PEACE

in harmony with yourself, and in harmony with your fellow man. That is real

peace. There are two scriptures that speak of this peace:

And the peace of God, which passeth all understand-

ing, shall keep [guard] your hearts and minds through

Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7).

and

And let the peace of God rule [act as umpire] in your

hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body;

and be ye thankful (Col. 3:15).

Paul admonishes the Christian to allow the peace of God to act as a garri-

son, as an armed force, around about his heart. You have to allow peace to guard

the heart and the mind by determining what thoughts are allowed to come into the

heart through the mind and also by guarding what goes out of the heart. You

should not let any thought find lodging in your heart that destroys the harmony of

your life or distresses your mind; neither should you allow any word to proceed

out of your mouth that destroys your harmony with your brother or causes discord

among the brethren. You need to allow the peace of God to guard your heart so

that harmony is preserved. By your words you can create strife among people, or

by your words you can create peace. What you let in your mind and heart can

distress you and cause you to become agitated, upset, disturbed, and anxious.

Or, you can refuse to accept those thoughts--"bring them into obedience to the

captivity of Christ"--and let the peace of God keep you. You need to be at

harmony with God. You need to be at harmony with your fellow Christian. You

need to be at harmony with yourself. The peace of God will keep you. Remem-

ber, from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. You need to bring any-

thing that would upset you or destroy that peace under subjection, or you will

speak the agitation and distress of your heart causing strife and hurt to others.

In the second scripture, Paul uses the image of an umpire--the one who

makes the decisions concerning how the game is played. He says you must let

the peace of God decide all matters of the heart, how the game of life is played.

Everything must must be brought under subjection to that peace--every thought,

every word, every deed. You must remember that the peace of which he speaks

is not the peace you find in the world, but the peace which passeth understanding,

the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said,

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not

as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your

heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:2-7).

My peace I give to you. You have the peace of God that passeth all under-

standing. The peace of God will rule and guard your heart. Jesus has given us

this peace. Again He said,

These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye

might have peace. In the world ye shall have trib-

ulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the

world (John 16:33).

My peace I leave with you. In this world you shall have tribulation. The

Greek word for tribulation is thlipsis. It means pressure. In this world we are

going to have all kinds of pressures. When we think of tribulation, we think of

being persecuted by people; however, Jesus said that in this world we will have

plain old pressure--social, economic, spiritual, physical, or mental. However, in the

midst of the pressure, Jesus said, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,"

and "My peace I leave with you."

If you get too much pressure on the outside, you cave in, you become

depressed. If you get too much pressure on the inside, you blow up, you explode,

you get angry. Many spend all of their time either blowing up or caving in. They

are too high, or they are too low. The Holy Spirit equalizes the pressures. He

enables you to have harmony and peace. He helps you to maintain an equilibrium

in your Christian walk. You do not have to be too high; you do not have to be too

low; you can live a consistent life with the peace and the harmony of God in your

heart.