A quick glance at the headlines is enough to cause a bit of anxiety in anyone’s heart. A former president arrested (stemming from an alleged affair with a porn actress). Spy balloons shot down over American soil. Black lawmakers forced out of office by a super majority white state legislation. Russia at war with an American ally. In a world that seems to be falling apart around us, how do we find peace?
Word of the Year: PEACE
My 2023 Word of the Year is peace. I’ve been contemplating this word, idea, concept over the past several months on a nearly daily basis. It began with this promise from Jesus:
““I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
John 14:27 NLT
The disciples with Jesus on the night of his arrest were promised peace. This promise to those close followers of Jesus wasn’t just for them. It was for ALL followers of Jesus through ALL ages. Peace is for you and me.
Promise from Isaiah
Peace was promised long before Jesus walked the earth. The prophet Isaiah had the unenviable task of proclaiming the downfall of Israel hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. What I love about Isaiah’s prophecies is how he wraps messages of pain with a coming hope.
In Isaiah 32, Isaiah begins with the pain the nation is about to experience:
“Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms
Isaiah 32:12-14 NLT
and your fruitful grapevines.
For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers.
Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
The palace and the city will be deserted,
and busy towns will be empty.
Wild donkeys will frolic
and flocks will graze in the empty forts and watchtowers”
This is just a taste of the heartache coming, just read more of the chapter or the book of Isaiah itself. However these few verses are plenty to get the idea. God’s coming judgment wasn’t going to be a pretty picture.
Pain Wrapped in Hope
While Isaiah foretold of the pain Israel was to endure, it wasn’t the end of the story. Isaiah wraps his message with hope.
“until at last the Spirit is poured out
Isaiah 32:15-16 NLT
on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
Justice will rule in the wilderness
and righteousness in the fertile field.”
Isaiah promised God’s Spirit will be released from heaven. It would bring the change that every man and woman hoped for. It was a promise from God. The promise was fulfilled in Jesus. The wilderness of our hearts became tamed and fertile. The areas that were already fertile became abundant to overflowing.
Justice + Righteous
How does this happen? It happens because God deals with every person justly and righteously. The pattern established with Abraham at the beginning of history is now extended to all people.
“Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.”
Romans 4:1-3, 5 NLT
Your faith in Jesus – his death on the cross and resurrection three days later – makes you righteous in the eyes of God. The justice you deserve (death) is now made right because of your faith.
Peace in Righteousness
So, what does this have to do with peace? This is when Isaiah’s picture of hope gets really good:
“And this righteousness will bring peace.
Isaiah 32:17 NLT
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.”
It’s vital you understand there are two ways you have peace through righteousness.
1. Peace with God.
First, you have peace with God. This is the justice aspect of righteousness and peace. Justice sentences you to death because of your sin, but your righteousness through faith in Jesus brings peace between you and God. God no longer has beef with you.
1. Peace in God.
But it doesn’t end there. You also have peace in God. This is what the second half of Isaiah 32:17 is referring to. Your internal and external life can be quiet, calm, reserved. Even more than that, you can have confidence looking forward — even with the world around you looks like it is going to hell in a hand basket.
Imagine that, confidence in the face of chaos!
A Picture of Peace
Isaiah paints a picture of this confidence and quietness with his last couple of lines:
“My people will live in safety, quietly at home.
Isaiah 32:18-20 NLT
They will be at rest.
Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down,
the Lord will greatly bless his people.
Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up.
Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.”
Notice the descriptive words — safety, quietly, rest, bountiful, freely. In a word, peace. But it’s not a promise of nirvana. Peace is available even when the world around you is being destroyed or torn down.
Are you ready to enter this peace?
1. Right with God.
First, you must be right with God. God is interested in justice. Peace is unavailable to you if you aren’t right with him. We must put our faith in Jesus. After we’ve chosen to follow Jesus, we can’t allow sin to separate us from God. This is having peace with God.
Are you right with God? If not, get right with him now. As God for forgiveness for whatever is between you and him. He’s ready and willing to forgive you. He wants to be at peace with you!
2. Filled with God’s Spirit.
Second, you need to power of the Spirit. Paul encourages us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He tells us, “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,” (Ephesians 5:18 NLT). That word ‘filled’ means to be continuously full. We need to refill ourselves with the Holy Spirit on a regular basis.
This is what it means to have peace in God. This kind of Spirit-led comfort creates a life of safety, quiet, rest, abundance and freedom.
Has the Spirit filled you today?
Peace is available to you.
In a world that seems to be falling apart, you can have safety, quiet, rest, abundance and freedom. It begins with finding peace with God – becoming righteous through faith. Then we get to the really good stuff when the Spirit is poured out on us.
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