One of the greatest treasures available to you is to live in a world of peace–internal peace that overrides the storms of life. Yet everything we face in life seeks to steal the power of peace acting as a reality in your life.
Want to know if you carry a powerful revelation of peace in your life? There are three tests that reveal the level of peace you actually carry:
1. The Litmus Test of God’s Peace
Sit down and get quiet. Cease from the busyness of the mind and constant activity. See how long it takes to quiet the many thoughts and voices that clammer for your attention. Try to get still and comfortable in the quiet.
For many, this can be excruciating. Their bodies get jittery and minds start racing. Maybe unresolved pain rises to the surface, and they quickly get busy to mask the pain. Or it may be an endless list of things to do that drive us out of stillness to go, go, go.
For others, being still causes them to fall asleep or numb out. They have a deceptive reference for peace, but they are not mindful, present or fully engaged. Being checked out in life does not grant us peace.
Solitude often reveals the need for peace to become a greater reality. I find that when I get quiet, it often reveals how much peace I am not connecting to, thus showing my need to embrace peace at a deeper level. The need is great, because the world is at war with the peace I have within me.
2. The Test of Trials
We can also see what has been cultivated in our hearts is when trials and adversity come against us. They often steal our peace quickly. As the testing of our faith comes against us, one of the treasures that needs to be guarded over is the peace of God in our hearts.
Many times trials call us to deepen our walk with the peace of God. I have found that seasons of resistance reveal how little peace I am cultivating in my life. The good news is that those times of testing are seasons where we often have an opportunity to strengthen our connection to peace.
Building Blocks of Peace
Paul taught in Romans 14:17 that the Kingdom of God is “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
I believe there is a divine order to this listing. As the Holy Spirit of God leads us to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, this opens up an opportunity for us to walk in righteousness (right standing with God) by grace through faith. That is the first level of peace: receiving peace with God.
Then, as a continued progression, the Holy Spirit leads us to grow us in the peace of God. For many of us, this process involves confronting certain fear patterns while shedding off layers of survival habits that keep us from possessing the peace of God.
3. Joy and the Peace of God
Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. . .
Another simple test is to ask, “is joy manifesting in your life?” Joy and peace have a relationship with each other. In fact, joy can work effectively on the foundation of God’s peace. It says, “I can celebrate, laugh and live brightly because I am at peace within.”
In the atmosphere of peace, joy has a greater opportunity to manifest. When a lifestyle of peace is cultivated, the joy of the Lord has a greater opportunity to manifest itself. But I have often found that joy has a difficult time being sustained in the life of someone who does not consistently maintain a lifestyle of walking in God’s peace.
Try to advise someone who lacks peace to consistently engage in expressions of joy, whether it is laughter, dance or other exuberant expressions. Unless the anointing of God breaks through, you will not usually see long term positive results. If anything, the expressions will be forced and artificial at best.
Why? This pattern occurs because joy usually has room to operate in one who has the freedom of Christ and is walking in peace. Without that peace, most of the time, there are only temporary spurts of half-hearted elation, leading people to chase after “highs” rather than walking in lasting joyfulness.
For those who have battled fear in their life in any form, whether it be phobias, panic, anxiety, worry or stress, one of the greatest gifts of God gets robbed – supernatural peace. This must be regained if we are to walk into the promised land of freedom and receive our joy.
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