PEACE
(The Cessation Of All Against-ness)
Peace.
Something we all desire and yet, rarely attain. I include myself in this. I
have experienced peace and many others have experienced peace, but does it
remain? What kind of peace is it if it comes and goes? Is it real peace? Is
peace some kind of ethereal force out there that resides on whom it chooses or
randomly comes and goes to those who seek after it? Peace can mean different
things to different people but if you answer honestly, most would have to admit
that they rarely have peace. If it were not true then why are there more pills
and hyped up cures for anxiety and depression and fear than ever before?
If
you want real peace, there is only One Way to receive it. Now you may think
that this is a bold statement or you might be wondering what new pill or remedy
I am going to try and sell you. I can assure you that I am not selling
anything, as a matter of fact, it’s free and what I say is not something new.
Although peace comes in many disguises there are really only two kinds of
peace, True Peace and false peace. Many are deceived by this pseudo peace
because the disguise it comes in is tailored to their specific situation. Few
know real Peace because they grasp at the first thing they see that looks like Peace.
So let’s look at what True Peace is so we are able to recognize false peace.
Have
you ever seen a three-dollar bill? I don’t think so. There are no fake
three-dollar bills because there are no real three-dollar bills. There are only
fakes of things that are real. Only a fool would take a three- dollar bill from
someone. Would you know a fake $100.00 bill from a real one? The authorities
that handle counterfeit money don’t study the fake bills, they study the real
bills in order to be able to spot the fake ones easily. It is the same with
Peace. In order to know when false peace is present, you must know True Peace.
You don’t do the opposite. You can’t know false peace in order to know True
Peace because once you’re on to false peace it will just change to another
disguise in order to fool you once again. Once you know True Peace, you will
never be fooled again by false peace.
If
you look at the parable of the wheat and the tares you can see how the false is
sewn in with the true (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43). Whenever there is something true
there will also be a falsehood to counter it, as surely as there is daytime and
nighttime. The problem lies in the deceitfulness of the falsehood. If it were
as easy as seeing the difference of day and night then there wouldn’t be a
problem, as the choice would be clear. The deceit is in that the false will try
to imitate the true in order for you to choose the false. The ultimate contrast
of true and false is God and Satan. Here you have the author of Life and the
agent of death; Good and evil, Light and darkness. When put side by side you
would think it is such an obvious and simple choice but again, the problem is
that Satan will come as an angel of light in order to deceive. This is why we
must know the true in order to discern the false.
As
you may be aware, before Satan was cast out of heaven due to his rebellion in
wanting to be God, his name was Lucifer, which means light bearer. God is Light
so Lucifer had the high honor of bearing Gods Light. There are far to many attributes
of God to list here but a few of them are God is Good, God is Truth and God is
Peace. Lucifer saw all these attributes of God as he bore the Light of God,
until pride was found in him and he rebelled against God. Now that he was no
longer the light bearer, he could only imitate those attributes of God in order
to fool people into following him without their knowing. His name now became
Satan, or the adversary, and he now comes as an angel of light (2 Corinthians
11:14). He is no longer the Light
bearer but he knows how to imitate Light better than anyone. He knows how to
imitate good and truth and peace. This is his greatest tool…deception.
You
can go as far back to the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve to see the first
documented attempt of Satan to imitate God and deceive His creation. God put
the tree of Life (Christ) in the middle of the garden and Satan came, imitating
the tree of Life, as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them
not to eat from this tree because they would die from the poisonous fruit.
Partake of the tree of Life (Christ) and have the Life of God in you. Partake
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and you spend all your life
trying to be good by imitating good but always falling short or you would just give
yourself over to evil and revel in it. The good fruit and the evil fruit are
all the same fruit, they are both from the same tree and both end in death, the
opposite of life. The deception was that the fruit looked good, it was an
imitation of good. The true Good was to partake of the fruit of the tree of
Life because it was the life of God, who is Good. So Satan ends up deceiving
Adam and Eve and they also rebel against God by their choice which allowed sin
to enter the world and separate us all from God. But God had an eternal plan
for mankind to be able to partake of the tree of Life.
Now
the purpose of this discourse is to lead you to and to partake of the Tree of
Life (Christ). He is the true Light who has come into the world and died for
the sins of mankind. In doing so, He conquered death, sin and Satan and when
you accept His sacrifice, you can once again partake of the tree of Life and
have God Life in you. Once you do this, then you must set out on the road to
sanctification and know Truth and Light and then you will not be fooled by the
false that will always be there trying to deceive you and separate you from God
once again. So all of this leads me back to Peace and knowing True Peace from
false peace.
Peace is a person. Peace is Jesus Christ. For He Himself
is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). When you partake of Him then Peace resides in
you. But you must access it by faith. When you take up the shield of faith
there is nothing that can penetrate it. You can rest assuredly and in Peace
behind your shield of faith just as our Lord did when He was asleep in a boat
as a storm raged. When His disciples woke Him in a panic, He spoke to the wind
and the sea and calmly said “Peace,
be still”. The wind and the sea obeyed Him because He is Peace. Peace
overcame the raging sea. He said to His disciples “why were you afraid you men of little faith”
(Matt. 8:23-27). His faith was so big that no outside circumstances could even
bother His sleep. You can now rest with Him by still waters in peace, as you
pick up your shield of faith and believe. True Peace has authority over any
kind of raging storm.
He has actually made it a point to give us His Peace. Peace I leave with you, My peace
I give to you (John 14:27). He has already given us His Peace so we
don’t have to ask for something that we already have. It’s like if your parents
opened a bank account for you and deposited 10 million dollars in it and then
they tell you it’s there for your use anytime. But you still constantly go to
them and ask them for money! It doesn’t make sense. You already have it. If you
started spending your 10 million, everyone would be able to see that you are
rich. It’s the same with Peace, if you are using it, everyone will see it and
most will want to know about it and there is your chance to share it and be a
good steward of the gift He has freely given you.
Peace
is not some kind of essence that floats around that you can grasp or hold on
to. It doesn’t come in a pill. It is not subject to circumstances and it is not
disturbed by any outward influence. The
Peace of God is not the absence of problems or trouble but it is our conduct
and reaction during these times of trouble and problems, which is brought about
by our faith and trust in Him. This also He has given to us freely. His Peace cannot be bought for any
price although the greatest price ever paid was paid in order for you to attain
it. You may attain to it but you may never understand it in this life, for the peace of God, which
surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
(Philippians 4:7).
Soon
the author of all pseudo peace will bow to true Peace as the God of Peace will soon crush Satan under
your feet (Romans 16:20).
Dana Leonardi
2011
Dana Leonardi
2011
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