Peace -- Day 1

Like all the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, peace has different facets.  Staring into true peace is staring in God, and we could do this forever and not know the depth and breadth of Him!  This week, I hope to explore at least two of these different aspects of peace in some depth – but there are surely more than two, and there is surely more depth! 


But the fruit of the Spirit is ... peace.  (Gal. 5:25).

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  (Isaiah 53:5).  Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, hat his glory may dwell in our land.  Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.  (Psalm 85:9-10).  For he himself is our peace ... His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to you who were near.  For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  (Eph. 2:14, 15b-18).  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  (Col. 1:19-20).  Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.  (James 3:18).  Endure hardship as discipline: God is treating you as sons.  Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.  (Hebrews 12:7, 10, 11).

1. If only                                                         , then I would have peace.

2. According to Isaiah, what brought us peace?  Why was this necessary?  (See, for example, Isaiah 59:2 or Eph. 2:3, Col. 1:21)

3. Who is our peace? 
4. What is reconciliation?  (See the Ephesians and Colossians passage above)

5.  Look at the Psalm, James and Hebrews passages above.
  In the Psalm: what virtues kiss?
  In James: what do peacemakers sow in and then reap?
  In Hebrews: what harvest can God’s discipline produce?
 Why do you think these virtues are linked together? (Can you think of other passages where they are mentioned together?)
6. In Hebrews, what are we to endure as discipline?  Why does God discipline us?  Who are those to whom God’s discipline produces a harvest of righteousness and peace?


7. Are you experiencing hardship in your life?  How can you submit to that hardship as discipline and training for holiness?