Peace on Earth (Part 2)

Last week I shared about peace with God and peace within. Click HERE to catch up.

Third is peace with others. Peace with others can only come after we have done the first two. It comes when we shift our focus from others - in comparison and judgement - to God.

Imagine looking straight up to the ceiling. How much can you see around you? Not much. Your focus is on the ceiling and not on anything else. If we want to know what's going on around us we need to ask questions of the One Who can see clearly. 

When we look at others we interpret their actions and motives through our own filter. But when we look to God we can ask Him about their actions and motives. He can tell us what we need to know and how we can help. I'm not saying don't see people, I am saying don't filter what you see through your own eyes. Filter it through His. It's a beautiful, peaceful difference.

In all of this the inevitable result of the Prince of Peace's coming is conflict. Jesus said in Matthew 10:6,

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword."

It seems to contradict but it doesn't. He didn't come to bring peace as the world expects. He's bringing Shalom - the fullness of life enjoyed in complete security. 

And the enemy hates it. The Prince of Peace interrupts the enemy's plan and he will not give up easily. Therefore there is conflict between Christ and Satan, light and darkness...

Satan comes to destroy peace with God, peace within and peace with others. In the garden he said to Eve "Did God really say?" (peace with God), "Surely you won't die" (peace within), and when God asked Adam and Eve what happened they responded with "She gave it to me" "The serpent said..." (peace with others). He presents us with a false peace, one without struggle or strife, one where we can have things our way. It's a lie.

Jesus came to disrupt the false peace and bring real, authentic peace. He says in John 16:33,

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

He knew that real peace didn't come from the world but in relationship with Him - the One Who overcame it.

It's a peace that says I am secure even in the midst of _________ (fear, disappointment, confusion...).

Jesus faced the cross for us, not with fear and doubt, but with peaceful courage. He surrendered His will in the garden of Gethsemane and showed us that it can be done. He walked the hill of Calvary while being mocked and spat upon and some of His final words were forgive them. He is the example and embodiment of the Peace of God that surpasses all understanding. 

Peace on Earth can be experienced with the Prince of Peace. Won't you let Him show you how?

Peace on Earth (Part 1)

"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

Peace seems like a fairy tale. Especially when you turn on the news and read about the violence against all of humanity, all over the world. 

But then I turn on Christmas music and quickly I hear "peace on earth, goodwill to men." 

What is it about Christmas that makes us think of peace? I believe it's because the Prince of Peace came to earth and because of that, peace is truly possible.

In America the term peace is clearly connected with the absence of war. But the Bible describes peace (Shalom) as more than the absence of conflict  - it is the fullness of life enjoyed in complete security.

I want that! Is that even possible? Peace on earth? How can we experience the peace of God while living in this world full of war?

First off, it's impossible to have the Peace of God without first having peace with God. At the beginning of the world, peace with God was broken in the Garden of Eden. BUT with the coming of the Messiah, Immanuel (God with us), his life, death and resurrection paid the way for us to be reconciled with God again. We can have peace with God because of Jesus.


The world's peace - what it is trying to sell us - depends on other's behavior. I can say from experience that when my peace depends on how others behave I am always disappointed. We are all selfish creatures and can often have the attitude of "when others agree with me or do what I want, things will be better". Yeah. That's not gonna work.

God's peace depends on Him. He is faithful. So if we are reconciled to Him  - have peace with Him, we are one huge step closer to the peace of God invading our lives.

Second is peace within. This is possible when we stop fighting for control of our lives and circumstances and surrender to God. When we trust His plans for us. When we lay ourselves down so that He may be glorified in us. When we put aside our plans for His (something Mary and Joseph did!). 

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit and this means that we can't manufacture real, authentic peace without Him. We can have the illusion of peace from the outside but on the inside we are tied up in knots trying to make sure that people and circumstances continue to look and behave how we think they should. What a mess! Surrender seems scary but it is freedom and peace.


Part 2 next week

In All Circumstances

By Esther Belin

 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  ~ 1 Thess. 5:16-18 NIV

During a recent season of practicing this verse, I started reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. This book was the perfect companion to this season because I was drawn to examine my circumstances. Corrie hid Jewish people in her home during World War II and later became a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. She lived in daily dread and constant pressure, yet she allowed her circumstances to reveal God’s power regardless of the times she had no idea how she was going to do what needed to be done. I have read several secular texts about the Jewish concentration camps that were grueling to read because they tended to focus on the evil of humanity (sin). Oddly, her memoir was a blessing to me because of her perspective to glorify God – which many times was prompted by her sister, Betsie. Rather than focusing on each set back, each moment of injustice, the sisters focused on God’s power for daily existence – truly living out 1 Thess. 5:16-18 – by being joyful always, praying continually and giving thanks in all circumstances.

This command is simple yet requires a consistent posture, an intentional effort to make fine-tune adjustments in order to hear from God so that you may do His will. I have the luxury of so many choices, so many ways to worship God/not worship God, to be focused/to be distracted. While I enjoy my freedom to choose, I also allow that freedom to become an agent for the enemy. I am ashamed to reveal how I reposition God to fit my choices. The result is an entanglement of exhaustive busyness – a “chasing after the wind” (Ecc. 1:14). The choice to follow Him requires a keen awareness to the tension needed for stretching my spiritual muscles. When I am “chasing after the wind” – my choice is to forego stretching and sag toward complacency, waywardness.

I am in wonderment of the delicate nature of being in God’s will. At one point in the book, Corrie and Betsie prayed a simple prayer giving thanks for their latest living quarters that included a swarm of fleas! At the time, Corrie’s heart was troubled to give thanks for a flea infestation, but she obeyed God’s command. Later, Corrie revealed how that horrible flea infestation created hours of opportunity to freely witness to others since their work station was so badly infested that even the guards dare not enter. While she and Betsie enjoyed a work detail free from the harsh watch of guards, they also were constantly flea-bitten! During this time of constant spiritual stretching, they were continually praying, giving thanks in all circumstances. The practice of continually exercising their spiritual muscles tapped them into Christ’s power to endure the emotional and physical torture.  

As Christ followers, I know we are not promised a life of ease; we are however able to stand on Christ’s promises – of new life, of provision, of perfect timing. I have been in the cycle of the whirl – chasing the wind – seeking a formula rather than seeking the One who can rescue me from this cycle. 

Corrie’s story is fantastical not because of the suffering but because of God’s presence in the midst of her suffering. Staying in the presence of God is doable yet when His presence involves long-suffering, meekness and temperance, I tend to seek more desirable fruits of the Spirit. I want the love, joy, peace. I want to pick my own basket of fruit! O, how I stumble – O, how I seek shelter under God’s veil of mercy. I tell God that I am His servant yet I balk and tug at the first sign of arduous tasks; I resist eating fruits of patience and self-control. I resist God’s sovereignty as the master gardener – the One who prunes, the One who holds the blueprints of my purpose.  

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit  he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2).  

When doing a word study on this verse, I meditated on the difference between cutting off branches and pruning branches. The cutting off is generally done to branches that are withered and already dead perhaps never reaching their full potential. They are cut off from the vine to allow the remaining branches to bear fruit. Pruning is done to healthy fruit-bearing branches in order to continue the process of bearing more fruit. Both scenarios are part of the master gardener’s plan and both scenarios are painful.

Dear Readers, now when fruits of long-suffering, meekness and temperance are served to me, I fondly think of Corrie and Betsie – sweet sisters in Christ who I am looking forward to meeting one day in heaven – and quiet my soul to be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.

What do you focus on during the process of pruning and cutting? Are you tempted to "pick your own fruit"?