Introduction: The fruit of the Spirit affects each believer in that it makes it possible for him or her to exhibit behaviour that flows from God. All of the fruit of the Spirit once developed in our lives creates a protection that defeats Satan s attempts to force us into wrong reactions. We need to see that every fruit Satan proofs a different area of our lives. Whatever others do to us we are responsible for our own sinful reaction therefore we need the powerful fruits that transform the way that we act and react. Jesus never needed inner healing, simply because he never reacted in a sinful way, He was rejected and spoken against but He is our example of behaviour that flows from God. We need to cultivate the nine different characteristics of the Spirit, we need to upgrade our understanding and spend more time in communion with Him. Galatians 5:22 NKJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love The idea that the fruits of the Spirit are like an orange is a good illustration love is like the skin and the other segments exist within love, we do not refer to an orange in a plural way but in a singular way. An orange is a completed whole. The fruit (singular) of the Spirit is love and the other eight are listed: Joy peace longsuffering Kindness goodness faith meekness Self Control The life of the Spirit changing our heart attitudes must result in new behaviour God does not just love us the way we are He loves us enough to change us. The fruit of the Spirit - Peace When a believer has lost God s supernatural peace then it will only be a matter of time before their words and demeanour will tell the story of their condition. An anxious Christian is a driven Christian, anxiety demands an action, and the mind will be gripped with a constant meditation of the problem, which is worry. Walking in God s peace enables us to make sound decisions. Peace protects us from anxiety and pressure. We will make our worst decisions when we are under pressure. Satan uses pressure to undermine our dependence on god. Peace works in conjunction with faith. Peace supports and it strengthens faith. Exodus 14:14 NKJV "The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." PEACE, SPIRITUAL Sense of well-being and fulfilment that comes from God and is dependent on His presence. PEACE, NATURAL Sense of well-being and fulfilment that comes from secure circumstances and is dependent on the right conditions prevailing. The Hebrew word for peace is SHALOM. Its basic meaning is "wholeness" or "well-being." The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings of the Old Testament each bear testimony that such peace is the gift of God, for God alone can give peace in all its fullness. 1
The individual believer experiences this peace as an inner spiritual peace. It brings freedom from distress and fear. Natural peace is lost when conflict or anxiety producing circumstances come into being. Spiritual peace takes over when natural peace fails. Exodus 14:13 17 NKJV And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. "The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." And the LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. "But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. "And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honour over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Exodus 14:15 TLB Then the Lord said to Moses, "Quit praying and get the people moving! Forward, march! The children of Israel would go forward peace but they would go back in fear. Peace! Peace! Wonderful peace "I will protect you and I will place a strong and high wall around you and the arrows will not be able to reach you because of the wall that I will place around you" There is now no doubt that peace is a powerful protection from the enemy, failure to pray will result in a failure to receive peace. Such peace is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) that forms part of the "whole armour of God" (Eph. 6:11,13), enabling the Christian to withstand the attacks of the forces of evil. Thus, the New Testament gives more attention to the understanding of spiritual peace as an inner experience of the individual believer than does the Old Testament. In both the Old and the New Testament, spiritual peace is realised in being rightly related--rightly related to God and rightly related to one another. Isaiah 26:3 NIV You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Psalms 29:11 (NIV) The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace. Peace protects us from fear. John 14:27 Amp Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid - stop allowing yourself to be agitated and disturbed: and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled. 1 Peter 5:7 Amp Casting the whole of your care - all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all - on Him; for He cares for you affectionately, and cares about you watchfully. 2
Philippians 4:6 Amp Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in very circumstance and in everything by prayer and petition [definite requests] with thanksgiving continue to make your wants known. Failure to pray and make petitions [specific requests] means that we fail to receive. Talking the problem seems to become the order of the day when we fail to pray. Continuing to pray in every circumstance, will cause peace to garrison our hearts and minds Philippians 4:7 NKJV And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Notice that peace is the result of casting our care upon the Lord through prayer and thanksgiving (v. 6). However, many people are asking for God to give them peace so that their cares will leave. It doesn't work that way. Through faith we cast the cares on the Lord and then God's peace comes. Christians who are lacking God's peace have not taken their cares to the Lord and left them there. All Christians have peace. It is a fruit of the Spirit that is always present in our born-again spirit. Care will blind us to God's peace. When we eliminate the care the peace flows. Paul is speaking of God's peace, not human peace. Human peace is only experienced in the