Led by Peace

Dear friend,

these are days of flirring heat. It is so hot here that I have considered adapting to the southern custom of keeping afternoon siestas by sleeping from 1 thru 5 pm and then again from 1 thru 5 am, two blocks of four hours. So far my wife just rolls her eyes and my children ruthlessly interrupt my rest phases by squirting me with their waterguns. They don't understand that God's will for me is peace ...

God's will for all christians is peace. (I'm being serious now.) As a matter of fact his concern for our peace is so great that Jesus promised us in John 16, 13 that he would send the Holy Spirit who would speak reassuringly into our stressful situations. He even said: "He will disclose to you what is to come!"

The Holy Spirit will show us things to come because he wants to prepare us for upcoming changes. He wants us to have peace even in times of change.

God knows that we humans are generally not very fond of change at all. In fact, most people dread it. They like predictable routines. Oh yes, we appreciate adventures and thrills, but only if the outcome is guaranteed to be harmless. Disney's theme parks make a fortune by providing those kinds of spine-tingling roller coaster diversions. (My ears still ring with my three year old daughter's screams of delight as we were blasting through Goofy's barn last year.)

Real life is different. Realizing this it is wonderful that God takes the initiative and speaks to us about the future by showing us what is to come.

Sometime he keeps us in peace by giving us a dream or a vision.

By a threefold divine trance Peter was reassured that it was okay for him to visit the house of the Roman centurio Cornelius. In his day and age no orthodox Jew would voluntarily venture under the roof of a heathen man. But pagan Cornelius was ready to receive Christ, and Christ was ready to save him, even though the officer was not of Jewish stock. That was shocking news to Peter and the elders of the early church who had believed that only Jews could get saved. (Acts 10 and 11.) Peter kept his peace and Cornelius' household found everlasting peace through faith in Christ because the Holy Spirit had intervened with a vision.

I myself once contemplated going onto the mission field in the Philippines for a season. As I prayed about it one night I found myself in a vision. I was flying east in an airplane. I sat in an aisle seat, my briefcase by my side. Below me was the South China Sea and in front of me was the Philippine archipelago. Then I turned around and the back of the plane seemed to be missing. That wasn't important though, since the view captivated me and spoke to me. I saw Jesus, very tall, standing on the earth, his feet behind the western horizon. In his hand he held an oversized white handkerchief with which he waved good bye. That was it.

I didn't go to the Philippines.

Instead of going east some time later I headed west, to the USA, where I found my wife and many friends.

In special situations God will speak to us by visions and dreams and thus show us what is to come. But in most of our everyday circumstances he will lead us by an inner peace in our hearts. This peace takes on the form of a hunch, or a green-light-feeling, (for lack of a better word). If you have to make a decision and decide against that inner okay, as I have done a couple of times, you will inevitably loose all your peace and wind up in difficulty.

Many years ago a pastor asked me to become his associate. The offer looked good, but I didn't really feel all that good about it. But I was eager to get into the ministry, and so I went against my inner peace and found myself in a heap of trouble. You see, after cancelling my apartment, quitting my job and getting ready to move, this pastor sent me a letter of rejection. He didn't want me to be his associate any more. Now I found myself with almost no money, out of a job and with no roof over my head. The devil gave me visions of sleeping under bridges and worse. The stress was tremendous. God was merciful, though, and helped me out.

It pays to heed your inner peace.

Some have asked: "How reliable is that feeling of peace? Aren't feelings fickle? Feelings are notoriously unstable. We can't trust feelings. We can't build our lives and our futures on mere feelings and impressions."

They do have a point.

Feelings are fickle. And nobody illustrates that better than one of the greatest prophets in the bible: Elijah.

In 1 Kings 18 we see Elijah on Mount Carmel, full of confidence. In front of a great multitude of people he prays for fire from heaven and he gets it! A lightning strikes and the multitude falls down, worshipping the living God. Then Elijah prays for rain and gets it again. After more than three years of drought his prayer breaks through. Torrents of rain begin to fall. The hand of the Lord comes over him and he outruns the speeding royal chariot on its way to the city of Samaria.

Elijah runs into the city, full of confidence and peace. God is with him.

On the next morning the queen, who didn't like him, sent him a letter expressing her intent to kill him. Elijah looses his peace and runs in terror, fleeing from her hollow threats into the desert.

Feelings.

It were his feelings who ruined his day and made him surrender Samaria to Baal-worshipping queen Jezebel. Don't you think that the God who sends lightnings one day is able to protect his prophet on the next?

One day he triumphantly runs into the city.
The next day he despairingly runs out of the city.

Feelings are fickle.

And we better talk about how to make our inner peace-feeling reliable before we get fooled by our emotions like Elijah. We need to be guided by true spiritual impressions, divinely granted, not by flimsy forebodings rooted in the jazz of the moment.

In Colossians 3, 15 Paul says: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." The phrase can also be translated: "Let the peace of Christ be the umpire in your hearts." The apostle affirms of the important role of peace in our hearts. Peace is to guide us in our every day decisions.

But in order to make that peace reliable we will have to heed the rest of his admonitions too, because in Colossians 3, 15-17 Paul tells us what we can do to condition our hearts properly so these feelings don't reflect mere carnal moods but spiritual inklings.

His first admonition is found in the latter part of verse 15: "... and be thankful." So, the first step to a reliable peace-o-meter is to practize a lifestyle of positive thankfulness. A spirit-led person does not mope and complain all the time. Rather he or she is able to see God's loving workings in their lives.

Then he counsels: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly."

The word of God is a more secure foundation for your life than any emotion. In all your endeavours of being led by the Spirit, don't overlook the obvious: check if what you want is in line with God's word. His word remains the same forever, your feelings won't. If in doubt: stick with the word, disregard your intuition.

Paul goes on: "With all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another."

Be ready to consult a more mature christian than you are. Be ready to receive wise, biblical counsel. Four eyes see more than two. Be humble. Be teachable. Respect the more seasoned people in your environment. Don't be a haughty loner. There are probably five other people in your immediate surroundings who are at least as spiritual as you are.

Be mindful of Paul. He was warned not to go to Jerusalem. But he did't heed the prophecies of those less famous. And so he was sent to jail almost as soon as he arrived in the Jewish capital. He remained captive for about five years. (Acts 21, 4+9+10+33.)

Paul goes on to say: "With psalms, hymns and spiritual songs sing with thankfulness in your hearts unto God."

Worshipping God and speaking in tongues keeps you filled with the spirit. (See also Ephesians 5, 18+19.) God dwells in the praises of his people. (Psalm 22, 1f.) In order to hone your inner umpire pray in the spirit and live a life of praise.

The apostle concludes in verse 17: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father."

Your feelings will fool you if you are not walking in love. Whenever you have to make a decision, ask yourself: What would Jesus do? And then do it. God considers it to be an act of thankfulness and true worship if you do what Jesus would do. Walking in love with you fellow man enhances the reliability of your inner intuitions.

So. And now I'll run outside and stick my head under the pump in our garden.

Wishing you peace withersoever you walk,
your friend,

Gert Hoinle, Pastor

P.S.: In September I will spend two weeks in southern India where I will be co-evangelist in two massive five-day crusades where we will reach tens of thousands. The people in those landlocked rural areas have never ever heard the gospel even one time. I consider it to be a great privilege to be part in that harvest. Please pray for us, as this endeavor is quite challenging, not to mention expensive. GH.