Peace
I have written some wonderful, insightful aspects of peace here. J But in the event that you live in a busy world or just have 2 minutes to invest in reading my stuff, let me put what I think is the most important first. Here is the illustration.
I love coffee. I did not always love coffee, but on some bitterly cold hunting trip back in SD coffee was the only thing available. So I turned to coffee for a personal need. I did not like it, but it served my need. Over the course of other hunting trips I used coffee over and over again to give me what I wanted, warmth. Then one day I found myself a Duncan Donuts. There, nest to the donut that I love was the coffee that I used. But for some reason I choose that which I had used to now be my friend. It was as though I was going to reward coffee for being good to me by choosing it when I did not need to. A relationship had developed.
Now years and decade later, I freely choose coffee. There could be tea, hot chocolate, water; but I tend to choose coffee. But at any time in my life I am free to not choose coffee. Picking coffee is a decision I make. Even if that decision is not a auto-response, it is still a choice. The same thing is true with peace. You must choose peace over all the other options in the moment. Peace most likely will not even cry out to you, “choose me”. You may start choosing peace just because it serves you, but still you chose to.
The most important thing is that you are free to choose. (It might be worth stopping right here)
An authentic encounter with the Master can bring a peace beyond earthly provision. Strangely- even when this encounter with God involves conviction of sin or judgment for wrong attitudes, God’s peace is still present. It is as though even the greatest conviction of sin is tainted with peace, the most profound rebuke still overflows with love. The greater the manifest presence of the Lord, the greater reaction we will have to His presence. Yet The Lord gives to us His peace so that we can endure His presence in a meaningful way.
If the peace you experience is only on the level of knowing, if your mind is at peace yet your emotions and will are not at rest, there is still more for you. It is good to know in your mind that the Master has peace for you. It is good to quote the scriptures and focus on the hope. However what you truly desire is to enter the peace of God. You want the reality, not just the idea. The peace of God transcends our understanding. His peace can be upon us even if our minds are still very busy. In some way we have this settledness, this confidence that arises within.
When you are paying your bills and you do not have enough money, His peace can come upon you. When you are listening to a sermon and are being convicted of sin His peace can help that conviction go deeper and accomplish a great work in you. Trusting in the Lord with all your heart will invite more and more of His power and presence into you.
Be honest about having only partial peace. Having only some peace tends to stem from partial surrender. To the degree of our full surrender is God’s peace released. To every kingdom of your heart un-yielded, un-surrendered, there you will find a lack of peace. Do not be offended at God’s justice as though he is requiring more of you than you can give. He is not. You can give God your all. His withholding of peace is His loving invitation to you to offer more of yourself to Him. To help you find those hidden un-yielded areas of your life, look for arguments. Usually at the doorway of these strongholds you will find “arguments justifying lack of peace” or “reasons, even scripture quoting peace” but behind the bold proclamation is darkness. The authentic peace of heaven will not be there.
In the event that this is true for you, do not think much about it. Rather, simply turn away from yourself and to the Lord. The only way to change your condition is to become freer from your self-rule and enter into greater dependency upon Him. Pondering why you are the way you are will not help that much. Turning to the Lord is greater surrender will be of more reward.
God calls us to whole hearted love. Thus every kingdom within us is to be surrendered. This call for whole hearted love is not a suggestion, but a deserving requirement. Fullness of devotion obtains fullness of indwelling. This is not earned – but the fruit of obedient love. Loving God with all your heart is a lifelong process and at different stages of your life you will need to offer new domains. As a youth your “zeal” will be one of your offerings, as an aging saint it will be your “knowledge”, as an mature believer it will be your “wisdom”. This never ending surrender is the fresh oil of eternal love. As long as we live we have something new to offer our Master.
Sweet is the peace of God. It is like a deep slumber, a hot bath, a refreshing breeze and the most rewarding praise all in one. It brings a great stability and contentment. It changes your vision and mindset so that hope, love, kindness are quite natural. Where once you needed to guard your mind against negative thoughts – now only positive ones can be found. It is not as though you are laboring to be something; you are not working to be righteous. You are filled with something; you are filled with His righteousness. His peace is indwelling you. This wonder of His presence lifts once His peace lifts. If does not actually leave you, but you re-enter you busy life and are not longer aware of His great work in you. Since now your vision of Him has changed, so too do your thoughts and mindsets. Seek to delight yourself in these moments, do not try to control God’s presence.
Seeking to maintain this state will only cause it to leave more quickly. Instead continue to honor the Master in your emotions and mind. Enjoying His peace helps it linger. Love Him for being near and enjoy all the blessings His nearness brings. Living in the moment of His presence and not seeking to control the events or maintain this situation will allow you to drink more deeply of these experiences. Some people find it best just to rest in the Lord, others are best served to journal or write poetry, still others sing in their hearts and with their mouths. Try not to manage what God is doing, try to enter into it. God is coming to you for communion; He does not desire your control.
When the deep reality of His peace has passed, seeking that state again is counterproductive. It is like trying to go back in time to some romantic or special event. All you have is the memory. Beware of making the memory an idol. Instead, have the courage to trust God for all your need in this moment and the next. Allow the past to give you a heart of gratitude, but do not linger there. The Lord is Lord of the past, but He is not there for you to meet. He is present. Allow the favors God has given you in the past to create in you a longing for more of Him. Even if you have never had an encounter with God, use that lack to cry out for Him to come.
Emmanuel, God with man is not an idea. God desires to walk with us. I believe that the word “walk” is used to refer to our everyday, common life. God does not just want to “work” with us or “minister” with us. God wants to walk with us.
What is the right way to seek the Master? Feel free to ask God for specific favors or be free not to. So you may seek God and trust Him to give to you what He sees fit, but you can also seek manifestations of His peace, love, visions and dreams. In time the issue of seeking the Lord in the “right way” will be consumed by His never ending direction of the Holy Spirit. The greater freedom the Holy Spirit has in you, the greater fellowship you are aware of. Even when you are unaware of His presence He is there. But to know God’s presence one must surrender to Him. This surrender is not setting down in a chair and striving to focus. Meditation and contemplation are valuable. I believe that the goal of all that is done in secret is rewarded in the public arena. The lessons learned in the prayer room teach you how to practice His presence all day long. The cultivation of hearing His voice enables you to walk with Him and talk with Him in every situation of life.
Growing in this relationship is not magic, it is not something that you obtain and no longer need to work on. It is a relationship. Relationships are constantly changing, responding, maturing. With that in mind, it is always a thousand times more beneficial to respond to the Holy Spirit than to investigate any reasons for dryness or distance in your relationship with God. We often seek to know the reasons behind God’s work so that we can manage our spiritual life with less dependence upon God. We do this while God is seeking for us to fully trust Him, even with our faults and rebellion. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Walking with the Holy Spirit is better than laboring to fix the relationship through human effort. God often honors our effort, but He loves our obedience. It seems strange to say that we must “trust God more than we trust ourselves”. Being aware of the pitfall where we judge God rather than God judging us, helps us to avoid it.
The deep peace of God is often accompanied by great creativity. This occurs as the inhibition and fears of failure we tend to live under are overcome by the presence of the Lord. Do not expect to have this level of creativity in the natural expression of life. Enjoy and respond to it when it is present, but be prepared to look at these creative ideas differently once God’s peace has lifted. This is often discovered in reading scripture. Passages that seemed to team with life, insight, power; seem somewhat drab once the peace lifts. What is giddy euphoria with God tends to be disciplined living when His nearness is not so powerfully present. Don’t pout – just value what you have when you have it.
