Be at Peace

Do you see yourself as belonging to Christ? As one who leads you and then you doing what he says? If not, then it is time to change our perspective in life. The enemy of our souls means for things in our lives to bring destruction - not hope. The God of our souls means for us to have purpose, intentional movement, and authority over sin in our lives. This is a totally different perspective, isn't it? Regular people who go to church on a regular basis don't always know God in an intimate way. We all have the potential to be great in God's kingdom, but it is only to the degree we allow his authority in our lives and us taking advantage of the tools he gives us in his kingdom.

But you are a chosen group of people. You are the King’s religious leaders. You are a holy nation. You belong to God. He has done this for you so you can tell others how God has called you out of darkness into His great light. (I Peter 2:9)

God sees us as 'royalty' - chosen, not flawless. God knows we will have 'flaws', but that doesn't decrease our place in his kingdom because he has called us out of darkness and into his light. If we have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we operate in his kingdom with all the authority he gives us. Oftentimes we see ourselves quite differently, though. We don't see ourselves as people of 'authority' - but as beaten down, sin-filled, and 'flawed' in many ways. Yes, we are flawed, but we are set apart by God to operate in his authority! Set apart - not without authority or power - but with full and complete authority in Christ Jesus.

God wants us to understand our authority and he gives us many ways to come into that understanding. The first is his Word - for his Word is powerful. We don't need to listen to the voice of fear, nor the voice of 'self-doubt'. We are in close relationship with Jesus - that means we have all power. His Word within us is a 'bolstering' agent - it builds us up time and time again. If you are never in his Word, you will not have it there when we are faced with fearful things - remember, we need not live 'in fear' - we live 'above fear' because God is with us in all things. We never fully understand this without the regular and consistent intake of his Word.

God wants to be gracious to us - he wants us to have peace. If we are always going 'by our feelings', we will never really know or understand peace. Royal people have a way of declaring peace in the land in which they live. We can live in peace even when things around us don't seem to be declaring peace. The Word of God dwelling richly in our lives gives us the power to 'speak' peace into the midst of our lives. We learn to live 'in peace' through is Word. Peace begins in our heart and then it begins to affect our homes. As our homes are impacted by peace, it is just a short 'jaunt' to begin to affect our world with that same peace. Just sayin!