WHO CAN KEEP HIS OWN PEACE OF MIND IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD?

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you”, John 14:27

There are two different natures present in the whole world today, pressing on to maintain each its own ground, having an eternal warfare, for these will never co-exist in the same place, in the same heart or in the same man. If these two manage, somehow, to be at the same place for long, the person who is the battle field himself, will surely have all of himself fully destroyed, his peace and heart fully gone, such will become deranged and his heart will surely be a domain of a no-man’s land, having havoc everywhere to be seen.

There are these possibilities to be seen: a man is pure; a man is not pure. We see that, in many a place, however, dark-minded people try to be light and that people in the light think and believe it best to be part of the whole course of the present world so as to be acceptable among such as are to be conquered. We read in the Prophet Haggai that if darkness, sin or any peace of ungodliness manages just go as far as touching holy grounds, holy skirts or flesh, that piece of holiness is darkness from then on – on the spot! But, if light touches any peace of darkness, there is never to happen the same thing in reverse: darkness will never be turned into light, but the light that touches is promptly changed into darkness itself, Hag 2:10-14. We see that no baptism, no holy communion, no miracle will stay on as pleasing unto God once it touches ungodliness. The Garden of Eden is long gone for that reason. Jesus says that, “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Let His presence not come to surprise you soon concerning that!

God separated darkness from light as His very first act of creation. We know that whatever He separates, no man will ever put together again. Judah was separated from Samaria and not even Jeohoshaphat could ever join it again – he tried that, even by marrying his son to Jezebel’s daughter, but instead of rejoining kingdoms, he destroyed his own house and if it were not for the grace of God, the whole of the seed of David would have perished right there. There is no way one is to put together again something which God has cut asunder.

Now, if God grants peace to someone, that is because that person is light – from bottom to top, from left to right! As John put it, there is no darkness in such. If God comes in and there is peace in the ground, in the battlefield, darkness is no more there to be seen at all. There will be no peace for someone in touch with darkness, if such remains in the presence of God; in the same manner, there is no peace in someone when such is living in holiness in the worldly domain. There is a nature shock, even if words are preached and heard as similar.

Whenever God comes in, He does not really take over the looks, the words, the views, or the perspectives of any man – He slips into the very nature of that man, just as water slips in to the underground. It is the shock between natures we will soon find out about. People may even state the same thing, use the same words, the same silence, the same wisdom – yet, the Lord sinks in as deep as the origin of all we are, to where things we do are born and conceived. He says: “You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?  (17)  Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.  (18) A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit”, Mat 7:16-18. A man may stop lying without stopping being of a lying nature for the sake of self-preservation; one may also, for the same reason, state the truth being a liar from inside. Jesus says, as if He Himself is amazed with this, “Offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”, Mat 12:34. These are the hypocrites that now surprise even God. Soon these hypocrites in Zion will be the surprised ones, for the Word clearly says, “The sinners in Zion are afraid; terror has surprised profane ones. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Is.33:14 

For someone to have peace with God, when He is present for real, one’s nature has to be fully changed from deep inside. If God comes in and there is sin, there will be no peace; if there is peace and sin in the same heart, or nature, then it is because God is not there. There are also people who have stopped lying, smoking and cursing – yet they have not their peace restored, because their nature is the same and they allow not God to dig deeper, give Him no time in private to carry it out and reveal and expose it to death in the light of recognition before His presence: it is exposure which kills sinning away, and not fighting by resisting evil. Fighting sin, covers up sin and reveal it not, confesses it not. The word says “resist not evil” – rather, expose it.

If we have sin, we may find it hard to be holy; yet, if we find God Himself, we will find it hard NOT to be holy! A lot of perspiration is carried out in vain, because one is after holiness and not after the God of holiness. He said “My reward is WITH Me”! To have God in your mind, and sin in your life, will soon bring your whole life to a standstill and there will be no peace anywhere, near you – even if there is nearby. But to have God within your life and sin in your mind, will soon enough bring all sin and the desire towards it to a complete standstill – even if there is sin around you.

This peace is to be experience right here, where we will believe it quite strange. Jesus gives peace not as the world gives, but in the world. He states “On earth as in heaven”. My friend, there is peace for you in such an abundant measure that will surpass all understanding. But it will be here on earth. All you have to do, is to find God for real, in a real manner, not for the gifts He has come to distribute, not for the holiness which will surely keep you away from hell – but for Himself, the God of all peace. Seek for peace while having God Himself; seek not for the peace of God, but for the God of peace and you will find it easy to stay away from sinning, for your whole nature will be fully changed. If you have God and have no peace, do not forsake God, but sin rather. What matters is never where you are at present, but who is present in you.

Seek to have peace WITH God in you. If we have peace having come to experience God, having Him as He really is, then, that is because there is no sin among us no more. Peter exalts that by saying that people should have their peace in Jesus, while there in Him. Peace without Him, without any experiencing knowledge of having Him coming in and out our door at heart, is a deceiving peace: it is no peace at all. But if you manage to have God and peace at the same time, then know you have been fully changed, no matter what you may still believe concerning yourself. If you overhear Jesus saying to you, “Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you”, John 15:3, believe Him, for where God is and peace of heart remains, sin is gone. Believe not the devil when he comes to curse and doubt in your own mind, for it is not you. If God is there, consider yourself fully dead unto all kinds of sinning forever – fear not, and let your heart never again be troubled, for lo, He will be with you always. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”, John 14:27. But as Peter puts it, never have your peace when God is not there. Have peace, but in the presence, in the very knowledge of Christ ever present. We read so: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”, 2Pet 1:2. If you have peace in the realm and the experiencing of the world, there is something wrong with you; if there is peace in God, having your life in Him fully, there is something right with you: fear not then, and take courage to ignore the devil cursing and lying to you, as if it were you.

Let there be no peace unto you where God is not, and let there be all kinds of peace where God is for real, for if it be so, you have been changed. That peace you have is not “as the worlds gives it”; and that lack of peace is neither as the world gives it: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” alone, 2Pet 1:2.