Having peace is a vital part of kingdom life and one which is only too relevant in the times we are living in.

Romans 5:1 informs us that as born again believers “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
However the key for us and the big question is this:

Do we have peace with ourselves?

We can all identify times in our life when peace seems to evade us in a big way. The world is constantly struggling to find peace and yet Galatians 5:22 shows us that peace is a fruit of the Spirit. This confirms for us what Romans tells us that as God’s people we should be walking in a level of peace that defies circumstances of life that we may be facing. Yet this may not be the reality of our life. So lets take some time to understand what we mean by the peace of God so we can apply it and live in its power on a daily basis.

We may be familiar with the Jewish greeting for peace in the word shalom, which means a completeness and well being, nothing missing and nothing broken. The Greek equivalent was “eirene”, which simply meant an absence of war. However in NT times it reflected more of a sense of peace with God so an inward peace would follow.

We would all recognise this because in our home life peace is much more than an absence of war or strife in our family but an active coming together with completeness and well being.
So if we fall out at night we may turn over and say nothing so there is peace. However there is certainly no well being if you do that.
Jesus give us an insight into the kind of peace He has for us in John 14:27.
He tells us that he has peace to give us and it is different to anything the world knows. It is a prevailing peace even if there is war going on around you. Now that kind of peace is something worth having. To have a peace that would calm our heart and make us untroubled by the things that would hold back our life is an awesome prospect.

Indeed after the resurrection Jesus walks through walls to His disciples and declares “peace be with you” You know I believe we are only just getting a hold of the fulness of this aspect of what we receive of Jesus when we ask him into our hearts.
Peace is a part of what he gives so that we may live victorious kingdom lives no matter what is going on around us.

You may not feel like there is a great deal of peace in your life and personal situation but peace is a fruit of the Spirit. You do  have the Spirit of God in you as a child of God and therefore peace is there also. You may not have activated it so it is dominating or bearing the fruit that it carries, but you have it.

Philippians 4:7 tells us that the peace of God will guard our heart and mind. Elsewhere we are encouraged to allow His peace to rule our heart. So we have to put this up against the mirror of our experience and determine that it can be different for us as we allow His peace to be the benchmark by which we conduct ourselves. We have to believe the truth of what we really are in Christ and pursue the peace that is ours.

This is also something that we should expect to find in our church life. That does not mean it must be a place of quiet hush where nobody speaks or moves. Rather it should be a place where you feel the most complete. The devil would love to sow strife in church but we can effect the atmosphere by staying in peace and pursuing peace with other members of our churches.

In our homes we must also pursue peace. That does not mean we turn up the TV so we can’t hear the kids shouting but that we actively work to bring peace in the family.

If this all seems daunting do not worry. Seek after God’s help. He is the author and prince of peace and He reigns in your heart
Declare out loud “I do have peace, completeness and well being in myself and in my home”
Allow that to go deep into your spirit and lift you in a way that nothing else can.

When there is peace in you others will see it and experience it in a powerful way. If there is no peace it will transfer to other things-like the house. Does your home reflect you at peace or do you need to do something to change it? Well, I believe it is possible by walking in the peace of the kingdom life God gives us

2 Thessalonians 3:16 says “ May the God of peace give you peace always in every way”

That is a wonderful thought. We can have peace always in every way. Not just sometimes when all is well but now in every area of life. So receive it. You have a right to live a kingdom life full of peace