Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. – John 14:27-31 ESV
Warrior;
What a GIVER our LORD is! In addition to giving us SALVATION, JUSTIFICATION, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS and the PEACE we will focus on today- He also gave us the Holy Spirit as earnest- as a down payment on our inheritance: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. (John 14:16) The Holy Spirit is the ONE that helps us to find the PEACE OF THE LORD! Peace is such an elusive thing on this cursed rock that we live. Many of us have never opened the GIFT OF PEACE from our LORD. Peace is a nominalization, you CANNOT fit it into a wheelbarrow- it is self-defined by each individual. Peace to many is passive. To many peace is the absence of civil disturbances, hostilities in relationships- a person or personality free from internal and\or external strife. Ronald Reagan said, “Peace is NOT the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.”
Leader, it was Gandhi who said, “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it. “Both Reagan and Gandhi were mere men, and they were MERELY paraphrasing the KING OF KINGS and the LORD OF LORDS. From Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary we learn the biblical concept of PEACE is larger than that of man and rests heavily on the Hebrew root, “SLM”, which means to be sound, to BE COMPLETE! The verb is more dynamic and static- to be COMPLETE, WHOLE- to LIVE WELL! We cannot LIVE WELL apart from the PRINCE OF PEACE! The noun of SALOM can be categorized in 4 ways; 1-Wholeness of life or body, 2- Right relationship or harmony between two people, 3- prosperity, success, fulfillment, 4- victory over one’s enemies or absence of war. To the JEW, Shalom is like ALOHA to the Hawaiians, it was used as a greeting and a farewell. It was meant to act as a blessing to the ONE upon whom it was spoken! “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16)
Conduit, the Holy Scriptures tell us that GOD alone is the source of PEACE. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. (Judges 6:24a) Reconciliation is a word that is about bringing SHALOM, PEACE to a broken relationship between a HOLY GOD and a FALLEN MAN! One of our LORDS main ministries is RECONCILIATION, BRINGING PEACE to the GOD-MAN relationship. And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. (2 Corinthians 5:18) Did you catch the last part, OUR TASK…? Now that we have the PEACE OF THE LORD, we are to HELP OTHERS find “Jehovah Shalom”, our GOD WHO IS PEACE! The TIME IS NOW to realize and help others do the same: KNOW JESUS, KNOW PEACE- NO JESUS, NO PEACE! “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1) SHALOM and AMEN!
Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional 