From vacations, to religions, to drugs and so on, many look for peace in various ways, and any peace they find might not be lasting. What each of us need is the true peace of God. Let us see what the Holy Bible says about getting and keeping the true peace of God.

Looking at what goes on throughout the world it seems very few people have peace and the ones that do find out too often their peace is fragile and temporary. Sadly, what most do not know or understand is true peace can only come from God through Christ. Jesus spoke about peace on a number of occasions like the one recorded in John 14:23 - 31 which is as follows:

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. 25 These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. 28 You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. 30 I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; 31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.”

It is important to note that when Christ says “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” He is speaking to His disciples. The whole counsel of the written Word of God points to the fact that real lasting peace can only be had in God. With that, let us explore five precious principles to get, grow, and keep the peace of God, which may be partly described as a supernatural calmness and assurance despite any earthly circumstances we may face whether they be external or personal.

I. Make Peace With God Through Christ - Romans 5:1

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

It has been said that before we even begin to have the peace of God we must make peace with God. Because we were born sinners the wrath of God was upon us and we faced eternal damnation. The Word of God is clear we cannot justify ourselves in any way, including doing good works. And because God requires perfection (Matthew 5:48), we must not think that God is going to grade anyone on “the curve”.

The righteous demands of the righteousness of God must be met. These righteous demands were fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17 and 10:4). Jesus Christ took our place on the cross and therefore fully paid our penalty for us (Romans 8:3, 2 Corinthians 5:21). To be saved from the wrath of God (both present and eternal) by faith alone we must trust in the finished work of Christ and surrender our lives to Him.

Here, I would like to mention what I personally experienced when I came to Christ. With the world as it was, my parents not knowing God through Christ, and my own trouble that I had caused by the age of sixteen, I was devoid of any true peace and very fearful of many things. To this day I thank God today’s psychological medicines and therapies were not available, otherwise I probably would have been medicated, perhaps making it more difficult for me to fully accept the Gospel of Christ.

Of the three bothersome areas I have just mentioned the most bothersome to me was the trouble I had caused. When I was a preteen I felt that I had horribly disappointed my parents when I was brought home by a juvenile detective after repeatedly braking the law. It was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me. I felt I could not eat meals with my family. I thought everyone knew what I did. I actually did think there was some physical indicator on me that I could not see but others did see, and knew I was scum. I went from nearly straight “A’s” to borderline failing in school.

I would like to write in detail about my darkest days because I think there are some young people that are going through similar things, but my busy schedule forbids me to write at length. There were numerous other things I had done wrong, especially stealing. All of this and more brought a heavy level of guilt. Add to the guilt despair and fear and you might see why I tried killing myself one December night in 1969. After I “chickened out”, I turned my Dad’s car around thinking that I was a failure and I would always be a failure.

I related in a previous article {1} how and why I came to surrender my life to God through Christ. By faith I believed on the Word of God I had heard through Billy Graham and what I read in Gospel tracts, and I placed my trust in Jesus Christ. The moment I did I knew all I had done wrong was forgiven by God. An initial level of the peace of God had entered me, because the Prince Of Peace {2} had taken up residence within. But, like for everyone else, turbulent times were ahead for me. I had to grow in Him for continued and increased peace. I had to practice these other precious principles of peace.

II. Love The Law Of God - Psalm 119:165

“Those who love Your law have great peace, 
And nothing causes them to stumble.”

The context and the whole counsel of the written Word of God would point to loving only God’s law. We are to obey the laws of our families and governments, but not when they contradict, minimize, or circumvent God’s law.

The Holy Bible is the written law of God. The law of God is alive in each disciple because of the indwelling of Christ. The Holy Spirit will speak the law of God to us. All directives that we sense are to be evaluated on the written law of God.

