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Grace takes you from where you are, to where God wants you to be in life; and may it become your experience, leading you to see good days in your life, abiding in His peace. The procedure that comes with this promise of God is Whoever would love life and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn from evil and do good- he must seek peace and pursue it. [1 Peter 3:10,11]
Breaking it down, to get to the truth of it all, speaking what is good, is nothing but speaking the word of God in your situation, and doing what is good, is doing His good and perfect will for you in your life. His will for you, is that you may experience His peace, which is wholeness in you, in Christ Jesus, something that is more than a mere feeling. He Himself is your peace; pursuing peace therefore, boils down to pursuing the God who will never leave you or forsake you. And it comes through the awareness of the presence of the peace giving God with you, not just in the good times, but even when you need to pass through a valley, a very painful season in your life, something that comes to every person at some point or the other.
How does His presence make peace your experience?
It does not happen when your acknowledgement of the Lord’s presence, is limited to Him being the silent listener of your conversation, and a companion whom you invite to come along with you, in the journey of your choice ! He needs to be the initiator of your conversation and action, in all that you say and do. And, it is then that peace becomes your experience, one which sees you going from strength to strength. It is much more than a feel good experience. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. [Colossians 3:15]
It is the peace of Christ ruling and becoming the deciding factor, the umpire in the choices that you need to make, in other words, to preside over your life. He then also becomes the one who rewards you, for the one who presides over a function is the one who presents the rewards at the end of it ! And the ultimate truth of experiencing peace in your life, is that He Himself is your peace. ‘I give myself to you’, the Lord has promised in His word, to build on it saying, ‘In me, you may have peace’. [John 16:33]
Let Him therefore preside over your situation today, to give you the reward, being His peace. When peace is curtailed to only what is a feeling, it cannot be sustained. The peace that you feel on a Sunday, a day that you spend in worship and rest, will quickly disappear when Monday dawns, carrying with it the duties and responsibilities of the day ! And you will end up losing your peace !
There needs to be therefore, a shift in your understanding to know and grasp the truth of there being a profoundly different dimension to it all, which is the peace of Christ ruling in your heart, to be the deciding factor in making decisions in your life. To rule, in this context, is not about which party is in power, to rule the state or the nation; though one day, Christ will return to establish His rule and reign over all the earth ! Now, primarily, experiencing peace is His peace ruling within you, in your heart.
And, the very next verse goes on to declare how it can happen in you.
Peace presides, as His word resides in you:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish each other with all wisdom. [Colossians 3:16] For, God’s peace to preside in you, the word of God has to dwell or reside richly in your heart. The connection is established by the Lord Himself, in His words to His disciples ‘These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace; in this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer ! I have overcome the world’. [John 16:33]
‘The words that I have spoken’, the Lord specifies, making the connection between His word, and His peace very plain and simple. It gives a very favorable expectation and hope too; but, the Lord goes on to seemingly burst the bubble saying, ‘In this world you will have trouble’! His word does not end with it though, for the Lord then goes on to promise joy and encouragement, saying, ‘Be of good cheer ! I have overcome the world’.
The key to experiencing peace :
In the beginning was the word; the word was with God, and the word was God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. It is how He Himself is your peace; and all that you need to do is to focus on the word that God has spoken over you in His word. For, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God concerning your life, and what you may be going through. If you go after peace as a feeling, it would be fleeting. But, if you pursue peace as a person, the Lord Himself is your peace, and the ever abiding presence of the peace giving God will be with you always, flooding you with His peace.
How can it be translated and experienced in your life?
It is by the word of God residing in you. For, the Lord is the Eternal Word, and He is also your peace. And, even as the Bible declares that every truth needs to be established by two or three witnesses, the connection between the God’s word and peace is seen also in the words of the psalmist – Great peace have they, who love your law; and nothing can make them stumble. [Psalms 119:165]
WORD dwelling richly in you :
Having seen that the word of God is connected to the peace of Christ ruling in you, it follows that for it to happen, His word needs to fill your heart and dwell in your heart; for your heart is like a container. It is why the psalmist declares that he will lift up his cup of salvation to offer thanks unto the Lord, and also that his cup overflows with God’s blessings.
Hannah too, in the book of Samuel, talks about pouring out her heart unto the Lord. They all point to the heart of a person being a container, out of which flow the issues of life. And, the value of any container, even in the material and the physical realm is determined by what it holds or contains. What is used to collect the offering in the church is handled very carefully, because of what it contains. And, after the offering is deposited, it once again becomes a very ordinary container ! The true value of a house is determined by who is living in the house, and who is living inside of them ! There is no lucky house when it comes to God’s kingdom. With Him it is a system of love, for, He so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son !
