(To listen to the podcast "How Do I Carry Peace?" as you read, click here. To view the podcast on YouTube instead, click here.)
Those who speak Hebrew greet one another with the phrase,
“Shalom!”
It is both a greeting and a way to bless others with the peace and wholeness that only God can give.
While peace can be viewed only as the absence of conflict, our Biblical understanding of Shalom peace is so much more than that.
We were created to live in the Shalom of God.
Our choices to live life our own way instead have polluted our peace and God’s way. Sin destroys peace by introducing chaos, stress, worry, shame, strife and brokenness.
Our God has been at war with the forces of darkness that want to steal our peace. He is constantly fighting on our behalf – there is a war going on in the unseen realm. The Hebrew word for peace, Shalom, really talks a little bit about this as you look at the word pictures that are associated with each Hebrew letter. The word Shalom simply means wholeness and rightness. But the word pictures that are associated with each Hebrew letter help us understand how God accomplishes delivering peace to us in this sin-scarred, polluted, broken world. The word picture that is in this word peace can be understood this way: “Peace is the power to destroy the authority attached to chaos.”
Peace is the power to destroy the authority attached to chaos.
So, God is fighting that we might have this wholeness and Jesus is prophesied as the coming Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
He tells us as He is walking around on the earth that He has peace to give us that the world can’t give (John 14:27).
So, as Jesus followers, why don’t we walk in peace more often? Why can’t we carry peace?
Well, what I know is that peace is always preceded by surrender. That’s true in human warfare. As far as our relationship to God, our lack of experiencing the peace of God is largely due to our unwillingness to surrender. Sometimes that’s just realizing that we need to surrender.
Surrender to God brings peace, which cultivates hope and grows trust.
God’s peace on the outside comes with knowing and trusting God on the inside. Peace is an inner strength to rest and patiently wait for God to protect and provide for us. The more we look to our loving Heavenly Father as our protector, our provider, and our constant friend, it increases the peace we carry.
In modern Hebrew, the greeting: “Mah Shlom’cha,” literally means, “how’s your peace?”
It’s like a check-in to say, “how’s your peace today?"
Is your peace full, robust and strong?
Or is your peace thin, brittle and weak?
Recently I felt like the Lord was whispering to my heart this phrase, “I am asking you to carry my peace”
For the last few weeks I have been unpacking the question:
“What Does It Look Like To Carry Peace?”
What I do know is that you can let others pull you into their storms, or you can pull them into your peace. I have also learned that if I share my peace, and let others borrow my sense of rest, faith, hope and view of God – I don’t lose that peace, it’s actually strengthened as I watch the Holy Spirit’s work in this fruit of the Spirit with others called peace. God’s peace is not the calm after the storm; it’s the steadfastness in the midst of it. The Apostle Paul quotes Jesus this way:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” -2 Cor. 12:9
In our weakness, God’s peace and strength are put on display through us.
When we carry the peace of Christ, it guards our hearts and minds – it rewires our thoughts and emotions. That’s what Philippians 4 says, and Paul mentions two ways in this passage to carry the peace from Jesus.
First of all, He says we pray. We boldly approach Jesus to get answers for our problems instead of stewing on them and trying to figure them out ourselves. We go to Him and make our requests known.
When we do that, the second way we can carry our peace from Jesus is with an attitude of thanksgiving.
Maintaining an attitude of gratitude even as we’re asking for His help, boldly asking Jesus for answers to our problem. These two actions-
Prayer and Thanksgiving Are Built on a Proper Understanding of Who God is.
So, I decided to write out eight statements about God’s nature that help me carry peace, and they are in an “if ... then” form.
- If we believe that God can do all things, then we will ask Him to provide.
- If we believe that God wants to help and loves us, then we will seek His solutions.
- If we believe that God still does miracles, then we will have faith to pray for them.
- If we believe that God will work all things out for our good, then even in troubles, in trials, we will look for his breakthrough
- If we believe that God hears us when we pray, then we will seek him in prayer.
- If we believe that Jesus will never leave us, then we know that we will never be alone.
- If we believe that the Holy Spirit is living inside us, then we will know that we will have all the power we’ll need to stand in the storms of difficulty.
- If we believe that God is King of the Universe, then we will see every challenge as an opportunity for the Prince of Peace to come and have his way in His word.
When we carry God’s peace into a high stress situation, practicing kindness and empathy toward others who don’t carry the same peace, it always changes the spiritual atmosphere. The peace that Jesus brings is the atmosphere of heaven and we bring that to earth in every situation where we carry His peace.
As a leader, the greatest gift I can give those I lead is to carry the Peace of Christ to them. When I do, people aren’t worried about failing and being chastised by me as a leader, but they are relieved that someone is present who represents the love and grace of heaven.
I Believe That Good Spiritual Fathers and Mothers Carry Peace as One of Their Greatest Gifts.
They aren’t rattled emotionally when things go sideways, and their identity doesn’t get shaken when they fail to hit the mark. They trust God, working in and through all of us to know how to pivot, to learn, to grow into the next moment.
So, how’s your peace today?
Are you carrying his peace?
“Mah Shlom’cha,”
Are you carrying His peace?
If not, prayer and thanksgiving are the two pathways to meander down to receive more of God’s peace.
We invite you to come worship with us at Neighborhood Church in Chico.
Our Sunday Morning Worship Service at 10:00 a.m. is in the Dome.
You can also live stream our service on Facebook and YouTube at 10:00 a.m.
Need encouragement? Text the word Encourage to 530.296.3689 to receive an encouraging scripture or quote from me several times a week that is sent right to your phone.
