God Speaks Through Internal Peace When God speaks, He gives us a deep sense of internal peace to confirm that the message is truly from Him. Even if He speaks to chastise us, the companion of truth leaves a calming sense of comfort in our soul. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). When the deceiver speaks to us, he cannot give peace. When we try to solve things with our own reasoning, we cannot get peace, because “the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]” (Romans 8:6). Lay your decision on the scale with peace; don’t proceed if peace cannot hold its weight against the guidance you have heard. You don’t have to explain to others why you don’t have peace about it; sometimes you won’t know why yourself. You can say simply, “It’s not wisdom for me to do this, because I don’t have peace about it.” Even when you believe God has spoken to you, you should wait until peace fills your soul to do what He has instructed you to do. In this way you are assured your timing is right—plus peace is true confirmation that you are hearing from God. If you wait for peace, you will be able to be obedient with faith. Seek peace; there’s power in having peace. Once you know that God has instructed you, You must do what you can to keep your peace and not become fearful. I run my life by finding peace. If I am shopping, I don’t buy something if I don’t have peace about it. If I get into a conversation and start losing my peace, I become quiet. I have learned that it’s important to keep peace in order to maintain power. We should never act without peace. One might say that peace is an “internal confirmation” that action being taken is approved of by God: “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]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always]” (Colossians 3:15). God leads us by peace. The Bible says that peace is like an umpire that decides what is “safe” or what is “out.” No peace? It’s “out”! We are to let the inner harmony in our minds and souls rule and act as an umpire continually in our hearts, deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in our minds. We are called to live in a peaceful state as members of one body in Christ. We must learn to obey our own sense of right and wrong and resist doing things our inner conscience is uncomfortable doing. God gives or takes peace from our conscience to let us know whether we are on track. We shouldn’t look for unrealistic methods of communication from God. The majority of Christians never have a face-to-face encounter with Jesus as Paul did on his way to Damascus. Even Paul didn’t always experience the heavens opening up, angels appearing, or trumpets blasting every time God spoke to him. We can be led of the Spirit through internal peace every day of our lives. We shouldn’t look for unrealistic methods of communication from God. Beware of false peace. When we have a strong desire to do something, it can produce a false peace that actually comes only from our excitement. As time passes, this false peace disappears, and God’s true will emerges for our lives. For this reason we should never move too quickly on important decisions. A little time of waiting is always wise and prudent. The Bible tells us not to be rash in what we say or hasty in the commitments we make (see Ecclesiastes 5:2-5). Here is an example that may help you better understand this point. Someone Dave and I love very much was in need, and we wanted to meet that need. Doing so would have provided great joy for the individual with the need. It actually would have provided something this person had desired for a long time. I got excited about meeting this person’s need and went to Dave, who agreed we should help. We proceeded with our plan, but the longer we went on with it, the more I lost my peace. This created a problem because I felt we had made a commitment—we had given our word, and I didn’t want to go to the person and say I had changed my mind. I didn’t mind saying I had made a mistake, but I didn’t want to disappoint the person who by now was very excited. A couple more weeks went by, and I just kept praying, “God, if what we are doing is not right, please make the entire thing fall through. Cause something to happen to let us know for sure what we are supposed to do.” I became more and more troubled inside and finally went to the individual and said, “Something is wrong with our plan; I have absolutely no peace about it.” To my great relief the person felt the same way. Both of us had lost our peace, and neither one of us wanted to tell the other. I highly respect the principle of “following peace.” It has kept me out of trouble many times. Had I waited awhile after getting the “bright idea” to help this person, I am sure I would have sensed the lack of peace; but in my zeal and excitement to be a blessing, I had interpreted what I felt as peace, when in reality it was not. False peace can be dangerous, so be wise in these areas. Don’t make serious decisions and commitments without doing an “inner check” to see if true peace abides within you.