The Simplicity of Peace

From my new book Pursuing Peace - Finding God's Peace in a Stressful Life

“There is just something about practice. Nobody likes it. Everyone wants to be an expert and right now. Over the years, my employees have typically wanted to make more money but they didn’t want to put the time in to learn the skills that came with more money. My son Dalton loved his new bike till he realized that it wasn’t so fun after Daddy took the training wheels off. He just wanted to ride. When I got my first guitar I drove my dad nuts playing the E string. But how was I going to learn the Blues if I didn’t build one callous on one finger at a time?

Life takes practice. Working with people takes practice. Marriages take practice. Patience takes practice. My wife Alice will probably tell you that I’m taking my novice lessons in patience to this day. But becoming a Christian who lives in peace and walks in joy takes practice. And by practice I mean Practicing His Presence.

Peace comes when you get close to God. There is no stress in heaven. Heaven is glorious and peaceful. So the closer you can get to heaven the closer you can get to peace. But to get closer to heaven you have to get closer to God. And to get closer to God you must come to Him in spirit because He is Spirit.

“For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” – John 4:24 (NLT)

To worship God is to live with Him. When we walk in spirit with Christ we worship him. When we obey Him we worship Him. When we recognize Him in our daily walk and shape our decisions on our reality that He is there with us, then we worship Him.

“For we who worship by the Spirit of God…” – Philippians 3:3 (NLT)

The verb here for worship, latreuo, means to render religious service or homage.” Paul goes on to say that, “we put no confidence in human effort. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done.” So if we are merely resting in the Lord then we are honoring Him. He has done all that needs to be done. We are simply in His presence. And for a man or woman with limited time on this earth to stop and rest in the presence of God – this shows honor for Him.” CH8 Practicing His Presence

We need to not make peace more complicated than it really is. If you are striving to better your relationship with God then you will find that the Prince of Peace will stir up the peace that already indwells you (the Christian). It’s already inside; just waiting to get out. Last week’s blog discusses the great command of Christ to love God and others as yourself. Applying that in your everyday life will bring forth the peace of God in a powerful way. My book discusses many ways that you can do this in common examples that we can all relate to. Keep it simple! Start hanging out with God and you'll see the transformation take place.