Peace
Fruit of the Holy Spirit Peace!
Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
One of the definitions for peace is the absence of conflict. According to Paul in Galatians we have a war (a conflict) waging inside us. Our flesh doesn’t like our Spirit and our Spirit doesn’t like our flesh, there lies the conflict! If we have asked The Lord Jesus Christ to be our Lord and savior and have received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is winning the war against our flesh and making us more like Christ, who is the King of peace! True peace only truly comes when we submit to the Holy Spirit and have crucified the flesh through God’s loving grace!
The word of God says perfect love casts out all fear! God is perfect love, so by submitting to Him through grace (God’s unmerited favor and power)we have truth and peace!
God has been teaching me a lot about this conflict that wages in all of us. One day while I was out evangelizing I came across an older man that was in his 90’s. This man was definitely a Holy man and God had definitely blessed him with strength and a healthy body! Believe or not He only looked like he was in His mid 60’s. This man was able to do work I would have a tough time doing at my current age! When I first met this man my spirit was in awe of Him, but then I felt something that scared me, I felt a darkness overcome me.
After leaving this man's presents I asked the Lord what it was I was feeling, He answered me later that day! The Lord reminded me about Galatians 5 and how Paul states we have an eternal war waging within us, how The Holy Spirit does not like the flesh( our corrupt nature)and the flesh(corrupt nature)does not like the Holy Spirit. And then God asked me a question. He asked me how do you think your corrupt nature, the flesh, feels about someone else's Spirit, especially a Holy man. See, our corrupt nature wants to put Christ back on the Cross. My corrupt nature saw Christ in this elderly man filled with the Holy Spirit. In 1 John, John tells us to Discern the spirit. I believe this is not only others' spirit, I believe it is our own spirit as well. Am I walking and feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit or am I feeling the presence of my corrupt nature that is my flesh and can be influenced by the devil.
True peace with us and others is when we submit to God’s teaching and His Spirit, the Holy Spirit! This experience has changed my outlook on how I look at people. I used to look at people and think that I clearly knew who was my enemy and who was my friend. Now when I have a conflict with someone or interact with them I discern the person's Spirit to determine if that person was in the Spirit or in the flesh their corrupt nature. This allows me to not always believe that I have a clear-cut enemy or friend. I find that I do not judge people as much and consider them my enemies. Again true peace within us and between others only comes when we totally submit to the Holy Spirit through grace!
Many of you might be judging me right now, but I challenge you to truly listen to yourself! Whenever you have jealousy, hate, or any other thought that doesn’t line us with God’s character, test the Spirit and ask God for the true source!
