Peace is a Person

Scriptures: Psalms 46:10, Isaiah 9:6, Psalms 37:11, Matthew 1:23, Luke 24:36

Peace is a Person

Peace. The early morning silence after a snowstorm. You open your outer door and everything is hushed, blanketed with white. Peaceful—full of peace. You smile and your heart is calm. Yet when you turn back into your home, the kids are arguing, the kitchen is a mess and you may be wondering how your paycheck will cover all your expenses. Ugh. Now that sense of peace is gone. Why can’t my life be more like that pristine scene? 

We’re searching for a peaceful, calm, life protected from the chaos of our world, our work, and our family. A life where everything runs smoothly without interruption, without relational disputes. Calm. Peaceful. Still. 

“Be still.” It’s an instruction our parents commanded over and over as we fidgeted and somersaulted on laps and furniture and now we constantly repeat it to our own overly energetic children. “Be still and give me some peace! “Be still” is also a well known scripture in Psalm 46. “Be still and know that I am God.” 

From our parental training, we’ve been led to believe “be still” means sitting and waiting, hands folded, not moving, being quiet. Yet this word “still” in Psalm 46 doesn’t mean sitting down and doing nothing. The singular Hebrew word for “be still” is raphah, a verb meaning to let go, to relax, to release. To actively and purposefully let go of your expectations. To have expectancy for God to meet you in the chaos. To relax, knowing He sees you, is with you, and is in complete control of your situation. To release, giving your problems away to God, the only One big enough to take all the calamities of life and turn them into peace, His Peace. Because true and lasting peace is not a location or a feeling. Peace is a Person. 

God’s gift of peace is not for those fortunate, select few who get their lives together, (where are those people?). God’s plan is that everyone would accept His peace. Peace was the first attribute spoken of Him, the very first declaration of His life. Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests. Luke 2:14 NIV  

This proclamation could have been delivered to kings and leaders yet the heavenly announcement came to shepherds on a hillside, those some consider to be a lowly working class. I wonder if this could be a revelation of God’s message for peace? Maybe Peace is reserved for the most humble posture of a heart. 

Be still. Release. Relax. Peace—Immanuel—is with you. 

Scriptures: Isaiah 26:3, Jeremiah 9:24, Psalms 9:9-10, Mark 4:41, John 14:1, John 16:33

Trust Brings Peace

After a normal, long day of ministering and pouring out His life for others, Jesus told His disciples, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” (Mark 4, Matthew 8) He didn’t mention anything to them about a violent and sudden storm coming. Did He know? Maybe, maybe not. But does it really matter? Jesus had planned on some purposeful rest and He knew what to do in a storm. Exhausted, He fell asleep. 

Suddenly, a “ferocious tempest arose, with violent winds and waves that were crashing into the boat until it was all but swamped. But Jesus was calmly sleeping in the stern, resting on a cushion.” (TPT) I’m sure the disciples were drenched from the waves and torrential rain. Terrified, Peter rushes to Jesus and shakes him awake, “Teacher! Don’t You care that we’re going to die?” 

Jesus calms the storm with His words and presence. “Hush! Calm down.” He rebukes it in His native language—Peace—and the violent wind dies down and the raging sea is perfectly calm. 

In our own overwhelming circumstances, we often ask the same self-centered questions as the disciples: Don’t You even care? Don’t You see me with my needs and fears? Where are You, God? I’m about to die here! Why aren’t you moving in my situation? Are you asleep?

But Jesus asks us the same question He asked His men after calming the ferocious storm. “Why are you so afraid? Haven’t you learned to trust yet?” This is the bottom-line question: Why am I so afraid? Where is my trust? Has it been shifted because of my wrong thinking?

Mostly likely, yes. Most of our greatest storms will be fought in our minds.

Our peace and our responses will go the direction we allow our minds to take us. Our enemy uses every opportunity to steal our trust and sinisterly smiles when our thoughts carry us to the worst possible scenario. He meets us in the whys, the if-onlys, the should-haves. His desire is that we will make agreements with his loud, never-ending lies. God doesn’t see you. He doesn’t care. He abandoned you in your greatest need. Serves you right for making that choice. You are a lost cause! And if we agree with him, he wins.

Jesus never meets our storms with accusations. In love and gentleness, He asks a simple question: “Haven’t you learned to trust yet?”

Trust is never easy because it involves risk. Trust is my willingness to be vulnerable to your actions and intentions. Forty-six years ago, I took a risk on a man and vowed to trust him with my heart. His faithfulness to me all these years, even in the hardest times, makes me feel safe and secure and gives me peace. I don’t question his intentions. I trust him because I know him. 

