Is it Peace?

My personal experience has been, from a very small child to the present, one of respect for those who sacrifice and fight in battles and wars in my behalf. I heard "stories" from my father of his father who fought in the Civil War. My sister did a great deal of research into the past generations of our family and wrote down many of the stories of their heroic deeds. There has not been a war our country has faced that I did not have an ancestor fighting in it. That makes me feel patriotic and protective of the flag that represents our country to the world. But I have a far greater allegiance to the King Who has made me a citizen of His Kingdom. The peace He won over the greatest battle ever fought, is the peace that rules my heart.

Peace can be a word or it can be an energy force. Our country has signed a "peace pact" after each war. But the Bible warns of "wars and rumors of wars" continuing until our King returns to this earth, and even that will be with a tremendous war with His victory assured.

We have a war going on in our own lives. Within us is "human nature" that wars with His divine nature. The only peace we can have is with full surrender. In studying the Word of God and seeing man's reaction to His Word and Covenant under which they lived, I see a pattern that men make. That pattern is consistent and is dual natured. Every man who gave to God the covenant response He was seeking, had a same reward. Every man who turned away from responding to a covenant demand had a same reward. God meets us when we turn our face to Him and He leaves us alone when we go our own way so we can learn what disobedience means. Now that picture is clear, and "fully developed," when we keep a consistency of obedience in our lives. But unfortunately, no matter how much we intend to follow Him absolutely, we learn best by our failures and not our triumphs. We, like Peter, have to learn the hard way. The honest photo album of our lives has pictures we wish we could destroy, but that is how we have come to this hour of our lives. Our repentance and response to God have formed us. What we are is how we will be judged by the One Who looks for the fruit of His likeness.

In this realm in which we live, we see varying truths in the words we use. After the first World War, a peace treaty was signed that would end all wars. The world went into a "party spirit" after that and forgot what war was all about. Peace became an illusion that refused any possibility of another war. Self-deception gave room for an enemy to prepare for war. I see Christians who do not recognize the enemy within and they let their human nature have a "party spirit" that does not recognize they are giving the enemy room to prepare destructive weapons to be used against them. Even Christians do not recognize the eternity of the soul. You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. Two of those elements will live on after you put aside the body to go back to the dust from which it was made.

When I am teaching children about this, I show them how important the soul is to their life by using the illustration of a transplant. If a person needs a new heart, the doctors can put into them a heart of a person killed in an accident. It will go on beating and giving life to another person who has a soul in their body. When God made Adam, He formed his body and organs of dust, but when He breathed into Adam's nostrils, Adam became a living soul. He could stand up and feel and see and hear. When the soul departs, none of these are possible in the body.

Why am I dwelling on this? What gives you pleasure now? What do you turn to when you need to relax and "enjoy" life? Is it the TV, a good meal, a cooling drink, or as to some, a smoke, a visit to the bar, a view of pornography, a book, a visit with friends? You see not all of these things we turn to are "bad" or useless. They are simply what our nature sees as "that was what I needed!" These "tastes" come from our soul. It is our soul that desires the way we "relax" or "wind down". If it were only our body, we would simply go to sleep. The everlasting part of you may desire things that will not be available in eternity. That soul will not find peace in eternity.

If you have trained your senses to find your comfort and peace in eternal things, you are becoming mature in the Lord. You discern what is good in eternity and what is passing and only of a temporal nature. You have trained your soul to desire what is good for you. You desire His Presence above anything else. Your soul delights in the Lord and longs for His fellowship. You will step out of this body doing what you love most and you will have all of eternity to do it. This awareness of eternity is missing in many Christians. The delight of worship (an eternal activity) is only known rarely and some never lose themselves in it. The book, Song of Solomon, is not in the Bible accidentally. It is the song of the Bridegroom and He yearns to hear it echoed in His Bride.

Why is this an emphasis in what seemed to be about war and peace? Everything around you in this realm is a parable of the unseen realm of spirit. If this realm and the things of this realm are more important to you than of His realm, you need a reality check. Is the peace you feel His peace or is it a lack of battle? Do you lose the sense of peace when things go "downhill"? Is worry, panic, fear and discouragement waiting outside your door to rush in when trouble opens the door? God's Covenant with us is not only when you feel "spiritual" or when you have a need. We live under the covering of being friends of God. That is covenant language. When you are "in covenant" with someone, you are "friends" with your covenant partner. It is a life commitment and goes on to your kids and their kids, and on and on.

John 14:27(NLT) “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid."

Romans 5:1(NLT)Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

Philippians 4:7(NLT)Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.