Jesus said:
John 14:27 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.
In one of his Psalms, David instructs us to
Psalms 34:14 … seek peace, and pursue it.
And the very definition of the kingdom of God, according to Paul, is
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
We all want to know in actuality (not just theoretically) what it means to live in that peace, not just experience it occasionally.
However, if and when I make the decision to do so, I can expect to be immediately led into the wilderness
of my carnal mind to be tempted of the devil (See The Temptations of Jesus). This accuser of the brethren
(the Satan—or carnal mind) who accuses us before our God day and night
is relentless in its accusations, the most powerful one being that everything is meaningless, that my life here on this planet has no purpose.
It may take some time to recall and really understand the meaning of Jesus’ words:
Matthew 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
and
Matthew 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
I will most likely find myself in the prison
of my carnal mind where I am attempting to judge
my success or lack of it because I have not yet let go of this so-called life
that is my humanity and is no life at all. The words of Jesus
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing
and of Paul
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
has to become my reality.
I need to realize that I may be still married
to the law (Romans 7), wanting to do
something meaningful so that I can feel good about myself and find peace.
But humanity (which is not ordained of God) can never find the peace that Jesus has given us; it can only find the peace that the world giveth
John 14:27 and is not the peace of God, which passeth all understanding
Philippians 4:7.
I have to come to the understanding that Jesus was indeed correct when He said:
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
I must realize that even though my physical body is still in the world
where tribulation
is the order of the day, I have to reckon
myself
Romans 6:11 … dead indeed unto sin [the carnal mind or my humanity], but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I have to lose
this human life Matthew 10:39, knowing that it has been crucified
so that I no longer think that my humanity has a life, but rather know that Christ is living Its Life as me. I have to come to the place where what I am observing and experiencing in my humanity DOESN’T MATTER AT ALL because I have at last accepted Paul’s statement:
Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Like Paul, I have to put my total concentration on knowing God, counting everything else as dung
Philippians 3:8. I have to learn to live from the within
or in me,
the place where my Father dwells John 14:10—the only place, according to Jesus, that I can experience peace John 16:33. I cease to concern myself with what is happening without,
the place where I will never know the mystery of the kingdom of God
Mark 4:11.
Mark 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
I must learn yet another lesson from Paul:
Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
I have to ignore all the reports and prophecies of doom occurring in the without,
not allowing them to move me
that I might finish my course with joy,
rather than with all the anxiety that continually robs me of my peace.
I can’t count my life dear unto myself
because I now know that I am already dead
and that the only life I have is the Life hid with Christ in God
that can never die, for it is eternal life, begotten of God in the beginning.
I must increasingly cease to be moved
(emotionally troubled) by the negative reports that would formerly cause me untold worry and anxiety—reports that my brother has Alzheimer’s, that my sister will most likely have to have a hip replacement replaced, reports of local, national and world disasters that are happening or are about to happen, etc. I know that the world (even the Christian
world) will call this callousness; but I also know that Paul called it setting my affections on things above rather than on the things on the earth Colossians 3:2 and looking not at things which are seen
and therefore temporal but rather at the things that are not seen
and eternal 2Corinthians 4:18—in other words, being of
the kingdom of God (living from the within
) rather that of
this world (living from the without
—responding to humanity with my humanity).
This of course means receiving Paul’s ministry
—to testify the gospel of the grace of God
Acts 20:24, which in another letter he calls the ministry of reconciliation
:
2Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation
I have to recognize that nothing I can do or not do can make me any more reconciled to God, that this reconciliation has come to me by grace and not by the works of the law;
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
I have to recognize that the gospel of the grace of God
is that we are righteous without the law, that we are created in righteousness and true holiness
Ephesians 4:24. All we have to do is recognize and accept it—because it is a free gift
Romans 5:15, not to be earned.
Now when something happens that begins to threaten my peace, I immediately remind myself that it doesn’t matter because it isn’t happening in the kingdom of God which is our Father’s good pleasure
to give to me Luke 12:32 if I will but receive it by becoming single eyed (looking away from the without
and to the within
where our Father dwells).
Luke 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
The resulting light
dispels the darkness—as far as I am concerned. Others around me may fall
Psalms 91:7, but I remain unaffected because I am consciously aware that I am already dead
and cannot be affected. Even if this physical thing that I call body
(which is only a false concept of body
) should have the Life that controls it removed from it, that Life can never die and already has its true body eternal in the heavens
2Corinthians 5:1.
And I know that that which is true for me is also true for everyone else, even if they are unaware of it. Now I understand my purpose for being born:
John 18:37 … To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
It is by this means, and no other, that I will find it possible to live in the peace of God on a consistent basis. I am here not to save
myself or others on any level, but rather to recognize the salvation that is already ours. By becoming increasingly aware of this truth, I bear witness unto the truth
by knowing that I am in Christ
Romans 12:5 and therefore I am the truth
John 14:6.