Chapter 6 in the book Be Fresh Fruit by Jessica Linhart
https://youtu.be/0QceJahloeM?si=o1prTPPq4JBJojaM
Thus far, we have become experts on two fruits of the Spirit. First Paul introduced us to love and love is above all. Next, we examined how Christians obtain joy and we can rejoice always. The focus of the next chapter is on the topic of peace. How do we have peace? And why do we pursue peace?
The first question that God brought into my mind today was: “Why can’t I just have a little peace?”
I suppose that this plea could also be a family member trying to avoid the chaos at home, a teacher barricaded in a classroom with energetic children all day, or a patient trapped in a vortex of blood work, images, procedures, and unchangeable results. We ask where is peace? Is peace on Earth possible? I ask God “Where can I find peace today? And the unctioning of the Holy Ghost instructed me to dive into His Word.
Let’s consider the following Scripture: “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7) (NKJV)
When the Bible speaks the phrases “the peace of God that can shield our hearts and minds.” He is not speaking about the absence of disturbances (in our lives) like talking, singing, or sirens in our environment. God’s peace grants us assurance that all is right in our soul! This is why we can sing “It is well with my soul.” This peace allows us to rest on our pillows at night. We know if we die that God has been an enteral home in heaven for us. It is not made by human hands. It has walls of jewels, streets of gold, crystal clear seas and there is no sin, no sickness, and no tears. We will have a new and glorious body. One that is like God’s.
We often find the investigation of peace a difficult and a trying task. It almost seems senseless and impossible, because we are fighting against powers that we cannot see and touch. In fact, there will not be peace until Christ comes to collect His children or we go to Heaven by the way of the grave. Therefore, peace is beyond our ability to understand and if we can’t understand peace then how are we going to reach peace in our life?
But, according to scripture, we can obtain peace in our hearts and in our minds. For example, forgiveness brings peace. The Holy Ghost in us allows us to forgive others. When we stop fighting and/or stop disagreeing with someone or some group we can start living together. In this way God brings unity and not isolation. The Holy Ghost delivers to us peace and He sustains peace in our lives. Then, when others witnesses such actions from us they say we must be Christians, because they have seen “the fruit of the Spirit” in our lives.
Let’s move one in the verse (NKJV): “Guard your hearts and minds:” The word to guard is one of action. In fact, “to guard” speaks of a military action. So, if the Holy Spirit must be a guard over us then we feel that we are not at peace or that we can lose peace. For example, with the Holy Spirit we all can be peace makers. This fruit of the Spirit follows a Christian because we are the ones in the world who seek to find ways to make peace. Christians should always forgive and search for ways to reconcile with others. When God removes the Holy Ghost from the Earth there will be very little peace, love, and joy because these are fruits of the Spirit and we are not born with such love, such joy, and such peace. The peace of God then does act as a guard for hearts and minds.
Again, to have the peace {Fruits of the Spirit} present in your life you must be one of God’s children who have been adopted. We are adopted because we have repented from our sins, (turned from our wicked ways) and accepted the blood of Jesus Christ.
Now that we are reborn and house the Holy Spirit He directs our thoughts from trouble, wars, rumors of war, and things that would kill our peace. He does this to guard our hearts and minds. Therefore, enacting the advice of Philippians 4:7 will bring holiness. The Holy Spirit changes our focus to the ideals mentioned in the next verse. Philippians 4:7 (KJV)
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
Therefore, we should focus on Jesus and fixate our eyes upon Him. These things renew the Spirit and get us to be in constant commune with Him.
Paul’s list of ideals are as follow:
“Noble… just… pure… lovely… good report… virtue… praiseworthy” For example, my life operates on a schedule. Some days I literally have a list of tasks that I check off. However, if I miss one task, I become anxious at night and lose sleep. Suppose we made a check off sheet that includes what is noble, just, pure, virtuous, and praiseworthy. Then we checked off each night how we were noble, just, pure, lovely, and virtuous. Would we consider the day to be a failure if our minds did not ponder on these things? Would we consider this an act of failure? Would we lose sleep over it? How seriously are we about allowing God to guard our hearts?
Therefore, I agree with Paul that this list is food for the mind. I also believe that we are guarded by the peace of God. When we put these good things into our mind, they stay in our mind and then come forth causing the Spirit of depression amongst the other troubles of life to leave us.
Thus, much of the Christian life comes down to the heart and the mind. Now, let us examine the meaning of Romans 12:2. It speaks of the essential place of being transformed by the renewing of your mind and 2 Corinthians 10:5 speaks of the importance of not arguing which obtains peace.
Basically, we have just learned to throw away every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Finally, keeping a peaceful heart and attitude depends on what we feed our minds. Therefore, what we choose to meditate on such matters.
When we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are blessed with the comforter. The comforters give us peace, love and joy. Doing what we want when we want will keep us from producing fruit. However, when we have the Holy Ghost, we no longer live from problem to problem. Living from problem to problem is spending all your time trying to be less anxious and more confident. For example, I was so focused on checking off my daily tasks that I was living my life with blinders on. I put that down and began reacting to everyone’s requests and trying to meet everyone’s expectations that I became stuck in a rut! This is exactly where Satan wants us; Isolated and weak!
Then, I listened to Holy Ghost! Progress requires a vision from God and to have peace we must let go to move forward. We must submit to God and allow the Holy Ghost free reign in our life. Then, peace, joy, and love will become evident in our life. Once we have submitted to God and the vision of God it is totally understood that we can begin our work in the kingdom.
