BACKGROUND:David petitioned God to slay the wicked men who were trying to kill him. These enemies were taking the name of the Lord in vain, using it for an evil purpose. Because they were God’s enemies, David affirmed that they were his enemies too and that he would have nothing to do with them. Even further, David would do all he could to take a stand against this evil. There are time in each of our lives when we must take this kind of stand.
Winston Churchill said this - "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Where does the courage come from to take a stand? Where does the confidence come from? Where does the peace of God come from to keep on standing and keep on battling? From God's power working in us.
Ephesians 3:20 (NCV) says, "With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine."
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
One of the Hebrew names of God is Jehovah Shalom. Shalom means peace. Jehovah Shalom means, “I am the God of peace.”
In John 14:27 Jesus says this “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
Some of you might be thinking – “If God has given us a gift of peace, then why don’t I have it?” Great question – that’s what we are talking about today. We’re going to look at The Path to Personal Peace.
Before we start though, I need to say right up front that peace has nothing to do with problem-free living. If you have to wait until all your problems are solved to be at peace, you’re never going to be at peace. Because folks, Jesus said, “In the world you will have problems.” You’re going to have tribulation – count on it. Peace of mind does not come from conflict-free living. Much of your life you’re going to have conflict. But God promises in the midst of the turmoil, in the middle of the strife and anxiety and conflict I can give you peace.
Would you like peace in your life? You have to make some choices.
CHOICE #1. ACCEPT WHAT CANNOT BE CHANGED
Worrying about what cannot be changed certainly won’t give you peace. Becoming resentful or bitter about what cannot be changed will certainly not give you peace. Feeling guilty about things that cannot be changed will not give you peace – so you can stop beating yourself over the head. Having self-pity over things that cannot be changed in your life will not give you peace.
There is only one thing that will bring peace in your life and that is acceptance. Acceptance of what cannot be changed. In the Bible, in the book of 2 Samuel 12, there’s the story of King David who had a young baby that was dying and David did everything he could to keep that baby from dying. He even prayed in the temple for seven days all night long. He fasted, he wept, he cried, he pleaded with God – “God! Please save this baby!” and on the seventh day, the baby died. God did not answer his prayer. I don’t know why. Someday we’ll learn why He did not answer that prayer but He had a plan and purpose in it.
When David’s advisers heard this they were scared to death. They thought, “This guy’s nearly over the edge with the baby near death. When he finds out the child has actually died, he may lose it all!” So they were afraid to tell him. But David heard them whispering and he said, “Has the child died?” They said yes. And David got up. He went and took a bath. He put on clean clothes. He ate a big meal. And he went back to work.
The advisers were astounded. They said, “What are you doing? You were in agony when he was near death. Now that he’s died, you’re ok. What’s happened?” David said, “The child has gone to heaven. And one day I will die and I will be reunited and go to heaven with that child. In the meantime there’s nothing else I can do. I’ve got to get back to work.” He accepted what could not be changed.
In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul said this - “I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens. [underline the phrase “everything that happens”] I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything. I can do all things through Christ because He gives me strength.”
When you go through experiences in life that are hard, experiences that are painful, you do what you can to make the situation better. You do your part, but in the end if things don’t work out, then you accept what can’t be changed. If you’ve got a health problem, a handicap, a difficulty, you go to the best doctor you can find and work on it. But once you’ve hit the wall and nothing else can be done, you accept what cannot be changed.
In John 14:27 Jesus says this “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
Some of you might be thinking – “If God has given us a gift of peace, then why don’t I have it?” Great question – that’s what we are talking about today. We’re going to look at The Path to Personal Peace.
Before we start though, I need to say right up front that peace has nothing to do with problem-free living. If you have to wait until all your problems are solved to be at peace, you’re never going to be at peace. Because folks, Jesus said, “In the world you will have problems.” You’re going to have tribulation – count on it. Peace of mind does not come from conflict-free living. Much of your life you’re going to have conflict. But God promises in the midst of the turmoil, in the middle of the strife and anxiety and conflict I can give you peace.
Would you like peace in your life? You have to make some choices.
CHOICE #1. ACCEPT WHAT CANNOT BE CHANGED
Worrying about what cannot be changed certainly won’t give you peace. Becoming resentful or bitter about what cannot be changed will certainly not give you peace. Feeling guilty about things that cannot be changed will not give you peace – so you can stop beating yourself over the head. Having self-pity over things that cannot be changed in your life will not give you peace.
There is only one thing that will bring peace in your life and that is acceptance. Acceptance of what cannot be changed. In the Bible, in the book of 2 Samuel 12, there’s the story of King David who had a young baby that was dying and David did everything he could to keep that baby from dying. He even prayed in the temple for seven days all night long. He fasted, he wept, he cried, he pleaded with God – “God! Please save this baby!” and on the seventh day, the baby died. God did not answer his prayer. I don’t know why. Someday we’ll learn why He did not answer that prayer but He had a plan and purpose in it.
When David’s advisers heard this they were scared to death. They thought, “This guy’s nearly over the edge with the baby near death. When he finds out the child has actually died, he may lose it all!” So they were afraid to tell him. But David heard them whispering and he said, “Has the child died?” They said yes. And David got up. He went and took a bath. He put on clean clothes. He ate a big meal. And he went back to work.
The advisers were astounded. They said, “What are you doing? You were in agony when he was near death. Now that he’s died, you’re ok. What’s happened?” David said, “The child has gone to heaven. And one day I will die and I will be reunited and go to heaven with that child. In the meantime there’s nothing else I can do. I’ve got to get back to work.” He accepted what could not be changed.
