God guides us through our relationship with Him. He fulfills that responsibility by giving us incredible freedom within a few boundaries. Peace is one of those boundaries. “And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts,” says Colossians 3:15. Peace is our umpire in the game of life. Peace lets us know when we’re in danger of striking out, or when we’ve hit a home run.
Using peace as an umpire in our life makes perfect sense when we consider that the foundation of our relationship with God is peace and rest. Christians should be the most peaceful people on the planet because we’re intimately connected to the Prince of Peace. Peace, therefore, should be a by-product of our lives. Peace empowers our sensitivity. It enables us to wait patiently and listen.
We can mature to a place in God where it is impossible to worry. When we rest in Him completely, we frustrate the enemy. The kingdom of darkness cannot find us when we are in our secret place, His fortress, and His strong tower. We can access the same place of protection. When we are wrapped up in Christ, the enemy’s ability to influence us is seriously diminished. The secret place is where we overcome —firstly ourselves; secondly our circumstances, and finally, any opponent that is against us.
Each one of us, including those called to the prophetic ministry and office, is called to a high level of relationship with God. Out of that friendship comes our ministry and significance. It doesn’t work the other way around; our relationship with Him must take precedence over any work we do for Him. How we see and live with God transcends what we can do for Him.
We need to learn how to allow peace to be our umpire. A referee only stops a game when things get out of hand or when a rule is broken. Great referees let the rest of the game proceed naturally. When we discover that living in peace is God’s absolute design for our life, we can trust Him to shake us up when we move out of His will. As long as we are fulfilling the conditions for a right relationship with Him, we are at peace. If we begin to move away from God’s purposes, He will blow the whistle on us by lifting our peace.
God gave us peace as an umpire for one simple reason: He doesn’t want us to spend or lives searching out His will; He wants us to spend that time seeking His face. Our goal is to get as deep into the presence of God as we possibly can. “Further up and further in,” as C.S. Lewis put it in The Last Battle. God is responsible for guiding us, and we are responsible for our relationship with Him.
– An excerpt from Prophetic Wisdom
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“Trey Hendricks” by Joel Dinda is Licensed BY CC 2.0