This is why people say, “we are only passing through and we are on a pilgrimage.”
Now, let’s flip over to: Romans 15:13. Here is what it says: Romans 15:13:
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. This means because of our faith in Jesus Christ we belong to him. We Are the family of God. Through Jesus Christ we belong in His kingdom. All of this gives us peace.
Yes, this is the peace that God made and supplied for us through Jesus Christ his son. This prophecy of peace was set up for every person! Peace, therefore, is a God thing! Peace begins and ends with God. God created it and he sustains it.
Where is it in the scripture? My response is that there are many places, but let’s turn to Ephesians 2:14-18.
Ephesians 2:14-18 King James Version “14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”
In a nutshell, we just read that Paul said that Godly peace comes to us through the blood of Jesus Christ. So, I know we just went down a rabbit trail, but this is given to us when we are saved and filled with the Spirit. This peace works through the Holy Ghost to minister to others. The Holy Ghost is what we have that resides in us that produces peace to Us and Through our being. Yes, is peace a Christian feel when their sins have been forgiven and our future is secure in God.
Wow, I just want to take time right now to thank God. What peace I feel to know that my burdens has been lifted. This is the peace we all feel and experience knowing that God loves us and that we are children of God.
True peace is knowing for sure, when my life ‘s battle here on earth has passed away; that I have a life evermore; in a land that we call heaven. Where perfect peace and tranquility never ends.
The peace of eternity would have been enough but God gives us another peace that God gives when we have the right relationship with him? For example, in Matthew 6 Jesus tells us that we are not let fear and anxiety rule our lives. Fear and anxiety does not allow us to have peace. Let’s read Matthew 6:25-26.
Matthew 6:25-34, {King James Version} “25 Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Here, Jesus is warning us about anxiety. Jesus himself warns us about fear and anxious feelings will steel our peace. Fear and anxiety block peace, joy, and love from our lives. My friends, let’s not be troubled by the things of this life. It’s easy to get mixed up in politics. It’s easy to be afraid if we have a disease or an illness, such as, cancer or HIV. But if we have the Holy Spirit we have the fruits of the spirit peace, Love, and joy.
Once, we realize that we give God all of our being. This brings us peace of mind, because life is controlled by God and we no longer have to being charge. For example, at my church God provides food and clothing for our pantries, and he gives us what we need for our daily lunch program. We are ever so thankful. But we have peace because of God’s providence.
Now, just because God is in control of all things does not mean that the Christian will never indoor trials, temptations, disputes, problems, and tragedies. This only means that we will have peace to endure those things. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, and he provides what we need the second that we need it. For example, just because we are having a bad day does not give us the right to take out our frustrations on other people. We are to look inward for the peace that we need in those times. Because we have the Holy Spirit, we will have peace that passes all understanding.
God wants each one of us to be able to become the peacemaker. For example, check out the following scripture: Matthew 5:9, King James Version, “9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
Therefore, He calls us to a higher standard. Because God has made peace with us and he gives us the ability to have peace; we should, be able to pursue peace, because we have the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. We can have peace with each other, because we have love for the brethren, and our joy comes from our interactions with the brethren. Because we have the fruits of the Spirit, we should be able to “get along!”
With that being said, God does not expect us to have control over whether our country gets along with another country. The following scripture tells us we are at war with the high powers. Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
I think we all realize that conflicts and disagreements are just a part of life that we must learn to deal with and in some cases cope with. We must pick our battles and choose them wisely. Sometimes, there is a time to take a stand and sometimes there is a time to be a bystander. Sometimes, we can get in a battle with someone we shouldn’t be battling with, because they are spiritually immature.
We need to be able to avoid disputes, but when we are in a dispute, we need to learn how to resolve them in a god like manner. There are times in life that conflict is just unnecessary, but there are times in life that conflict is necessary. Handling conflict in a godly manner is how we pursue peace.
We need to remember that although we disagree; we are all subject to one master. The scripture tells us that we are not to try to enforce what we want on another person. This verse tells us that our will needs to be turned in to the will of God. We need to seek the will of God to have peace with one another. We also need to remember that He sees all of us as equal people created in his image. We truly serve an awesome God he fully understands what we’re going through and while we are going through it. He is always fair, honest, and chest. This is why we can truly have peace with one another.
The next step, that Paul told the Romans, in order to solve the conflict: is that we should remember the first commandment. The commandment to love God with all your body soul and mind. Then to love one another as yourself. When I enter a conflict, I almost always ask the following questions: “what is the most loving thing to do in this situation? What would I want done if the roles were reversed?” Sadly, when I see conflict within the church I see people just wanting to be right. We want to be right so much that we forget about being loving toward each other. Paul then says yes and Romans 14:19, “19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” This means that God created all things on the earth, in the earth, and around the earth. Therefore, animals of any kind are now free to eat. Sam, are healthier for us than others, but since God created everything we have the freedom to partake of them. The problem comes in when the children of God do not exercise love. I mean, if you are holding something over someone’s head, then you are not exercising Christian love. When we partake in teasing one another about the simplest or minute things it’s not good moral character and it does not come from a place of love. When we exhibit this type of behavior, we simply cannot have peace with one another. When we simply do what is right in our eyes it can hurt other people. We are not to hurt our brothers and sisters in Christ. God calls us to love them. He calls us to love them one by one. He calls us unconditional love. It is with this love that we can have peace. Peace is a product of love.