“Your law” in verse 165 refers to the written law of God. At that time it was just the Old Testament. We now have both the Old and New Testaments, and we should learn to love every bit of it. When Christ came into my life I was delighted to know that the Holy Bible then came alive. No longer did I have to wonder whether certain things were right or wrong. As a young person, I now had the true “rule book” for my interactions with young ladies. I had solid directives for what to do about my enemies. I had everything I needed to know in order to live in peace with God.

I had a little trouble at first with the Old Testament. Genesis was okay, but I had trouble reading about the Jewish Law, their history, their poetry, and many of the mysterious sayings of their prophets. But I had repeatedly heard I should read, study, and love the whole Holy Bible. So, I asked God to help me. By His grace I put “feet on my prayers” and bought a book by Henrietta Mears about the Old Testament. Then, when I went for training at Northeast Bible Institute in Green Lane, Pennsylvania, I was blessed to have brother Walter Beuttler for some of my classes. He use a lot of Holy Scripture from the Old Testament and had many great insights on its passages.

We are to love the law of God supremely, above all laws. In loving the law of God we should read it, study it, memorize portions of it, and live it. It ought to be our ultimate authority. Make sure, though, you have a pretty good translation. I have written an article about that {3}, but there are numerous new translations and versions which I have not looked into. Compare whatever you have with the ancient languages. BlueletterBible.org has some tools to help us with that.

Note well, if we love the law of God we have great (abundant peace). Christ’s disciple will discover His abundant peace gets even more abundant as we grow in Him. We learn of God, Who trains us to live godly. As long as we truly love God and love His law, including loving it so much we delight to do it, we will not stumble, fall into sin.

III. Obey God - Isaiah 48:18

“Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
        Then your peace would have been like a river,
        And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” --  ESV

As noted, when we really love the law of God we will do it because we love the Author, God. Sadly, some people do not really listen to God to begin with. Here I must think of a man who refused to turn off his cell phone in church. His daughter’s welfare was almost constantly on his mind, and not the glory of God. Today he no longer lives for God.

By contrast, though, I have seen a few that have listened to God, loved His law, and obeyed it. Despite troubles they do have His peace that flows like a river. The flowing of the river implies life that brings forth fruit, not just for the believer, but for those that come in contact with him and desire that fruit.

Obeying God through Christ helps us to spiritually grow. We become spiritually stronger over time in Him. By His ability we will be able to withstand the waves of the tumultuous sea of the world because our righteousness from Him will be like the waves of the sea of humanity in strength, and even stronger!

To obey God will often mean to disobey the world. Two verses away, at verse 20 we read, “Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this, Send it out to the end of the earth;  Say, ‘YHVH (The Existing One) has redeemed His servant Jacob.’” Babylon means “confusion” {4}, which is a fitting description of the world with its various sets of rules that fluctuate for various reasons. When we come to the law of God, love it, and obey it, the confusion stops.

Every disciple needs to heed well what Jesus said as recorded in John 14:23-24: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me."

IV. Depend Upon God - Philippians 4:6-7

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

“Be anxious for nothing” speaks to us that we are to trust God as our Father Who will provide for us according to His will for His glory. “But in everything” means surrendering every aspect of our life to God every moment. “Prayer” is distinguished from “supplication” because prayer basically is to fellowship with God, speaking with Him as our friend, and listening to Him.

“Supplication” is asking God. Though God already knows what we are going to ask, we are told by His Word to ask. This encourages more faith and fellowship with Him in our lives. Our requests are to be made primarily with God, and there are many times we need to be very cautious about mentioning our requests to others.

Now, a real key to having peace with this dependency upon God is “thanksgiving”. For our focused times with God it is good to come before Him with thanksgiving, to thank Him while we have fellowship with Him, thank Him while we present our requests, and thank Him as we end the focused time with Him. In many ways and at many times thanksgiving will naturally flow into praise and worship. And though I have just referred to our focused times with Him, we should fellowship with Him to a degree constantly, which would include a constant attitude of thankfulness to God within ourselves.

