Tuesday, August 14, 2018 – Ephesians 6:23
Having the Peace of God in your Life Pt. 3,
The Hindrances to Peace in your Life Pt. 2.
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.
Eph 6:23, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith,
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
There are several
hindrances to your inner peace, mostly stemming from a negative mental
attitude. Just as righteousness and truth are the noble companions of peace, so
sin and falsehood are its great hindrances.
It is God’s desire for you to live in all manners of peace: Peace
with God, Peace of conscience, Peace among ourselves. Yet, there are three evil
masters that can sap the peace and joy out of your life: Worry, Anxiety, and
Striving, Luke 12:22-29; cf., Mat 6:25-34.
Our Lord tells us not to worry, have anxiety, nor strive for
even the most basic necessities of life, as He is a loving and caring God who
can provide all these things and more.
Mat 6:34, “So do not
worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough
trouble of its own.”
1 Peter 5:7, “Casting
all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
John 14:27, “Peace I
leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to
you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
Prov 12:20, “Deceit
is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy.”
Emotions can be a believer’s worst enemy. We must recognize
Satan’s lies and identify feelings that are not in line with God’s Word.
Worry is, and always will be, a fatal disease of the heart,
for its beginning signals the end of faith.
Worry intrudes on God’s compassionate ability to provide.
When we allow our problems to overshadow God’s promises, we unknowingly, doom
ourselves to a defeat that was never part of God’s eternal plans.
The Lord has a plan to provide peace in the pressure of
life. If we do not learn to trust Him, we will not go any farther on our
journey with Him.
Psa 4:8, “In peace (shalom) I will
both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.”
Psa 29:11, “The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace.”
Psa 55:18, “He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me, for they are many who strive with me.”
Psa 119:165, “Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing
causes them to stumble.”
Heb 13:20, “Now the God of peace, who brought up
from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal
covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21equip
you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in
His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be
the glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Rom 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush
Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
In real life, when we walk in faith, God intercepts the
problems and interjects wonderful vertical truths to guide us through our
lives, especially regarding worry. As His disciples, we must operate our lives
in the power of His Word and the energy of the Spirit, and not in the energy of
the flesh.
Many times, life can only be understood backwards, but it
must be lived forwards. The scriptures provide us with the backwards view of
life while we are living it in a forwards mode. “Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward (vertical view point) to what lies ahead,” Phil 3:13. Live
life with a vertical mind. Keep thinking the things above, Col 3:1-2.
When, as a believer in Jesus Christ, you have been faithful
in the reception, retention, and recall of Bible doctrine and have advanced to
spiritual maturity; you are not only a strong person, but you have great inner
happiness. You then take the peace of God with you wherever you go.
Peace is not dependent on environment, associations, or
circumstances of prosperity or adversity. It is a part of God’s grace plan for
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. True peace and happiness is a system of
thought in the soul, not association with stimulation or pleasure, Prov 3:13-18; Rom 5:1-5.
Therefore, do not worry, do not strive, do not be anxious,
but trust the Lord who knows your need, seek His kingdom, focus on the eternal
and follow God’s plan for your life, your finances, your relationships, etc.,
and your future.
We must release the regrets of yesterday, refuse the fears
of tomorrow, and receive instead, the peace of today. Simply let go and let God
be God. To do so we trust, we maintain a focus on the eternal, and we do what
the scripture tells us to do, just as Paul did and tells us to do as well, Phil 4:6-9.
Determine how you will handle
things that come your way. Believe that God loves you unconditionally and trust
Him for direction. Measure everything by His Word instead of feelings. His
peace will come when you believe Him more than lies and emotions.
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