Peace

Throughout the Bible we learn that God is the God of Peace. As followers of Jesus we must heed the call to peace (with others and within) and the source of peace.

The call to peace with others

Author Jerry Bridges offers four helpful suggestions as we pursue peace with others.

1. We must remember that we are fellow members of the same body. (see 1 Corinthians 12:12; 25; Romans 12:5)
2. We must also keep in mind that it is Christ’s body of which we are members.
3. We must recognize that the cause of discord often lies wholly or partly with us.
4. We must take the initiative to restore peace. (see Matthew 5:23–24; 18:15)

The call to peace within

Philippians 4:6-9 is a passage worth memoirzing and meditating and obeying/applying regularly. But what about when we don't seem to be experiencing the peace of God?

1. We must examine our motives. We may want deliverance instead of peace.
2. We must look to the Holy Spirit to produce peace. It is His to produce, ours to bear. It might be a season of "winter" but we must wait on His work and cooperate with His work.
3. We must stop listening to our heart and its anxieties and we must rather start speaking to our heart the truth about our God of peace and the peace He gives.

Here is a great article from Desiring God called "Use Anxiety to Your Advantage."

The source of peace

The foundation of our call to peace with others and within is found in the truth of Romans 5:1.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. -Romans 5:1