In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul said this - “I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens. [underline the phrase “everything that happens”] I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything. I can do all things through Christ because He gives me strength.”
When you go through experiences in life that are hard, experiences that are painful, you do what you can to make the situation better. You do your part, but in the end if things don’t work out, then you accept what can’t be changed. If you’ve got a health problem, a handicap, a difficulty, you go to the best doctor you can find and work on it. But once you’ve hit the wall and nothing else can be done, you accept what cannot be changed.
If you’ve got a problem with a child, you try to work with that child and you do the best you can. You get the best experience and advice – whatever you can. But once you’ve hit the wall and there’s nothing more to be done, you accept what cannot be changed.
If you are in a marriage that just isn’t working out, you do the best you can in bringing some resolution, but you accept that person whether they ever change or not. You’re never going to learn to really accept the things of life without God’s power in your life.
God says this is the starting point to peace –choose to accept what can’t be changed. Then,
CHOICE #2. ENTRUST YOURSELF TO GOD’S LOVING CARE
Isaiah 26:3 says “You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on You because they trust in You.” God gives peace to those who trust in Him because they depend on Him.
As I said earlier, you will never live a problem-free life. There is no such thing as a problem-free life. Because… It’s always something. One problem after another. If it isn’t one thing it’s another. You have a list of problems in your life, the moment you knock off your biggest problem, Number Two gets promoted. Now you have another Number One problem.
Why does this happen? Why is my life just one problem after another? Let me try to help you with this. In the book of John, we see that one day Jesus was walking down the street and He found a man who was born blind. This man was blind from birth. The disciples looked at the man and said to Jesus, “Ok, Lord, who sinned? This man or his parents?”
Implying that he had this problem because of sin. And that’s a common therapy today; it’s either your fault or your parent’s fault. The idea is still around. It’s either blame yourself or blame your parents. That’s the reason for every problem in your life. Well, some of your problems in life are your fault, and some of your issues may be due to your parents. No doubt that there is truth there.
But when they asked Jesus whose fault it was, Jesus said, “Neither. It’s neither the man’s fault or the parents’ fault." Jesus said in John 9 , “This happened so the work of God maybe displayed in his life.” Sometimes there’s a problem in your life so that the work of God may be displayed in your life.
Here’s the real point - regardless of the problem you have in life, regardless of the source whether it came from the world, yourself, your parents, the devil - you still need the same response every time - entrust yourself to God’s loving care.
Philippians 4:6-7 says “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything." Tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s wonderful peace which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.” That’s the path to peace. Entrust yourself to God’s loving care.
There’s a third choice you have to make if you want peace in your life -
CHOICE #3. SURRENDER TO GOD’S LOVING CONTROL
The real reason you are in turmoil, you have so much anxiety, you have so much tension in your mind is because you’re fighting a war with God in your mind. You think you know better than God. Folks, every day you wake up you have a decision to make: who’s going to be in charge of my life? Me or God?
The more you take control yourself, the more miserable you become and the more out of control your life becomes. Because it doesn’t work. You are at war with the real God when you try to play God.
Romans 8:6 says this “If a person’s thinking is controlled by his sinful self, then there is death. But if his thinking is controlled by the Spirit, then there is life and peace.” Those are your alternatives – death or life and peace. Who’s going to be in charge? And folks, it’s your choice. God lets you choose who is going to be on control of your life. Will you surrender to God and choose life and peace, or will you be the god of your life and choose death?
I don’t know if you’ve thought this through but it’s pretty obvious. In a war with God you’re going to loose.
I remember when I was a kid, Mohammad Ali was the World’s champion and he was going around saying, “I am the greatest! I am the greatest!” I never liked Ali very much – I was Joe Frazier fan. But I’ll tell you what - I’ll never forget that tragic scene a several years ago at the Olympics when Ali was chosen to light the torch.
I don’t know if you remember this or not, but Ali climbed up the those long stairs – over 200 steps – and because Ali has Parkinson’s, his hands are shaking terribly, his legs are shaking, his whole body is shaking - he could barely light that torch from the shaking in his body. They had guys lined up and down those stairs – just in case he fell or dropped the torch.
Later that night, in an interview with NBC Mohammad Ali said to Bob Costas, “You know Bob, I used to say that I am the greatest. All the time I used to say that. Bob, I want you to know – I think God gave me Parkinson’s so that I could remember that I’m not the greatest, but He is.”
Sometimes God just flat out has to incapacitate us to show who’s in control. If you fight with God, you’re going to lose. And He loves you too much to let you win. If you want to have deep, personal, satisfying peace of mind in heart and soul, you’ve got to surrender control of your life totally to God.
How do you know if you’ve done if you’ve surrender to God? Evidence of a surrendered life is always obedience. In other words, when God says, “Do it!” I do it. I don’t care if I don’t understand it, I don't care if anybody else is doing it, I don’t care if it’s possible, I don’t care if it’s hard or easy – I do it. If God says to do it in His word, whether it makes sense to me from a human point or not, I do it. Because I am surrendered to His control.
Today, you may be in an uncontrollable circumstance. You may be married to an unchangeable person. You may be experiencing an unexplainable problem. But the good news is you can have peace. You can have the peace of God in your life. But first you’ve got to make peace with God. You can’t have the peace of God until you first make peace with God.
How do you do that? By surrendering your entire life in faith to Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 says “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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