absence of problems. Therefore, those who only know human peace don't experience it very often and to a lesser degree. But God's peace is independent of circumstances and infinitely greater in supply than any problem we could ever have. God has given us His supernatural peace to enjoy. We all have things happen that we don't understand. Those who are relying on themselves can't have any peace in a situation like that. They feel things are out of control and fear takes over. But believers have God's supernatural peace because they don't have to understand. God is in control and we trust that. This is a wonderful difference between true Christians and unbelievers. Faith in God allows us to experience peace that goes beyond our understanding. Praise God! The peace of God is what keeps our hearts and minds sound. Those who lack peace will be tormented in those areas. Peace is like a fortress against the devil. Before Satan can get to our hearts he has to get us out of peace. Therefore, let peace keep our hearts and minds. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts" Philippians 4:7 Amp That peace which transcends all understanding, shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The devil has to fight his way through the garrison, to be able to reach our hearts and minds. Romans 14:17 NKJV For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. John 14:27 NKJV Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 3
The point that must be realised is that we are not talking about natural peace we are concerned with receiving a supernatural peace. Peace as God has it released through our recreated spirits into our lives. Peace is essential if we are going to hear God's voice. We will have difficulty hearing His voice when we are filled with anxiety or fear. I read about a photographer for a national magazine that was assigned to "shoot" one of those big Western forest fires. He was told that a small plane would be waiting to fly him over the fire. When he got to the airport, sure enough, he found a little Cessna waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and yelled, "Let's go!" The pilot, the plane, and the photographer were soon in the air. "Fly over the north side of the fire and make several low passes," the photographer shouted. "Why?" the nervous pilot asked. "Because I'm going to take pictures! I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures," was the reply. After a long pause, the pilot tensely asked, "You mean, you're not the instructor?" The pilot and the photographer both trusted someone to do something they could not do. Luckily, in this case, thanks to communication by the air traffic control, they were able to get back to the airport. Colossians 3:15 NKJV And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. The understood subject of this sentence is "you." You must LET the peace of God act as umpire (see note 18 at this verse) in your heart. The word "let" means "to grant permission to, allow" God's peace is always present in our hearts to give us the direction we so desperately need but we don't always give it our permission. The Greek word from which the word "rule" was translated is BRABEUO, which means "to arbitrate, i.e. to govern" (Strong). This Greek word was a variation of the Greek word BRABEION which means "(an umpire), an award (of arbitration), i.e. a prize in the public games" (Strong). This was a sports term that paints a powerful "word picture." The Wuest translation of this phrase says, "...let the peace of God act as umpire in your heart..." The Amplified translation of this verse says, "And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from the Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts - deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds - [in that peaceful state] to which [as members of Christ's] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful - appreciative, giving praise to God always." Just as every sport has disputes that must be settled by the officials, the peace of God is the umpire that settles all disputes as to what the will of God is for our lives. We must learn to listen to and heed the peace of God in our hearts. God's peace is something that every born-again believer has. It's a fruit of the Spirit. That peace is always umpiring; we just don't always pay attention. How many times have we acted contrary to the peace in our heart and after we experience disaster, we say, "I never did feel good about that." That was the peace of God umpiring, but we played by our own rules. 4
There are some things we can do to facilitate the peace of God umpiring in our heart. First, consider ALL the options. Many wrong decisions have been made because not all the options were considered. Don't let fear rule out God's possibilities. Next, use your imagination to explore what will happen with each choice. You should be able to discern a greater peace as you consider the option the Lord would have you to take. That is not to say that there will be total peace with any of the choices. In your spirit there will be total peace over the right choice, but we aren't always totally in the Spirit and it is not unusual for there to be some turmoil. Just as an umpire has to make a call, be bold enough to follow the direction that gives the most peace. The rudder on a ship can't give any direction until the ship is moving. The ship doesn't have to be going "full steam ahead" for the rudder to work. But it does have to be moving. Likewise, we have to act before "the peace of God" will give us perfect direction. Even if you make a mistake, you will have made it in faith, trying to follow the peace of God in your heart. The Lord can bless a wrong decision made in faith from a pure heart more than He can bless indecision. The Spirit leads but the devil drives it is important that we are led forth in peace not driven in an unseemly hast to make decisions that we will regret. The fruit of the Spirit peace will protect our hearts and our minds how important it is that this protection is in place to prevent the enemy from gaining an entrance into our lives. 5