Isaiah 2:4-5  He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.”

As long as we wear skin, and as long as there is a devil, life will be a fight, it will be war in every capacity and corner of our mind and the universe. i have been at war since i was born, and so have you. So I guess war is in everything about us. It’s in our thinking, our “want to and don’t want to”, it’s in our despair and hope, it’s in our dreams, even how we go about achieving our aspirations…it all somehow involves war of some sort. There is conflict and contention on every corner every which way we turn with a constantly rising noise floor of conflict. The idea of “not learning war and no more war” is a completely foreign thing to think for people. And just how deep is the concept of war, or conflict embedded in is? Ponder that question and i think you’ll come to the same conclusion i have. If we are all in a constant state of conflict resolution, that means there’s war and conflict which needs resolving. It is painful and exhausting to always be at war. In fact, scripture bears out that war is agony in the sense of Philippians1:30, Paul uses the word conflict, which is the Greek word “agon”, where we get our word agony from. Within the word “agon” are five distinct consistent divisions contributing to all our war and conflict: deceit, treachery, corrupt passions, a traitors heart, and lying. War is stressful, full of grief and difficult decisions, it is rife with enemies living and dead, spies, and dark things which hunt us in the night. We can run from our circumstances, but eventually we will return to our sadness and war unless we resolve our conflict. It is a battle close to the gates of our heart where we are continually besieged by the enemy of our soul who’s will is fully set against us. There is even war in our ethics and principles, as a result there are college classes on situational ethics. Situational ethics, as example, might be that we teach our kids that lying is wrong, which is correct and wise, yet there are extenuating circumstances where they would have to consider to lie in order to save the life of their family or friend. We are all inclined toward warfare and it seems it is in everything we humans are about… physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, so much so, that a state of war is what we are born into, and the truth is, we’ve had to learn to practice peace, to see the value in doing so, and to do those things which promote peace.  There are some who believe we’re all born “good people” and we become bad, but that’s just an outright lie. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Like i said, all my life i have been at war either in my spirit, in my head, or my body, and many times a dark symphony of all three. Upon trying to imagine “perfect peace”, to me, that says “no war” with a non-existent noise floor. i have had a few times where i’ve truly been at “perfect peace” and it was absolutely astounding. Sadly, it was also foreign and the contrast between -war- and -no war- felt like it was pulling my head apart. i like to imagine i usually operate at about an 80% peace, at least that’s what i’d like to believe, but the truth is likely far less than that, and wildly swings from all out war to sometimes being too exhausted to keep the roar of war going. If we’re being real honest, i think most of us don’t have peace like we think, but more we simply have found a way to turn the volume of conflict down a few notches, and then we decide we’re at peace, “beyond our understanding” simply because the volume of war has been turned down. I don’t believe simply turning down the volume of war and strife is what Jesus was talking about…at….all. For me, real peace as Jesus gives is a place God takes me occasionally, that place of “no war” and “perfect peace” and there is no effort on my part which could ever achieve “perfect peace” or “no war”. We’ve been at war so long we can’t hardly imagine “no war”, and the place of “no war” is descibed in Ps23 where the writer states, “He leads me beside still waters.” Do you see what i’m saying here?

i think that i am only truly as close to peace as i can get, short of being in Heaven, is when i trust God fully and permit Him to work in my own personal situations. Through a long, long series of very difficult trials, i’ve come to the conclusion God can and will eclipse any wrong ideas which have stuck to me from birth. So much of what i learned as a child inspired war and my lack of peace. i was taught to keep the rules and that is how you live at peace. But rule keeping didn’t make my heart and mind cease from all conflict and strife. i was taught going to church and giving my tithe was how you live at peace. But going to a brick and mortar facility, doing a weekly program, and giving money didn’t make my heart and mind cease from all war, conflict, and strife.

So how do i find a closer version of peace than what i’ve got? Is26:3-4, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”

Are you tired of being at war, striving, and continual contention, then ask the Lord to settle your heart, and i mean really pursue Him on it until things change. As a result, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only.

What do you think?