.”
Let’s run our race with endurance… Focusing on Jesus, THE CHAMPION of our Faith Run
