"Heart of Peace"

Heart Of Peace

Colossians 3:15 (ESV)
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

How would you define peace? Perhaps a more important question is, do you have peace in your heart?

Peace is more than a mere word, idea, or feeling. It is actually an awesome gift of God that He gives to those who, through faith in Jesus Christ, belong to Him and walk obediently in His ways. So I would ask you this, do you have peace in your heart? Can you honestly say you have peace in your heart or are you struggling with conflict? Conflict about what, conflict about many things. So, I want you to listen carefully. I’m gonna give you eight statements. You will want these statements to be true in your life because God provides the adequacy for them to be true and so I trust that you’ll write them down. Every one of them is important. If you want true, genuine peace in your life no matter what you’re going through, write these down.

God has provided His peace to every believer. If there is an absence of it, it’s because we have not let it rule in our hearts. Or in other words, we haven’t practiced and applied the truth of His peace to our lives in a way that governs our hearts, no matter what our circumstances may be. Apply them to your life. Meaning, I want you to practice them. When we practice the truth, we get what practice provides and that is an awesome sense of peace. You either have peace or you have to deal with conflict. If you don’t have peace you have conflict so it’s very important to write these down.

We will experience God’s all-sufficient peace when we believe and practice the following truths:
#1 – When we place our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Until we have peace with God through faith in Christ’s payment of our sins with His death on the cross, we won’t have His peace or the assurance of our eternal destiny.

#2 – When we believe that God sovereignly controls all things, including our personal lives. Reliance on this truth frees us from anxious wondering. Psalm 103:19 says, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”

#3 – When we trust the Lord to meet all our needs. Believing this truth eliminates our daily concerns about not having enough. Paul gives us the assurance of this when he says, “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

#4 – When we maintain a clear conscience. This shields and protects our peace. Jesus said to His disciples, “My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

#5 – When we can accept ourselves the way God has made us. This guards us from trying to change something about ourselves over which we have no control. God has created each of us uniquely with our own personality and abilities. If we have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have also been given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit who indwells us.

#6 – When we have a sense of His purpose for our lives that protects us from the plague of emptiness. Many people today struggle with feelings of emptiness, but Paul tells us what God says about believers. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

#7 – When we have a sense of competency in life because of Christ’s sufficiency. Knowing that God equips us for whatever He calls us to do protects us from failures that result from an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy.

#8 – When we have a sense of belonging. This shields us from the painful feelings of being rejected or unwanted. Jesus gives us this invitation: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

God’s peace comes to us when we humble ourselves before Him, acknowledging and repenting of our sin, believing in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation, and submitting ourselves to Him as our Lord.