Quiet Voices Devotional Series,

Purple Ark Ministries © Copyright Reserved 

by Dwight Copeland, P.A.VE. Writer

December 16th 2009

The Peace of Jesus Christ

Recently, I attended a healing service at my church and was skeptical of the outward results that I was told about from a previous gathering. As I went to the meeting, I prayed that the Holy Spirit would open my heart and lead me.

To my delight, I experienced first hand the power of the Holy Spirit in many brother and sisters of Christ. Friends that I invited and came with expectations gave praise reports in the weeks to come. Healings of individuals with documented medical and physical disorders were now free from those disorders. A young adult sister in Christ, who from birth had fused vertabrae in her neck with pain and the ability to turn her head only one direction, stood on the church altar and gave her testimony just two weeks later. She was more than able to turn her head from side to side. The medical doctors could not understand what had happened to her.

She understood and told them that Jesus had healed her.

For myself, I went forward with an open heart and prayed prior to going forward for my wife's needs who could not attend. Her lower back has been fused for two years with minor pain and her right knee is to be replaced in December. I expected a working of the Holy Spirit in her. Instead, I was touched by this vessel of God and pronounced that the "peace of Jesus be with me!"

Without explanation and without being touched, I was on my back on the floor experiencing the power of God ministering to me. You see, I was sure prior to going to this gathering of God's children that such things just didn't happen. As I opened my heart to whatever God was to do, His power humbled me and taught me that outward actions of God's majestic power are manifested in many ways. Who am I to determine and quash the power of the Holy Spirit?

So, here I am with this voice in my thoughts repeating to me "the peace of Jesus be with you!" What does that mean? What does the future hold for me?

Peace in the Hebrew as many know is the word sha¯lo¯m which means "soundness, health, prosperity, goodness between man and God.

Gen 29:6 And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep

Gen 43:23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them

Jdg 6:23 And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

Peace from God comes in many forms. The carnal man is at emnity with God and in alliance with Satan. Natural man can not stand in the presence of the Lord. God's supreme gift to the people of his pasture is to be at peace and walk following His living Word. Jesus bore the iniquity of our sins on His body and took those sins to the cross. Jesus conquered the cross and death, rose again and now sits on the right hand of God the Father in heaven advocating peace to the Father for His children.

Are you a child of God? His countenance is upon every one of His children that have submitted their lives to Him.

Job 22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

God's promises and blessings to us are without measure. We can not in our finite human minds understand and obtain to all the glorious promises He laid down in the bible. The living Word of God, the Holy Bible, is the Lord himself speaking to our hearts. We are blessed in our time to have this infallible book of promises and revelation to read and study. The bible is our map, our footprint, our path to know and walk with the living God we worship.

Psa 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

Psa 85:8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

God's word of peace brings us to the altar on a daily basis. We should pray daily and thank Jesus Christ for the peace he brings into our hearts as a child of God. Without Jesus, there is no peace. Without Jesus, you are condemned eternally and cast out of the presence of God. Jesus came into this world to bring peace not to condem the world. However, there is a future time where this peace will be broken for 7 years and the reign of Christ will come and peace will manifest itself throughout the nations for 1000 years. Jesus alone brings peace to the world. Man has not, can not and will not attain peace in the world. Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

Isa 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isa 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

Eze 34:25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

The Israelites of the Old Testament sought the peace of God for 4,000+ years. They were scattered among the nations as the prophets declared because they continued to sin against God. Israel was lost as a nation. God says, that His word shall never leave His mouth without returning to Him complete. His promise to Abraham that his seed shall inherit the world will come true at some point in the near future. God brought His people together again in 1948 as fulfillment to just one of many prophecies. The peace of Israel is not complete becaue Jesus has not yet returned. Jesus will return a second time and bring the peace of Jerusalem to fruition.

Luk 19:42 Saving If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

Luk 19:43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Today, we live in the New Covenant times. The New Testament is our guide to God through the Son Jesus Christ. Israel rejected Jesus as their Savior and lost the peace that Jesus promised to them. Jesus is our peace to those that have given their hearts to the Lord. He is our guide, your guide and my guide into the peace of the kingdom. Without Him, we have no peace inwardly and outwardly. Our flesh wars against the Lord and serves to this world controlled by the prince of darkness, Satan.

Luk 1:79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The gospel is our peace. Only those who enjoy the gospel and commune with God through the power of the Holy Bibles promises enjoy this message of peace.

Act 10:36 The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)

True peace with God delivers our souls from eternal condemnation. Calling upon Jesus brings us in alignment with God and empowers us through the Holy Spirit to enjoy God's peace.

Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

My peace and your peace with God is our first desire. Without Jesus we have no peace.

2Co 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. 2Th 3:16 Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.

Jesus, while being brought before the Sanhedrin and Roman leaders, kept His peace. Even while he was brutally beaten, His face bloodied and swollen beyond human recognition, His back ripped open by a Roman whip 39 times, Jesus kept His peace. He took to the cross the sins of the world to bear the final sacrifice on that tree and died a horrible death for you and I. His peace transcends that of human comprehension and His desire for you and I is to know that peace only which He can give.

Mat 27:11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.

Mat 27:14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.

Mar 15:4 And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.

Mar 15:5 But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.

Mat 26:63 But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

Mat 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Luk 23:9 Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.

Joh 19:9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

The peace of Jesus is a gift beyond anything one can imagine. Our peace with the King of Kings, Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Messiah are without end and never able to taken away from us. We that know Jesus Christ as our Saviour are forever held in His hand which no man can take us away from. How glorious a promise of peace that is to know that Jesus holds us forever in His hand!

May the Peace of Jesus Christ be with you this day and each day until His return.

In Christ,

Dwight

dwight@purpleark.org