Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” (Luke 24:36)
It is no accident that the first thing Jesus said to His disciples was, “Peace be unto you.” His resurrection was the way they would all find complete and eternal peace with God. But His peace was not only a heaven or hell issue; it was also an everyday issue. Just as every sport has officials to settle any disputes, the peace of God is now our umpire that settles all disputes regarding His will for our lives. We must learn to listen to and heed the peace of God in our hearts.
God’s peace is something that every born-again believer has. It’s a fruit of the Spirit. That peace is always calling the shots; we just don’t always pay attention. How many times have we acted contrary to the peace in our hearts and then experienced disaster? We then say, “I never did feel good about that.” That was the peace of God trying to tell us not to go that way, but we chose to play by our own rules and reason.
There are some things you can do to facilitate the peace of God umpiring in your heart. First, consider all the options. Don’t let fear rule out God’s possibilities. Next, use your imagination to explore what will happen with each choice. You should be able to discern a greater peace as you consider the option the Lord would have you take. Just as an umpire has to make a call, be bold enough to follow the direction that gives you the most peace.
The rudder on a ship will not work until the ship is moving. The ship doesn’t have to be going full-steam ahead for the rudder to work, but it does have to be moving. Likewise, we have to act before the peace of God will give us perfect direction. Even if you make a mistake, you will have made it in faith, trying to follow the peace of God in your heart. The Lord can bless a wrong decision made in faith from a pure heart, but He cannot bless indecision and lack of faith [simple_tooltip content=’But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.’](Rom. 14:23)[/simple_tooltip]. So act in faith and upon peace today; and if you make a wrong turn, you will know, and the Holy Spirit will get you back on track.
