Release and Feel the Peace
12/08/2024
2 Thessalonians 3:16 - “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
This is the second week of Advent when we consider Peace. We encounter many kinds of peace in our lives: peace of mind, peace of body; we pray for world peace, and seek peace within our own relationships and our very souls.
When we can look at peace from more than one perspective, we begin to understand it more fully. Jesus told us in John 14:27 - “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” So, there are at least two perspectives when we experience peace: as the world gives, and as Christ gives. There is a worldly peace “out there”, and a spiritual peace “in here.”
‘Out there’ is easy to understand; it is what our minds know. It is what we see, hear, and experience. Peace is defined by dictionaries as a state of harmony characterized by the lack of conflict. This lack of conflict can apply to interpersonal relationships as well as circumstances. Worldly peace is often temporary and conditional. It depends on external factors like political stability, personal success or finances, or material wealth. This kind of peace can be fleeting and unreliable, as it doesn’t address the deeper issues of the human heart and soul. This peace is ‘of the world’. But it is easy to measure: Are we, or are we not, in conflict with someone or something?
The inner experience is more difficult to recognize, quantify, and it has the most effect on our being. We sense peace as we enter our ‘inner chamber’ and listen for that ‘still small voice’ and abandon all earthly conflicts. To use my favorite example … worldly peace is being on a freeway with sparse traffic and no one merging in and cutting us off. The peace of God is being on a busy freeway, and when someone cuts us off, we do not respond emotionally. At all. We are calm and we have no internal conflict. That is the peace of Christ, inner peace.
We release and feel the peace. We let loose our old habits of reacting with anger when something ‘out there’ pushes our buttons, and when we do, we feel the peace of God in and around us.
Isaiah 11:6-9 reads: The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
I understand this prophecy to refer to the birthing of Christ in our conscious awareness, a personal knowing within our minds and hearts. When we dwell on Christ’s presence and open our lives to the flow of God’s Spirit through us, we begin to balance the human ego and our true spiritual nature. The darker characteristics that prey on our gentler, more loving aspects, are tamed. Our wolf nature lives in peace with our lamb nature.
This does not mean that we are weak, timid, or skittish. The cattle and the bears are part of the oneness of God. Our dark and light sides are part of the oneness of who we are. We don’t need to give in to the dark, we can simply love both aspects of us and allow them to manifest in our lives under the guidance of Christ. Through Christ, anger is transformed into determination and purpose and is directed toward solving problems; our fears balance our impetuosity.
When we are living in Christ, all of who we are, the light and dark, works together in harmony through God’s love, power, will, and grace. When we release ego and selfishness, we live under Spirit’s direction, and our skills and attributes are influenced by the Light of God. We face challenges with strength and confidence, yet with compassion and understanding. We don’t react; we respond lovingly and thoughtfully, guided by Christ. Through Christ we are whole; we are perfect just as we are. Self-judgment creates imbalance and chaos, and when we release that, we find peace.
When we are balanced internally, we are calm. Our external circumstances are irrelevant to the stillness we feel within. When we stop allowing the world to dictate our inner condition, we find heavenly peace, a gift that God gives us, a fruit of Spirit, and a quality that Christ brings to our lives.
As we become more aware of this loving presence within us, we begin to drop the walls of old beliefs and miseducation. We stop allowing our televisions and friends to instruct us, form our opinions, influence our thoughts, and rather, we turn within to the Source of Truth and knowledge. In essence, we trade the chaos of the world for the peace of God.
In John 13:33 Christ says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Did Jesus face chaos, fear, temptations, and darkness? Yes, he did. Yet he says, “I have overcome the world.” So, how did he do it? Yes, through prayer, and through focusing on God, through carefully choosing his environment, thoughts, and actions.
Matthew 16:23 teaches an important lesson while Jesus engages Peter. Christ says, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Peter was speaking from fear and ego, but Christ would have none of it. This is the lesson: we can tell the worldly fears and temptations of body, heart, or mind to get behind us. We refocus our thoughts on God’s love and light and let go of the dark thoughts. Christ demonstrated that we are given the courage and faith to overcome the world. Through Christ’s help we can control our reactions, our emotions, and the temptations of the ego and have access to inner peace.
It doesn’t mean that suddenly our trials are over. No, they are still there. But by releasing their influence we can rise above them so that they have no power over us. We can look our fear and self-hatred in the face and say, “I see you and you are not me, nor do you have any power over me.”
Unlike world peace, which is the absence of conflict, inner peace is the acknowledgement and observance of conflict and the choice not to claim it, judge it, or engage it. Our trust, faith, focus, and vision are on God, and the result is peace. We release and feel peace. That is what Christ taught.
True peace is not attained by being in what we think of as a peaceful state, free of stress or conflict. The peace of Christ is the peace of being in the presence of God. Despite chaos or calm circumstances, when we are cocooned within God’s presence, we are at peace.
We can have peace at any time. “Come to me, and I will give you rest.” Christ is saying, “I will give you rest from the chaos of your mind as you release the power it has over you. Rise above your thinking and dwell in me.” We have but to turn to Christ within us, be still, and acknowledge that the world, as our minds sees it ‘out there,’ has no power over us. If our peace depends upon what happens ‘out there’ we will constantly fluctuate between peace and stress. This does not mean that we ignore the unrest, turn our backs, and not engage or help when we can. This just means that any negative we perceive in this world does not control us; it does not define us or have power over us.
Through Christ, we too, can ‘overcome the world,’ tame the mental biases that permit false impressions to control us and dictate our choices. 1 John 5:4 tells us: “For everyone born of God overcomes the world.” All who allow the Christ Spirit to express through them overcomes the world.
It is my prayer that we realize peace, heavenly peace, inner peace is available to us. Temporary peace is found in the absence of stress and conflict. The peace Christ gives us is found by embracing God as the One and Only Source, the One and Only Presence in our lives and in this marvelous Universe.
Philippians 4:6-7 teaches, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Praying, asking God to remove our vulnerabilities to worldly influence, and giving thanks enables us to rise above the world, overcome the world, see beyond the conflicts of our human existence, and know the peace that passes all understanding. This peace will guard our hearts and minds from further negative worldly impact because of our connection to God through Christ’s presence within us. This is one of the powerful truths that the birth of baby Jesus some 2000 years ago continues to awaken within our hearts today through Christ Jesus.
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