His Peace Will Protect You
February 2019
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The peace of God is one of the greatest benefits of Calvary. Jesus paid for it, and I want it. I’m sure you would agree. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Jn. 14:27). Jesus is our peace (Eph. 2:14). If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, His atoning death on the Cross, and His resurrection, then you have God’s peace living on the inside of you. God’s peace is Jesus. Peace is also defined as “inner rest and calmness; lack of strife and war; inner quietness of spirit; fortitude of spirit.” The opposite of peace is war and strife, tiredness of spirit, and anxiety.
As a children of God, we have peace with God; there’s no more enmity with Him (Eph. 2:14). Peace with God is sometimes called “justifying” or “positional peace.” Every true believer has peace with God. It was received the moment we received Christ into our hearts by faith. It never changes. It’s not based on circumstances or even our spiritual maturity. Thank God for justifying peace!
We also can live with the peace of God in our hearts. This is sometimes called “sanctifying” or “conditional peace.” The peace of God is the inner calmness, quietness, and fortitude that He puts in our inner man (mind, heart, soul, and spirit) through Christ Jesus.
The same way that we received peace with God is the same way we walk and live with the peace of God—through believing, day by day, that Jesus paid for God’s peace to reign in us through His death on the Cross. You can’t work for it, or earn it by being a better person. His peace is a free gift.
In the time that we are living, His peace is so important in our lives that without it we would lose all faith, and our lives would spiral downward into spiritual darkness. We would be a mental mess. I can testify personally that without His peace, I would have lost all sanity a long time ago. Satan is working endlessly to steal God’s peace from God’s people (Jn. 10:10). But I declare on the authority of Christ’s shed blood and His Word that Satan is defeated! Sometimes it’s good and needed to verbalize your faith in Christ’s victory.
In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul gave us one of the most powerful statements in the Bible concerning the peace of God. He wrote, “Be careful (anxious, worried) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep (protect, guard) your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” In these verses, Paul was referring to praying in faith and letting Him know all of our needs with a heart of thanksgiving. Worry, fear, and anxiety are all things that keep us from giving every need to the Lord in prayer.
Paul was telling the believers in Philippi, “Don’t worry about anything. There’s nothing to fear. Instead, trust God and bring to Him every need knowing that He hears and will answer.” Child of God, the same word is for you today. Go to your Father in prayer and tell Him of every need. Do so with a believing and thankful heart. If He has met your needs in the past, then He will take care of you now and in the future.
By the Spirit, Paul gave a promise to us when we come to God in prayer and tell Him all our needs. If you’re fearful, you can be honest with God and tell Him. The key is that we trust Him. The promise is, “the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, will protect your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.” This is a promise that God will keep. Again, the peace of God is the inner calmness, quietness, and fortitude that He puts in our inner man (mind, heart, soul, spirit) through Christ Jesus. We can’t make it through the pressures of life or the attacks of the enemy without His peace.
The word keep in the King James Version means “to protect, guard like a military fortress.” The promise is that God’s peace would protect our “hearts.” In Romans 10:9-10, Paul wrote that true faith comes from the heart. When Paul wrote that God’s peace would protect our hearts, I believe he was implying that His peace would protect our faith in Christ and the Cross from being weakened to the point of destruction. As well, the promise was that God’s peace would protect our minds. This refers to our thinking, our thought life. Our hearts and minds are intrinsically connected. What happens in one will affect the other.
It’s critically important that our hearts (faith) and minds (thought life) are protected and guarded with God’s peace. But thank God, it’s a promise that He will keep when we bring all of our needs to Him in prayer, thankfully, and believing that He has already met and will meet every need through Jesus Christ. Jesus paid for it, so enjoy His peace.
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