The Gospel of Peace!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Don’t we want to have peace within our lives in everything that we do and in everywhere we go? I certainly do but I believe we often confuse peace of God with peace of the world. I got confused with them several times. The most recent one I remember is during holidays of Carey Baptist College. I wanted to visit somewhere and rest from theology. I got jealous from seeing all of the holiday photos on Facebook. Because of my meditation on what I am living for and why I am studying theology and I knew resting from theology is not the peace of God, I guess I was not obedient to God and trying to run away from Him.

I think I feel peace of God whenever I listen to worship music. The peace of God has overflowed within me when I was in the church other than Sundays. I also felt I had intimate peace of God while I was in the Thursday home group. I noticed this when I have gone to my home afterwards. Nevertheless, I have realised that I do not have real peace when I play games or watch television. My biggest wish probably have to be everyone having peace with one another and to God, so everyone can be reconciled under name and lordship of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:19-20; Romans 5:6-11).

In my point of view of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, God has wanted us to have peace with Him, so He has given eternal life to those who are willing to believe in Christ’s name (see Romans 6:23). I believe God has poured His Spirit into us as an evidence we are able to have peace of God during our physical lives. The Spirit of God empowers and prompt us to have relationship with Him. This is for everyone, despite of what they have done in their lives. God does not judge people by their deeds. He looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). I got prompted by the Spirit to know Jesus better when I was spiritually lost. This is how I became a follower of Christ. Because of this, I know that God has given all of my sins, such as being in the religious side. Two years later, I have received a spiritual gift, which is Christian writing. The Spirit has been empowering me to preach the gospel of Christ through writing. Thus, I have realised that being a Christian Writer is my calling from God. The plan of God amazes me because I totally did not know that God chose me to preach the gospel. Because of this, I do not mind whether I have disabilities or not. I guess this has been a sure sign of Christ’s victory in my life, even though I often have not been struggling with my disabilities before I became a Christian.

God desires to have a relationship with every one of us. This is probably because not only He has created us to be the image of God (Genesis 1:27), but we also have been predestined to be His children (Ephesians 1:4-6). Although God chooses whether He is going to pour His Spirit into people or not (John 6:63-65), we probably can ask Him for the gift of the Spirit (Luke 11:11-13). God loves us so much (John 3:16-18)!

Listen to “Perfect Place” by John Waller again. Meditate on Romans 5:6-11. Ask yourself a question today: “Am I allowing the peace of God to be overflowed within me in everything that I do and everywhere I go?” If you think you do not have it, then ask Him today for it with desires of the Spirit. It is pretty amazing!