Can There Be Peace?

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why, why can’t I have any peace?”, and then turned right around answering, “I pray, I go to Church, I read the Bible, I lead a good life… So why am I suffering?”

Here is the place where we need a definition; Peace is the accord between God and Man that Jesus’ atonement delivered.

Ephesians 2:14-18 “For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

We can fill books with specific elements of Peace, but we will keep this reflection to just a few points.

With the Peace of the Lord, we have, or at least we strive for, the complete acceptance of all things, such as suffering & pain, physical, mental and spiritual loss, hurt, to the point that these things no longer occupy our every moment. Of course this does not mean if a snake is biting your arm, you don’t get that thing off of you and then go get medical treatment. This is about responding to that which is outside of the normal. Such as, the evil voices both inside our mind and outside from others telling us lies, desiring our destruction. We are a work in progress, a Holy Work in progress and so our perfection does not come while we are here, but in Heaven… while here though, we strive, we work, we pray, we refrain from beating ourselves up for perhaps not being ‘Holy’ enough! Hogwash! Be the “Holy Work in Motion” and don’t give up.

Peace is truly the absolute Faith in God and His promises. And that is, the belief that we are His children and destined to return home to Heaven one day.

Is Peace beyond reach? No it’s not!

Even the Apostles had to learn from Jesus, and so, we need to as well! One of their lessons is from Mark 4:35-41:

“Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them, just as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” 41 And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”.

From that Scripture we learn as Jesus simply lays it before us all, have Faith and we have no reason to Fear! Peace will be upon us! And we will be able to share that Faith and Peace with others.

And so, are you really using Faith to engage in the Battle, or just grabbing ahold of any oar within reach to physically paddle out of the storm? It’s this struggle between resisting physical calamities with a physical response, or rationally responding with Spiritual Faith. We must engage our intellect over our emotions when we respond to physical or spiritual upheavals.

The Peace we’re speaking of here is beyond understanding of course, but it’s not beyond receiving. Even folks who don’t know how oxygen is made can still breath it in! We certainly don’t need to be Theologians or have a Phd. to have Peace. God offers us the Grace of Peace if we only seek and ask…

If we limit ourselves to the temporal, the physical, touchable, seeable, hearable, even the smellable, then we will not be in Peace. The Trinity is where we must keep our spiritual eyes focused.

As Peter found out when he took his eyes off the Lord in Matthew 14:25-32:

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 ¶ But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately he spoke to them, saying, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.”

28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” 29  He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; 30 but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.”

Notice the words, “afraid”, “Little faith”, “doubt”? Peter was walking on water! WHAT?!!? This is a miracle! But as soon as the fear came upon him through doubt, he sank… it seemingly was his little faith that did him in. And it is with many of us that these same things play a pivotal role in our daily life, afraid, little faith, doubt. That’s what we need to work on before, during and after our daily battles. Read, Pray, Learn, Practice the Faith and subsequently, faith will grow…

God made a promise and has sent one to teach us, just as Jesus is quoted in John 14:26-27 stating:

“But the Counselor, 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 have 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. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

The Truth, the answer, is that many of us do not yet know the Peace of Christ; who is the Prince of Peace. But we can start now! It never too late… don’t believe any lie that it’s too late! Just start. We “let” our hearts be troubled and we “let” our hearts be aftraid!

Can our hearts not be troubled? Can there really be no anxiety and no fear… that is something we will experience fully and eternally only in Heaven. But for here, in this temporal place, we are called to seek such at all times; in good and bad. Learn how to do battle! Train in the Faith, practice the Faith, proclaim the Faith.

It must be through Him and with Him and in Him… not by our will alone, nor our actions. We must seek the Lord at all times and be obedient.

Without doubt, we will experience suffering, but we can endure, persevere and even be Joyful when we are in that Faith filled place of sure and certain Hope that our Salvation is True in Christ Jesus.

When we search our hearts, the answer is within… let’s spell it out as in the Scripture Jeremiah 31:33-34:

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The Scripture from John 14 also spoke of the “heart” like Jeremiah does… it’s in our heart already just what God is! If we only search our hearts, listen to our hearts, let God be our heart, follow God.

Repent and be saved, forgive where there needs to be forgiveness, including oneself, seek forgiveness from the Lord and leave sin behind… that is what destroys any possible peace.

This is Truth, in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

But, what does that mean? Simply that God the Father has sent Jesus, (Truth), who gave His life to open the Gates of heaven to all who come to Him (Truth)… salvation is not in this world, it’s not from this world, it’s from God and through the acceptance and recognition of such, we attain “Peace” that is beyond all understanding. We are able to walk through the unbearable torments & physical storms, we are able to withstand the mighty vile blows of demons, we are able to place our trust in the eternal salvation that is ours through Faith and Obedience to the Trinity.

I’m not going to mislead y’all, complete “Peace” will never happen here. We are in this transitional stage of temporal earthly body/spirit, to one day entering into our eternal body, to either be united to the Trinity or completely disconnected from God and be in Hell. This “Peace” is fully received / recognized once we arrive in Heaven and are fully united with the Trinity. But, we can begin to receive that Peace here on earth as we come closer to God! He is waiting for us to say “Yes” to Him. So go ahead and say it right now, “Yes God, I am Yours’!”.

When you are with the Lord Jesus Christ, it is possible to be at “Peace” even in the most terrible “Battle”, the worst storm, the heaviest threats… because Jesus will help you through it all and because you know that your eternity shall be with Him in heaven.

You are not alone!