This is also true of God. Our trust in God—that place of deep, inner peace—comes from resting in what we believe to be true about Him. The more we know Him, of His love and unchanging character, the more we will trust Him. Perfect peace comes when we fix our thoughts on Him and believe that His intentions toward us are alwaysgood, because He is good. 

Fear and worry never have to be invited. They are quick to rush in when things are hard. But peace comes when we courageously invite Jesus into our storms, difficult relationships, and overwhelming circumstances. Peace is not the absence of difficulties, but rather, it’s the presence of a trustworthy Person who sees us, cares, and will never abandon us. He speaks to our fears, our whys and what-ifs, “Hush! Calm down!” 

When peace and security is weak or missing, could it be that your trust is in something other than the Person of Jesus Christ who is Peace? He’s speaking to us all, “Haven’t you learned to trust yet?”

Scriptures: Isaiah 54:10, Romans 8:6, 2 Timothy 1:7, Romans 8:18, 1 Peter 5:10, Philippians 4:6-7

The Potential of Storms

Why does it seem that God isn’t in sync with our life? We’d appreciate a glassy, calm, sea, thank you very much! 

We love comfort. We want trouble-free days without any issues. We want spouses and kids who don’t conflict, coworkers who aren’t annoying, and appliances and vehicles that never break down. We view any disturbance to our schedule or agenda as a huge problem. We, or those close to us, must be doing something wrong. Something needs to change! 

But, the irony is, without storms and difficulties, we have no need for peace! 

Storms and hardships have great potential to break us, to take us out, to remove us from our purpose, or at very least, to distort our focus. Our unrelenting enemy never misses an opportunity to bring his lies and accusations with the expectation to steal our peace, kill our trust, and ultimately to destroy our faith. 

But storms also have the opportunity to build us. It is in the storm that we get to practice our faith and trust in God and our love for others. Amazingly, it takes no faith to agree with and believe the enemy’s accusations: This is too hard. It won’t matter what you choose.Think about yourself! It’s not worth the fight. Pushing against worry and concern takes determined activation of faith and belief in what God says and can do. I choose to trust You! I am waiting for You to come through. I believe You see me and somehow, some way, You are working this all for my good.

What might happen if instead of trying to avoid life’s storms, we met our difficult situations head-on? What if we pushed through our fears and relinquished our control? What if we saw these hard times as opportunities for spiritual growth and an enlarging of our heart? What if our willingness to step into the hard teaches our children and those around us things they might never learn?

One summer a while back, 21 members of our family, ages 5 to 65, set out to climb Mt. Uncompahgre, a 14,308 foot mountain in Colorado. Parts of this climb were very difficult and took many grueling hours. Many times we wanted to give up, even questioning what we were doing. The peak seemed to be getting further away. The air was thin and it was hard to catch a breath. There were many tears and complaints. This is too hard! What if we fall? Are we going to die? We encouraged each other with loud mantras, I can and I will! Marine it! At last we finally stepped into that beautiful, wide expanse in what seemed to be the top of the world! Elation, relief, joy, peace! We made it! Our children and even our young grandchildren accomplished one of the hardest things they would ever do. Forever changed by the difficulties we endured, this transformation has stuck with us all to this day.

Prepare your heart to expect storms and difficulties so you won’t be caught off-guard when they happen. From His peace and presence, you are fully equipped with strength and courage to make it through to the other side. As you willingly step into difficult situations and choose to see them as opportunities for increase, you will gain confidence and inner strength from His invisible presence. Your abilities will be enlarged beyond what you ever thought possible. Most importantly, you will be able to tell those behind you that they will successfully make it through their own storms, not on their own, but with Peace in their heart.

Every storm we encounter has potential to destroy us but Peace promises to guard our heart and mind. When we courageously meet that storm head-on, hand-in-hand with Him, we will lose only the things that need to die: sin, pride, negativity, criticism, selfishness, resentment. Things that hold us in deep bondage and prevent us from being who God has called us to be. Things that need to die so that we can be fully alive in Him. 

I imagine our trust in Jesus brings a smile to His face as He guides us through to freedom on the other side. When our eyes remain on Him in the deepest, darkest storm, we will have peace, because Peace is a Person. 

Scriptures: Isaiah 28:6, Philippians 2:5, Ephesians 2:14-15, Matthew 5:9, James 3:18

Peace is Wholeness

The dictionary meaning of peace speaks about freedom or cessation from any strife or dissension; a truce bringing a temporary reprieve from war; tranquility, quiet, stillness.

