I woke up this morning with a headache. As I reached for the Ibuprofen, a sermon illustration form Kingston Arthur popped into my head.
He said that while his wife was pregnant, she would often get headaches. She’d take some medicine, but the headache would come back. It turned out, she was actually anemic. Her headaches were because she needed iron. So, the medicine might have temporarily fixed her headache, but the root cause was a need for iron.
We also have a spiritual diet. Whether we like to admit it or not, all the things we allow in our hearts are affecting our spiritual diets.
I could go on to list many examples here, but let’s just evaluate our fruit. The fruits of the spirit are “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
If you are experiencing these fruits, awesome! You must be full of the Spirit!
But let’s be real. Some of us are struggling with self-control… or being kind to those who are unworthy… and maybe even with being gentle when we are ready to explode.
Peace seems like a joke at times. Some of us think peace is something we pray while simply wishing there would be no war in the world. But all we have to do is turn on CNN to know that this peace is not a reality in our world.
We have a misconstrued message of peace. Peace is not an absence of trouble, but the presence of our Savior. You can have peace in your life amid the craziness of the world.
Peace is the presence of God which gives you freedom from the worries of the world because you know the One who created the world has it under control.
Once you let Him be the King of your heart, you will experience a peace that surpasses all understanding.
I promise.
I have.
Amid the craziness of a chaotic situation- I experienced God’s amazing peace.
Was it easy- No!
Did I pray that He would remove that giant, take away all that pain, and fix all the problems? Absolutely!
Did He give me what I wanted? No, because He knew what I needed and that was Him… to fully trust Him and His timing! During a time that should have been complete chaos, I felt peace, comfort, and genuine love like never before. A simple message rang through my heart, “Be still and know that I am God.”
I know God can do the same in your situation too. But first you must admit whether you are treating the symptoms or the root cause.
If you are experiencing fruit that is not from the Holy Spirit, please, please, please evaluate the root source. What is filling your heart? Are you experiencing God daily? Are you in the Word of God? Are you praying and listening… even when the answers are not what you think they should be???
Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of the Holy Spirit.