Your heart therefore, can be a treasure chest or trash can. And, when it is filled more and more with the living word of God, it becomes a treasure chest. The purpose of it, as the psalmist describes his experience, would be to – Your word I have treasured in my heart, so that I may not sin against you. [Psalms 119:11]
Sin, in other words, is missing the target, or goal. It is missing the mark of being conformed to the image of the Son of God, with ever increasing glory. And the word will become the treasure filling your heart, to see peace ruling in your life, depending on how you value God and His word. It is where your attitude, being one of love for God, comes into play.
Loving God and His word :
In the beginning was the word; and the word was God. You cannot love God therefore, without loving His word. And, when you love something, doing anything concerning it becomes very easy and effortless. It is the very practical truth that comes shining through the words of the Lord, which taken at face value, could appear to be very hard and conditional, as He says, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching’. [John 14:23] God has so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son; the Son laid down His life on the Cross in love. And when you are the child of God, the Holy Spirit resides in you forever, because He loves you. Everything on earth and all that you are called to do by God in obedience to His word, pales into insignificance before the magnificence of this, His immeasurable love for you !
As Ezra stood on the platform to read the word of God, the people too stood to listen to it. [Nehemiah 8:5] It was the reverent attitude that was present in God’s people, in the Old Testament times, towards the word of God. And even today, it is when you value the word of God richly, that it will become the treasure that fills your heart to reside in it and lead to peace ruling in the issues of your life. It was when the word became his treasure that Job experienced the peace of God, in the midst of his suffering, to know that he would come out of it all shining as gold.
Job’s treasure that brought peace in turbulence :
‘I have treasured the words of his mouth, more than my daily bread’. [Job 23:12] They are the words of Job, after experiencing great pain and loss in all areas of his life. And, the book of Job, according to bible scholars, is likely to have been one of the oldest books of the bible. Thus Job in his day, would not have had the word in abundant fullness that you hold in your hand now. Today, when God speaks a promise to you from His word, it is written not only in the tablet of your heart, you also have the written word in your hand, to meditate upon the promise and stand on it.
Moreover, Job did not have a church, to encourage and keep him strong in his faith. His close friends, instead of speaking grace and comfort, only spoke condemnation and discouragement, saying that bad things happen to you if you have done something bad, and vice versa. It is a world view that is very prevalent even in our country today, and is very unscriptural, and to validate that it is not scriptural, is the book of Job.
‘But, I know that He knows’ :
It was the knowledge of the truth, of the promise spoken to Him by God that Job treasured, and held on to. And, finally it was what clinched the deal, to see his latter days to be more glorious than the former !
In your life too, you may receive a promise from God concerning your future, but a problem could arise to make the probability of your promise coming to pass seem impossible. But it is then, that you must not come to the wrong conclusion. For, it is the promise of God that will change your problem, to bring peace in your situation. Your peace springs forth out of the word of God in you; the word that needs to be your treasure and desire.
Desiring the word :
Studying the word needs to be out of a deep desire for it and not out a sense of duty or fear. But, sometimes you may find yourself not having an innate desire to study the word, and the newspaper may seem more tempting early in the morning. And, some books of the bible like Jeremiah, and the Lamentations, will not seem desirable at all.
But, why is the book of Lamentations recorded and written in the scriptures?
It is to teach the wonderful, miraculous truth that however terrible your life’s happenings may have been until now, God can turn your mourning into joy. Trying in your own strength to manufacture a desire within yourself, and forcing yourself to study God’s word however, can never be sustained. Soon it will lead to sense of frustration in you, which will ultimately cause you to give up on it altogether. True passion and desire needs to start in the heart of God to flow into yours. He remains the initiator of all good things in your life, the originator and the sustainer. And what needs to be in you, is the honest realization and admission of the truth of your situation.
Being honest before God:
It has been remarked in these times of technological advancements, that when a person begins and ends the day with his phone, the devil is in control. And, the first thought that needs to be in you as you wake up, is what the Lord wishes to speak to you in His word, and not the meaningless forward in your whats app.
But when you are honest before God, and ask Him to birth in you the desire to study His word, He will definitely answer. Specific prayers will receive specific answers from Him. And, His work of grace will transform you from within, changing your attitude towards God’s word, making it the first priority in your life, to dwell in you richly. It is then that the peace of Christ can rule in your life.