This definition is the desire of every relationship. For the mom, the truce from war may come when your cranky toddler finally takes a nap or your moody teens leave for school. For a difficult marriage, it may be when your demanding spouse leaves for work or travel. But the advent of Peace entering the human world did not eradicate wars, relational breakdowns, or stress. The reality is that our relational issues seem to be worse than ever as evil and darkness press in. Finding peace in our relationships must come from something other than temporary solutions.

God’s Word offers us a different definition of peace: the Hebrew word, shalom.

Shalom is a state of wholeness and completeness; well-being of mind, soul, and body. Shalom brings Peace. Shalom is peacemaking. 

Making peace was Jesus’ purpose for coming into the world. His life demonstrated the way to make peace—by always giving, loving, and sacrificing for others. Making peace is not simple or easy; in fact, it’s very costly. Making peace requires death. Jesus sacrificed His life as the perfect Lamb so we could live eternally and it is our own death to selfish ways that gives rise to others. 

Making peace is often painful and requires setting things back to right-ness—righteousness. It means continually dying to self and intentionally living from what Christ has done for us. Through His shalom, we can bring Peace into every situation and relationship, no matter how difficult it is. Shalom sees into the brokenness and restores it to wholeness by bearing with others in patience and love. 

A peacemaker is willing to have a conversation—to say what needs to be said in truth and love, rather than making snide comments or completely shutting down with hurt and unforgiveness. Being a peacemaker never means letting people walk all over you, or tip toeing on eggshells for fear of what another might say. A peacemaker always speaks out with kindness, but firmness, against injustice for others and themselves. 

Peacemaking is not shaming or demanding someone come to your side of an issue nor is it about control and shutting others down. In conflicts, a peacemaker chooses humble words of peace and courageously moves towards another to set things right, rather than having to be right. Peacemaking presents an offering of grace and provides a place of love and truth, rather than having to prove a point.

A peacemaker is willing to stand in the middle and often the middle is unpleasant and messy. With our children, it’s taking the necessary time to sit down and have a conversation about their feelings and their heart. With others, it’s being willing to bring issues into the light rather than continually shutting down. A peacemaker is a bridge builder for relationships, countering the destroying powers of sin and darkness by His shalom.

Jesus offered a challenge and a promise in Matthew 5:9: Peacemakers will be blessed children of God. In a world filled with strife, conflict, and hostility, He instructs us to make peace from His peace.

Your ability and success in making peace with others begins by making room for Peace in your own heart, because Peace is a Person. 

Scriptures: Isaiah 32:17, Isaiah 48:17-18, John 14:27, John 15:5, Romans 16:19-20, Philippians 4:9

Peace Comes from Standing in the Right Place

At a very overwhelming time in my life I held onto a scripture that brought me great comfort:  “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.” Isaiah‬ ‭32:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As a young mom overwhelmed by life, I longed for peace and quietness. Where was that place? As I searched and wrestled for quietness and confidence in my spirit, I began to focus more on the first part of the scripture. “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace…” 

Righteousness is a churchy, religious word that simply means right-ness—standing in the “right” place with God. 

How do we know we are standing in that right place? Simply, it’s when we have peace—Peace. Confident Peace that transcends every circumstance, every conflict, every difficult and dark place. The right place is abiding with Jesus, aligning with His standards of truth—His right-ness. When chaos reigns and our peace is missing, we can be assured that we have stepped away from Him or that we’re believing things that are not from Him.

Our God is solid, unchanging, faithful, and secure. He remains and never moves. Like the security bar on a roller-coaster, when we hold to Him we will be unmoved, no matter the heights and depths life takes us. Our emotions won’t be tossed into extremes, our words will carry truth with love, and our thoughts will quickly be brought back into alignment with His truth. His ways will become ours. 

Paul tells us in Colossians 3:15  to “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…” It’s a directive to constantly choose Peace as the umpire to direct our mind, will, and emotions to remain in the right place—righteousness with God.

Peace can be the operating value of your life, the center that keeps you from living in fear, worry, and extreme emotions. Peace is wholeness and protection from the enemy. It’s our confident ability to set things right and make a stand for truth. When we remain in the unlimited, extravagant love and grace of Jesus, we are in the right place and “it’s effect will be quietness and confidence forever”. 

Jesus humbly entered the world as the Prince of Peace and His parting gift to us is His eternal surrounding presence.

Peace is not just a pristine scene, a place without noise and difficulties, or only a feeling. Peace is the practice of realigning our thoughts and ways with His.  

Peace is a Person.