Carrying righteousness, peace and joy with us

Published 8:00 am Saturday, August 12, 2017

Last week I shared some personal thoughts on staying in peace in the midst of life’s storms. All of us face things that catch us by surprise or off guard. If God’s abiding peace is not already a reality to you along the journey of life, finding it in the midst of a storm is very difficult.

When the disciples found themselves in the midst of the sea being tossed about from the storm that had suddenly arisen, they found out that the kind of peace that Jesus had been describing was not something that they had cultivated and established in their own lives. Some of these men were experienced fishermen and had spent the better part of their lives on this lake. I am sure they knew that this was a very dangerous storm because it says they were all afraid. When Jesus exercised His authority and calmed the storm, they were amazed. They were more amazed by His ability to speak to the storm and calm it than they were aware that He had also calmed their fears. They had yet to fully embrace the Kingdom of God and therefore were not abiding in the righteousness, peace and joy that is the fruit of living in His Kingdom. (Romans 14:17).

As a matter of fact, they still did not understand what the Kingdom of God was all about even after the resurrection of Jesus. They were expecting that somehow Jesus was going to take over the natural realm (defeat the Roman Empire by force) (see Acts 1). Jesus had to explain to them again that they were the ones who were going to begin to manifest the Kingdom of God to a world that did not have any idea what He had been demonstrating for three and a half years. They were His ambassadors called to go into every sphere of influence and change the atmosphere and ultimately shape the direction that their society was to go. 

For example, our education system was originally founded upon godly principles that were taught to our children and young people. The further we stray from that foundation, the less our children are learning practical living skills and the more confused they are becoming as far as their own identities. Gender confusion is a good example. This is true of media, arts and entertainment, family, government and even religion. No longer are there any absolutes. Situational ethics and human reasoning have taken precedence over godly principles that are clearly outlined in the scriptures.

I want to quote one of my life scriptures from the New Living Translation. Philippians 4:6-9 states “Don’t worry about anything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Peter toward the end of his life wrote in his second epistle an exhortation that is similar and certainly would have similar results when heeded. (2 Peter 1:2-11) Verse 11 concludes “And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Stated last week, this is not talking just about the future when you die, but we are already eternal beings and we should already be experiencing the Kingdom of God working itself out in our everyday lives.

Just as Peter’s shadow was powerful enough to heal the sick (Acts 5:15), so our atmosphere, that which we carry around us, should affect and influence those we come in contact with. When we walk into a room, we should carry the Kingdom of God (righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit) in with us. People should sense a tangible manifestation of the Kingdom of God everywhere we go. Yes, we want to see people healed, but we also want them to receive peace for their tormented souls, joy for the grief and mourning they have been experiencing and righteousness, so that they, too, can live by the godly principles that will cause them to flourish in all that they do.