"The Battle For Peace"

"Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it." 1 Peter 3:11

I know we talked about this verse earlier in the week but as I was seeking the Lord this morning about what He wanted to say to us through the devotional, He gave me this scripture again. I would like to read it from the Amplified Bible. "Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]"

Each day new situations are arising in the world that can easily make a person fearful. Flood waters destroying homes and property; threats of terror attacks; the end of the world prediction; wars; talk of food shortage; a bad economy; nations coming against Israel; the reports of great earthquakes; etc. The world is in chaos. There is no peace to be found in it. The leaders of governments can't give it- on the contrary, they seem to make it harder on a person to have peace. The financial institutions can't give it to us either- many of them are closing their doors. Your employer can't give you peace-- there is no such thing as job security any more.

So where do you find peace in a chaotic world? Where do you find peace when everything around you looks like it is falling apart? Is it even possible to have peace when there is "no peace on earth"? Having peace is possible, but you have to go to the real source of peace. There are many false sources- we have named some of them already. But Jesus is the true source of peace. He is our peace. He is the Prince of Peace. He alone can give you the peace that you need to stand in adversity, when there seems to be no peace and when chaos and confusion reign.

I truly believe that the Lord is telling us to discipline ourselves to stay in peace. The other day we said that we have to fight to maintain the peace that God gives us. This morning I am reminding you that if you want peace you have to do more than just desire it, you have to "pursue" it. The translation of the word "ensue" here means: to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavor to acquire it.

In order to have peace, you have to "fight for it". By this I mean you have to fight your own flesh, you have to fight fear, you have to do battle in spiritual warfare against the devil who tries to keep you from having peace. And in order to maintain your peace you also have to fight these same enemies- flesh, fear and the devil- so that they not steal your peace.

Have a great day. In order to have peace and maintain peace you have to do more than just desire it, you have to pursue it, seek after it, fight for it spiritually.

For further reading:
Psalm 56:3; 119:165
Philippians 4:6-8
Isaiah 9:6; 26:3

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
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