How to Align Your Spirit with God’s Peace
Every believer should be enjoying a life of peace, because this is what Jesus offers us.
The peace Jesus offers is nothing like what the world offers. It is a deep sense of knowing that passes all understanding, regardless of what is going on in front of us. The peace the world offers is temporary because it is based on what you have and if everything in life is going the way you want it to. Worldly peace disappears once things are not going your way. If your life is moved by circumstances, you will never know stability. The peace Jesus offers us operates in good times or bad. His peace operates in the dark of the night, in the midst of a storm!
Our peace is multiplied to us in our knowledge of God (see 1 Peter 1:2). We can expect that as we grow in knowing Him, our peace grows as well. Peace is an indicator of our growth. Like everything else God offers us, we receive peace by faith, standing on what we know God has promised. This is why knowing what God has said about the peace He offers us is important; it adds to the Holy Spir- it’s arsenal of what He can stir in us when we need peace. We need the Word on peace and the Spirit of peace in our lives! When we allow the Word and the Spirit to operate in our life, peace is the result. God intends that a life of peace be our portion.
To be in faith is to be at peace. Frustration and struggle are the result of trying to control things in the natural that you cannot do any- thing about. There is no room for strife and stress in the Spirit!
But among the Israelites it will be so peaceful that not even a dog will bark. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites (Exodus 11:7 NLT).
Faith is how we receive from God and peace is the position we maintain while we await the manifestation of our faith. The peace of God is not dependent on the absence of challenges in our lives. The peace of God is our anchor through the challenges that will enable us to sail through the other side. Peace is a shield around us in the midst of any challenge that the enemy tries to bring our way.
The enemy wants to steal our peace because the only way he can get to us is if we are not in peace. The Holy Spirit works in an atmosphere of peace. The enemy works in an atmosphere of turmoil. This is why Jesus offered us His peace: so we can have the Holy Spirit in operation in our life at all times. His peace is our strength. When we choose peace, we are choosing to go ahead with our life while God works on our behalf.
For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father [of Eternity], Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6 AMPC).
There is no stress and strain in faith. Peace is the rightful position of the believer because peace is a gift that Jesus Himself has left us.
In a world so desperately seeking peace, God offers us peace as a guard for our hearts and minds.
Maintaining Peace
In order to overcome in every area of our lives and maintain peace of heart and mind, we have to do something. We must make up our minds that we are going to overcome every attack or trick of the devil. We must make up our minds that the devil is not going to run over us. We cannot let the devil harass, pressure, torment, or cause us to be full of anxiety.
Peace or “unpeace” come down to a choice: Believe Jesus and His Word, or believe the devil and his lies. We choose whether to stay in Jesus’ peace or open the door to “unpeace.”
When I opened the door to “unpeace,” I got into a place of depression. I didn’t recognize what it was at first because I had never experienced it before. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I had opened the door to depression because of my foolishness in taking offense, and I told God, Well, if that’s the way Your people are, I don’t need to be in ministry. I quit.
Because I took offense and got a wrong attitude, I opened the door for the enemy and lost my peace. I quit ministering. In my mind, I was in hell.
Many times, a good day for me was to get out of bed, walk across the bedroom floor, and sit down in the chair that was closest to me in the room. That was a good day. But was that peace? No, of course not!
I knew that God loved me and I loved Him more than anything in my life. His love brought me out of depression, and as I began to come out, there was peace. Boldness also came with this peace. It didn’t matter what man or the devil said, I was not going to allow anyone or anything ever again to rob me of my peace. I was determined to maintain my peace and joy then, and I am just as determined now to maintain my peace and joy.
Since then I have had many opportunities to walk in unrest and “unpeace.” But that day when I came out of depression and made my decision to obey the Lord and maintain my peace, I came out with a boldness that declared it didn’t matter if people did not understand or receive my ministry gift. Because God gave me my gift, no man, devil, or anything else is going to keep me from ministering the way the Lord called me to minister. Now when I stand in the boldness of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I intend to do and say exactly what He says—nothing more and nothing less.
Every day I choose to maintain my peace, and you can maintain peace in every area of your life too. You just have to decide that you’ve had enough “unpeace” and discipline yourself to maintain His peace. You need to do this on a daily basis.
I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people (Psalm 85:8 NLT).
You discipline yourself to maintain His peace by making time each day to meet with the Lord. I know that may seem impossible because of all the demands on your time. but you don’t have to start out with thirty minutes or even an hour. Maybe you can only take five or ten minutes a day to sit quietly before the Lord and let Him love on you. The important thing is to make time in your day for being with Jesus so that you can experience His love and peace.
The mind goes into neutral when we sit quietly and begin to pray in the Spirit. As we pray in the Spirit and speak forth the praises of God, our spirit man begins to rise up and the Holy Spirit begins to rise within us. We begin to confess scriptures that bring peace to us, so that when we get up from that time with the Lord, we are in peace.
The devil will bombard us with thoughts that we have no business thinking. Our minds will be running so fast that we can’t think or make sense of what is what. Then we get frustrated. But God wants us to maintain peace. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33 NIV).
That’s why we must pray in the Spirit (pray in tongues). Our recreated spirits know and understand God and His Word, but our minds and bodies don’t. We have to do something to bring them in line with the Word of God and the spirit man. God created our bodies to function perfectly normal without any interruptions, foreign objects, or anything else.
I thank God every day that I am full of the life of God and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I have the spirit of might that fills me through and through—every cell, bone, joint, vessel, artery—everything! There is no room or place for anything in my body that God did not create. This means that everything in my body must function as He created it to function and for the purpose He created it for.
If something is out of kilter, we have to put God’s Word in our minds.
