And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:7
INTRODUCTION
Peace with God is an outcome of our oneness with God. In simple terms, if you don’t know God you cannot have God’s peace. Most of Paul’s letters began with the words “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Peace is a state of tranquillity or quietness of spirit that transcends circumstances. The term peace is described in Scripture as a gift from God and congruent with His character; ‘May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’- 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
1. Psalm 4:8 – “In peace I will lay down and sleep; for you alone Lord make me dwell in safety”. This is one of the Psalms of David and it is said that he wrote it during a time of great distress maybe during the time that Saul was pursuing him all over the place even though he had done him no wrong.
It could also have been after his own son Absalom betrayed him in 2 Samuel 15-18 or even maybe during one of the rebellions. Whatever it was, David, who had this close relationship with God said confidently ‘in peace I will lay down and sleep for you alone Lord make me dwell in safety.’ Now remember David did not say it at a time when he was lying in his palace with victory all around him but rather when he was in distress and this is the attitude that we should adopt. Trust in God that He would be there with us regardless of the situation hence the need to also take stock of life situations.
Some of us of course have never experienced any serious difficulties and we thank the Lord for that. Whatever the case maybe though, when we have a close relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we will experience His peace.
2. The hymn ‘Turn Your Eyes on Jesus’ says: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Unshakable peace is available to us but, when we can only access it when we decide to focus on God. When difficult situations emerge, the natural instinct is either to panic or to be filled with adrenaline which is wanting to solve the problem immediately. However, while these are things that God has put in our hearts the one who has the staying power is the one who remembers that it is God who is in control of all things and not us.
So, what should we do?
Paul teaches us in Philippians 4:6-7 – ‘do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.’
- In times of difficulties as well times of everything which is the opposite of peace, the first thing that we need to do is to turn to prayer. We turn to prayer because we know God is in control of the situation.
- We decide to trust God’s timetable, yes God has a timetable for each and everyone of us.
3. I think we need to know a few things about God’s peace.
a. God’s peace is unshakable because there has never been or will there ever be a time or an event which distresses or disturbs God.
b. God is never perturbed. Tranquillity is actually a nature of God and it’s from tranquillity that we get the word peace.
c. God’s peace and His presence is sure, they are immoveable and we can only find ourselves overcoming these difficulties when we focus on God.
d. We must keep our relationship with God intact all the time. When our relationship with God gets disturbed a little bit just because we have sinned or maybe when we have told a lie about somebody else, or even maybe we did something against somebody and there’s a stirring in our hearts, we need to apologise. We need to ask God for forgiveness. God has made this available for us. 1 John 1: 8 clearly states that if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
The verse 9 goes ahead to say that ‘if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.’ God is always ready to forgive us our sins so we should not let anything that God does not like stand in our way of enjoying God’s peace. This means that confessing our sins all the time clears us of a sense of guilt and a sense of weight and inability to enjoy God’s peace.
e.Whenever we are in the greatest difficulties, that is when we experience God’s loving peace the most. David in Psalm 4:8 teaches us that ‘In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.’ God’s peace is different from the world’s peace – John 14:27: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. True peace is not found in positive thinking, in absence of conflict, or in good feelings. It comes from knowing that God is in control.
f. When we are confronted with trials and tribulations the safest place to run to is the everlastingly arms of God. In Johnchapter 20:19, after the crucifixion, the first word Jesus utters to the disciples is ‘Peace be with you’. Jesus was speaking about God’s peace. His immovable eternal peace, which nothing at all can shake.
CONCLUSION
Are we troubled? Are we going through a patch of difficulties? Let’s turn our eyes upon Jesus, look fully in His wonderful face and the things of this earth that are troubling us will grow strangely dim in the light of God’s glory and grace.
Remember Jesus’s words in the midst of greatest trial: Shalom, Peace, be with you.
Let’s allow God’s peace to invade our hearts today and tell God all about how we are feeling in relation to Philippians 4:6-7 which says we should turn our problems into a prayer. This peace is a nature of our saviour Jesus Christ and He assures us that He pours this peace over us unconditionally. He keeps His promise so let’s stand by Him and take His word and enjoy the peace of God.
Stay blessed!
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By Dr. Joyce Aryee, the author