Peace, is that you???

"The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." Romans 8:6
Peace will always accompany God's voice.


If you have a sense of peace in your heart about a situation, it is a strong indication that God is leading you there. Of course, it is never wise to discern God's leading, especially about major decisions, based on peace alone. I always ask God to confirm His voice to me...and He always does. As we continue exploring the various ways God speaks, we will talk more about interpreting God's voice through many channels.



As we discussed last time, God is the Prince of Peace and He promises peace to those who trust Him. It is a fruit of the Spirit. But while peace cannot be separated from God's character, it is nearly impossible to judge in someone else. And is sometimes difficult to discern even within ourselves.


I don't know about you, but I've had people tell me they feel "peace" about situations that make every alarm of my inner spirit scream "NOT GOD! NOT GOD! NOT GOD!" I confess that many times, especially early in my Christian walk, I grossly misinterpreted a "good feeling" as the peace of God. I made some big mistakes following what I thought was God's peace.


So how do we know when the warms fuzzies are God's peace...or something else?

Well, let's start by taking a look at a few things that could be misinterpreted as peace in our hearts:

1. Relief that a decision has been made. I personally hate to be in limbo for too long and prefer to know exactly where I'm headed. That causes problems for me in the peace department. Sometimes if I wrestle with decisions for long periods of time, the simple act of finally deciding to go one way or another can feel a lot like God's peace.
2. Release from discomfort or responsibility. When we leave an extremely uncomfortable or stressful situation, especially one that has been uncomfortable and stressful for a long time, we can easily think it is "peace" to escape it. And it very well may be more peaceful to walk away from a difficult circumstance than to stay in it. But we cannot confuse the "release" with God's peace. This can be especially dangerous when we are considering a job change, a relocation or a divorce. For the record, God often leads us to endure painful trials to perfect our faith. We can't always assume that the path of least resistance is the path to God's peace. God is able to sustain us through any situation, no matter how difficult.
3. A met need. Food, shelter, clothing...love, attention, affection. Just because someone or something is meeting our needs, it does not necessarily mean it is God leading us there. In fact, many times God leads us to a desolate place...a needy place...so that we will turn to Him and allow Him to be our sole Provider.
4. A met desire. Lust, wealth, power...sometimes the lure of our flesh and the satisfaction of those desires feels so "right." I believe our flesh is one of the loudest, most persistent voices within us. It incessantly screams for attention. When we finally give in to what the flesh wants, it feels good...but that is definitely not God's peace. It's very difficult to tell one from the other...which is why will discuss this one at greater length in a later post.

The peace of God is one of the most powerful weapons in our spiritual arsenal, giving us the ability to over ride every natural impulse. Strengthening us when we feel like we cannot take one more step on our weary path. Removing anxiety during scary situations and erecting a hedge of protection around our hearts and minds that the Enemy cannot penetrate.

Peace literally allows us to transcend unthinkable circumstances.

Indeed, peace sounds an awful lot like God.