Peace in Your Heart

 

    God has given us the ability to find peace in our heart no matter the situation.  Life is stressful, but we don't have to allow it consume us.  God ordered us not to allow our hearts to be troubled or afraid.  It sounds like an odd order, but it comes from the fact that when you allow yourself to become stressed, anxious, or troubled that it means you took your focus off of Him.  You allowed the world to influence you more than Him.

    To have peace in your heart to to trust God completely.  You believe that He will take care of you in all situations.  This is peace that the world is incapable of providing.  We live in a world where nothing is secure, so to find security in Jesus gives our hearts a chance to find joy and peace.  This is power that the world cannot understand.  It is powerful to have peace and joy in your heart when the culture is telling you that you need to be afraid.

    We are given supernatural peace, but we need to use it to pray.  It gives you clarity, so that you can pray for other people in a manner that is beneficial to them.  Prayer helps keep your peace consistent and not circumstantial.  If you are praying from your heart, then you focus is on things above and not strictly the world around you.

    You will never find this kind of peace until you admit that it is beyond your capabilities.  Supernatural peace binds you with Jesus and other believers in harmony, unity, and an inner stillness.  It is a sign of being a child of God.  It enables you to be a peace maker instead of just a peace keeper because you are following Jesus the Prince of Peace's example.

    You can provide short term peace to other people, but unless they come to Jesus, it will only be temporary.  The peace that comes from salvation gives you words to inspire other people like Jesus inspired people.  

    Jesus provided instructions on how to share the Gospel.  We are to bless the home with peace before we enter the home.  This blessing is powerful.  It opens the door to their hearts and minds to hear what you say.  It does not insure conversion, but if they allow you to enter the home it allows them to really hear you.  

    When you enter the home after blessing it, there should be a quietness even if it is noisy, serenity, and oneness for the moment.  You have to trust that the Holy Spirit will work in the room and provide you the best words to use.  Do not be afraid to speak.  Do not be nervous.  Whatever you do say will be utilized by God if you sincerely blessed the home and the people in it.  

    Stay in the home until the moment is finished.  That means that their needs were met, relationships established, anxiety gone, and a since of security and rest is present.  We must submit to God's will for this to happen and have peace in our hearts even if the person does not chose to become part of the family.

    The thieves of peace that we need to be on guard against are immorality, lustfulness (desires out of control), covetness, and living in open sin.   Living in open sin could just be accepting the sin of others as a part of life and not addressing it.  We are in constant war with the human desires and the spiritual desires.  If we allow sin to creep in just a little, then we lose our inner peace.

    Guilt is a strong feeling that saturates your thinking to focus on the negative instead of the freedom that Jesus is offering.  You have to let go of your guilt or you will never discover the life giving peace in your heart.  Anger will consume peace by motivating you to do foolish things and be consumed by the fire inside.  It is a powerful feeling that can cause a lot of damage.  It is one feeling that must be controlled.

    You can try to escape sin, but it will not work.  You have to face it.  You have to surrender to God and you have to work at not turning back to that sin.  If you try to cover it up, then it will be exposed or replaced with different sin to be revealed.  For an example: bitterness is a sin that compiles on top of anger and will destroy any signs of peace in your heart.  It turns the heart self-centered and pushes loved ones away.

    We all face conflict and each conflict has the ability to steal your joy if you allow it.  You must face the conflict by removing any doubt about where Jesus stands in that conflict (right and wrong).  You need to have the argument, but it does not have to become heated.  You can talk to each other respectfully and accept that you may not find an agreement on all subjects.

    The last thing you want to do is to rebel against God or become indifferent.  That leads to a jealous lifestyle that keeps circling and never moving forward in self-growth.  It turns your feelings into a handicap that just intensifies over time allowing sin to consume all your peace.  

    Personal peace comes from knowing God is in control and surrendering your pretense of having control.  The peace that Jesus is offering is real.  You just have to accept it in spite of any feelings that tries to drive you away.  It comes down to your faith.  Is your faith stronger than your feelings?  

    To mature your faith you need to lay your mind, will, and emotions on the cross with Jesus' blood.  Chose to follow His resurrected body faithfully and obediently.  Then you will discover understanding and accept His wisdom.  This is when you realize the true peace you have in your heart.

Luke 9:1-5, 10:5-7, John 14:27-31, Romans 16:17-20, & Colossian 3:12-17