May God open your eyes and mine to value and seek God’s word as hidden treasure that enriches and guides; And if you look for it as silver, and search for it as hidden treasure.. [Proverbs 2:4]
God’s word dwelling in you:
Your attitude towards the word of God needs to be, to perceive it as the permanent resident in your heart, dwelling in it richly. [Colossians 3:16] It needs to live in it, as its own home, and not as a visitor who comes and goes. And, what the word of God can accomplish as it lives in you, is set forth very clearly by the writer to the Hebrews; For, the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12]
The word is so powerful, when it is stored as valuable treasure, and lives in your heart, can indeed accomplish great things in your life, day after day, all through your life. King Solomon, in his God given wisdom describes every step of what it does in you.
When you walk, sleep, and when you wake up :
When you walk they will guide you; when you sleep they will watch over you; and when you are awake they will speak to you. [Proverbs 6:21] In your walk with God, His word will guide you. When you sleep, He watches over you, for the God of Israel, never slumbers or sleeps; and when you awake His word will speak to you, to begin a conversation with you. It is how peace rules in your heart to lead you in paths of righteousness. Adam when created, opened his eyes to breathe and live; and the very first face that He saw was the face of God; and the very first voice that he heard was the voice of God. And today, on receiving the gift of salvation, God desires to bring you back to the place of blessing and purpose that Adam enjoyed in sweet fellowship with Him, continually.
‘I sleep, but my heart is awake’, declares the word of God. It is vividly illustrated in the testimony of the renowned preacher Charles Spurgeon. Being physically very tired he did not wake up sufficiently early on a Sunday morning to put together all the points for his sermon. And, his wife too did not wake him up on account of his tiredness, but she had also written down the entire sermon that Spurgeon had spoken out in his sleep. It was perfect and complete.
You may wake up now, with wrong words that people have spoken over you, in your thoughts, but God wants to bring a change, and put a full stop to it. And, may your first thought therefore, be what the Lord has spoken over you in His word that is living and powerful.
Joy comes in the morning is the promise of God; and it comes to you through what He has spoken to you; that He will surely bless you. And the Lord prescribes the process, in abundant clarity. ‘If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you’. [John 15:7] When the word of God dwells in you, all that you ask, which will then certainly be in accordance with His will, He will give you. And you need to find your rest in knowing that He knows the timing of it.
Word richly dwelling in wisdom :
Wisdom is, knowing what to do with what you have, and what you are. This is where the Holy Spirit, as the Helper has a vital role to play, leading ultimately to the peace of Christ in you. And the Lord Himself, in His last discourse to His disciples, teaches and promises His peace that will remove all fear and anxiety. ‘All this I have spoken while still with you’. [John 14:25] The peace of Christ and the word of Christ are connected. And, it is why He promises to send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who will come to be with them forever. [Vs 26]
It is what the Holy Spirit does even now in your life as a child of God. He reminds you, brings to your remembrance the word that the Lord has spoken to you in His word regarding your situation. And as a result of it, the peace of Christ comes to you, to rule in your heart and in your life. And, therefore, the Lord goes on to say, ‘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’. [John 14:27]
The choice lies with you :
Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart; let the word of God dwell in you richly. Let not your heart be troubled; let not your heart be fearful. It is the choice that you make, to let His peace and His word enter in, with His Spirit who teaches and reminds you. Again, it is the choice that you need to make, to not let your heart be troubled or anxious. It is the teaching of peace that brings in you the feeling of peace. ‘I stand at the door and knock’, the Lord has said. You have the choice to let Him in. It is how God operates, and His peace comes to rule in you.
In the Spirit’s power :
Let the peace giving God live in you. Be His residence, for your body is the temple of the living God. Let the Holy Spirit in you reveal and remind the word of God, to give you the strength to not let your heart be troubled, for He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. If there is a lack of desire in you to study the word of God, in honesty and humility ask Him in prayer to fill you with the right attitude and approach towards His word. May it become to you more precious than honey, and may His peace be the umpire, the presiding factor in your life’s decisions.
‘He has taught you to say’ :
Give thanks unto God, for His word that dwells in you richly, and His peace that rules in your heart, teaching you to say, ‘It is well, it is well, with my soul’. Believe in faith that you have received what you have asked of Him; and may His blessing be declared upon your life.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