As we do these things God’s peace will do three things. First, it will really be outstanding, something the unsaved will (or should) notice, because it will pass all understanding. The Greek carries the idea of standing out, rising above, going over the top. What a great testimony it is when a Christian by the grace of God demonstrates solid, joyful peace during a calamity in their life, even to the greatest magnitude. And, it does not have to take a calamity. Just having the peace of God during the common trouble of this life is also a great testimony and can draw many to Christ.

The other two are the peace of God will guard our hearts, and it will guard our minds. I think of our very spirit when I read the word “heart” in passages like this. I have described the personal human spirit as the real spiritual “you” or “me”. It is what matters most. It is where our primary will resides. However, it is greatly influenced by our minds which analyzes and appraises situations. If we think like a basic human we are certainly in trouble, but if we have the mind of Christ we are saved.

A passage using the wording in the Authorized Version brings out the tedious relationship between heart and mind for an unsaved person when it comes to the end times of Age of the Gentiles. Jesus says in Luke 21:26, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” As I write this the country I live in, the United States, is facing an opioid crisis. I can see why. If I, as a teenager, was very afraid of what was happening in the 1960s how much more for some people today when we live in a world that is much more dangerous, along with the fact that many moral precepts have been reversed by our sinful society?

So, there is a whole lot to pray about. But if we are truly saved in Christ and  faithfully follow verse six the blessings of verse seven will develop. Though satan {5}, the world, and self would try to unnerve us and pry us away from God, if we go to Him and fully trust Him as described in verse six God’s peace will be in us and will help us to endure to the end.

V. Walk In (Live By) The Holy Spirit - Galatians 5:16-17, 22-25

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another."

We see in verse 22 that peace is mentioned third in this list of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The context (the other verses I have supplied) indicate we must be walking in (living by) His Spirit. This means we first need to be redeemed by God through Christ. With Christ within we can truly know His written Word. We can also hear His Spirit speaking to our hearts in various situations.

Essentially we have already covered this principle in our previous message, “End The War” {6}. We must listen to God and not to ourselves or anything else. It is written in Romans 8:5-6, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Walking in the Spirit primarily means letting God direct our lives through Christ within. With Christ within we will surely learn the peace of God because Christ is the Prince of Peace {2}. Jesus Himself said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

And I do believe that when He said (John 14:30b) “the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me” that He just did not only mean for those days as He went to cross, but He also meant for our time. The main point is, though, satan has nothing in Christ. There is nothing in Christ that pulls Christ to sin and therefore the accuser of the brothers cannot accuse Him. Therefore, if we live in Christ, daily denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Him then satan is unable to accuse us.

Walking in the Spirit means to listen to Him. Jesus said in John 14:26, “the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” And, obeying Christ within will bring us the peace of God, for Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Notes:

{1} Please see “Justice. Judgment. Jesus!” at https://newsandsociety.expertscolumn.com/justice-judgment-jesus .

 

{2} Please read Prince Of Peace at http://newsandsociety.expertscolumn.com/prince-of-peace .

 

{3} Please refer to Holy Bibles Good And Bad at http://thesureword.expertscolumn.com/article/holy-bibles-good-and-bad .

 

{4} From an electronic version of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong incorporated in the Online Bible program, and so throughout the article whenever the ancient language is referred to and no other authority is cited.

{5} Not capitalized on purpose. Experts Column gives me the freedom to express myself in that way.

 

{6} Please read End The War at https://newsandsociety.expertscolumn.com/end-the-war .

 

   This article was written in the form of a sermon (message) outline with comments. God willing by March 8, 2018 (hopefully much sooner), you should be able to hear the actual message (sermon) by selecting a link at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M486 .

   Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the New American Standard Bible changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates and adding “(The Existing One)” to readily express the meaning of His Name without making repeated explanations in articles. * = For other versions the spelling of some words is updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates.

   Not responsible for any advertisements appearing with this article nor am I necessarily in agreement with any of them. The statements of this paragraph hold true not only for this article, but for everything I have placed on the Internet.