Perfect Peace: Is There Really Such a Thing?
Message From Rose
I was doing so well. Over the last few years I have purposely set my heart and mind to walk in holiness. No easy task – but with Christ all things are possible. I was doing pretty well, choosing love over hurt and disappointment, choosing joy over my circumstances, choosing trust over fear. Yep. Doing pretty darn well. I should have been prepared for a full-on attack. Honestly, how long did I think Satan was going to sit idly by as I basked in the peace of God? Recently a series of events threatened to shake that lovely, worked hard for, path. Because that is what the Devil does isn’t it?
1Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” I should have been prepared -watchful. Afterall, I’ve seen it all before. An old tactic on his part on a new day. Just when I was thinking how very much I loved moving and living in peace – wham – I’m hit. On a few fronts. We know that Satan comes to “Kill, steal, and destroy”, and boy did he try to steal my peace.
The thing that is different – and I’m even surprised by this myself – the stealing of my peace worked, but not for as long as it has in the past. My first reaction is to cower in that old familiar place. A place where fear, sadness and disappointment envelopes me. Almost to the point of total discouragement. Almost. You can get comfortable there if you aren’t careful. It’s familiar. I know that place all too well. But what I discovered this time around was that I am not as comfortable hanging out there as I once was. I desperately wanted to get back to where I was before the enemy came in to disrupt my walk and steal my peace. I admit I hung around there for a bit. Feeling sorry for myself, disappointed in others, but I just wasn’t as comfortable there as I once was. And this is where Isaiah 26:3-4 came in:
“ You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Being separated from the peace of God, even for those few days, was becoming unbearable. Replaying in my mind that situation that threatened my peace would prove destructive. It would take me away from the holiness path that I was so enjoying. Replaying a situation or conversation in your mind does not help. Just FYI. That has to stop the very second it starts. Reject the play backs and remember that 1Corinthians 13 tells us that “love… keeps no record of wrongs”. I had to be sure to put the scorecard away.
Instead, I went for that perfect peace – again. The Hebrew word for peace is “Shalom”. It doesn’t mean there is no conflict. It really is just a relationship with God and each other. In the New Testament the Greek word for peace is complete or whole. That made sense to me. I was walking in peace – in completeness because I know who my God is. For that day or two I let myself forget that. Something that is perfect is without flaw and lacks nothing. Something that is perfect is as good as it could possibly be. The peace He can keep us in is without flaw – nothing missing, and something that we can depend on. And guess what? Constant peace! Perfect and constant. My peace doesn’t have to end. Even with attacks, disappointments, or fears. Even with Satan using others to deliver the punches. We don’t have to surrender our peace. I mean think of who it is we are surrendering it to! The very enemy himself. I won’t allow him that victory.
Our God is the God of Peace. Don’t move out of the presence of God, remember it is He that provides that perfect peace. Return to Him quickly in these situations. Satan doesn’t want you in that state of peace. Just as you are feeling comfortable there it is then that he is waiting, posed to attack. Don’t give him the upper hand. Resist him. Stay your mind on the Lord. I just love that scripture. Staying our mind on Him – not on the wrong that was done to you, not the disappointment you experience, not the fear that rears its ugly head. Staying your mind is not passive – it is active. Stay your mind on him, not the situation.
There are certain people who live in turmoil. Finding fault with everything and everyone. That is their problem. It is not yours. God is perfecting you. Their perfection can only be found on their own journey. Hopefully they will get there. Their bad behavior in situations that include you demonstrate only that they are nowhere near living in the peace they attempt (knowingly or not) to shake from you. Pray for them.
The verse from Isaiah reads that God keeps us in perfect peace when our mind is stayed on Him. In the end, that was the attack on me. To take my mind off of the provider of perfect peace and allow my mind to move into the realm of disappointment and sadness was a bad move on my part. The moment, the very moment we make a mindful shift like that we are surrendering to the enemy and forfeiting our peace. Let’s remember that. When our mind is stayed on God -no matter what others say or do to us, He will keep us in perfect and constant peace.
The end of that scripture is “trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is the rock eternal”. How long am I to trust in Him? Forever. Why should I? Because God is my rock forever. He is my strength; He is my constant. And, as a rock He is not easily moved or shaken. And therefore, neither am I. He is all that. Forever.
