Moving Up In Wisdom

James 3:13-18 tells us there are two kinds of wisdom.  First, there is the wisdom that is of this world.  "This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic."  Living by this wisdom comes from a heart of bitterness, envy, and self-seeking.  It is a wisdom that springs out of comparison with others.  Comparison leads to bitterness, envy, and dissatisfaction.  It leads to strife, where every evil thing is possible.  "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there."  God does not want us to live by this kind of wisdom.  This wisdom is ruled by the senses, our lusts, and gives the demonic realm a place in our lives.  We need to move away from this earthly wisdom to God's wisdom.  There is a wisdom that comes from heaven.  "But the wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy."  This wisdom is first of all pure.  It has pure motives and pure actions.  There is nothing dishonest or deceitful about this wisdom.  This wisdom is peaceable.  It does not produce turmoil or a troubled heart.  It brings peace into your situation.  It is gentle, not forceful or imposing itself on another.  It is willing to yield.  It is easily intreated, that is, it is easy to enter into a treaty with.  It is willing to listen so as to understand another person's point of view.  It seeks to see things from the other person's perspective.  It will move around to the other side of the table to view a problem from another viewpoint.  It is full of mercy and good fruits.  It is full of compassion and acts with tenderness and sensitivity to another.  It is without partiality, that is, it does not deal with favoritism or unfairly.  It has no hypocrisy, no hidden agendas, no ulterior motives, but is only transparent.  "Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness."  NIV.  Sow peace into difficult relationships.  This wisdom makes us peacemakers, who sow in peace, and reap a harvest of righteousness.  This wisdom will make us into peacemakers, who will be called the children of God.

How can I move into God's wisdom today? 

Blessed Are The Peacemakers

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."  Matt. 5:9.  God wants us to live in peace with ourselves, and with others.  God has come to make peace with us.  2 Cor. 5:17-21 tells us that God has reconciled us to Himself.  He has given us a message of reconciliation, so that we can say to others, "Be reconciled to God."  Col. 1:20 tells us He has made peace with us through the blood of His cross.  Eph. 2:14 says that He Himself is our peace, and has made both Jew and Gentile one, breaking down the middle wall of partition that was between us.  Jesus came as the Prince of Peace.  Jesus was the greatest peacemaker!  He came to give us peace.  In the world we will have tribulation, but He has overcome the world!  He has come that we might know peace with God, and the peace of God.  First, we must come into peace with God.  God has already reconciled us to Himself, having paid the price for our sin.  Now we must simply receive by faith what has already been done.  Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  Through Christ we are no longer enemies of God.  We are at peace with God.  Now God wants us to learn to walk in that peace.  Phil. 4:6,7 tells us that we are to bring all our anxieties to God, and then the peace of God, which surpasses our understanding, will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Peace will act like a soldier, guarding and keeping our minds from all the worries and cares of life.  Col. 3:15 tells us to let the peace of God rule in our hearts.  The Amplified Version says, "And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from 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)..."  So many things want to rule in our hearts, but we are to let God's peace rule and reign over us, and be the deciding factor in the questions that arise in our minds.  Today, let peace rule in your heart.

How am I letting peace rule in my heart today? 

Walking In Peace

Sometimes peace comes because Jesus comes and says, "Peace, be still" as in Mark 4:39.  The storm is stilled, and all around you is peace.  This is wonderful, and we appreciate the miracle of stilling the storm.  But other times, we experience peace in the midst of the storm.  This is more like the eye of the hurricane, where all is still in the storm, yet the storm continues to swirl all around.  Gideon experienced this kind of miracle in Judges 6.  The Midianites oppressed Israel, and each year came and destroyed the produce of the ground, as well as the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.  They would leave nothing behind, and Israel was left impoverished year after year.  Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress to hide, when the angel of the Lord spoke and said, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!"  Gideon did not see himself as a mighty man of valor!  He did not believe that the Lord was with him.  He argued with the angel.  The Lord sees us differently than we see ourselves.  He sees us as the mighty men and women of God that He made us to be!  He is with us!  His tangible presence is with us!  He manifests Himself to us everyday, though we are sometimes like Gideon and don't recognize it.  You can confidently say, "The Lord is with me."  He has already promised that He would never leave me, nor forsake me.  Even in the midst of the storm, the Lord is with us!  Gideon asks the angel to confirm these things.  He prepares an offering and sets it before the angel.  Fire from the angel's staff consumed the meat and the bread.  Now Gideon perceived this to be an angel of the Lord.  There Gideon built an altar to the Lord and called it, "The Lord is Peace", or "Jehovah Shalom."  Gideon has changed!  He now knows God as his peace.  Nothing has changed on the outside, yet Gideon has changed on the inside.  He has a confidence by the peace of God, that God is in control, and will bring peace in the midst of this storm.  The enemy no longer has the upper hand.  Gideon is no longer afraid.  By Jehovah Shalom, Israel will conquer their enemy.  By the peace of God, we will conquer our enemy.  The storm may still be brewing, but inside we know we have the victory.  We know we will overcome by the peace of God in our hearts.  We must walk in peace, whether the storm is stilled, or the storm is still brewing.  He is Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our Peace.

Are you walking in peace today?