Let Peace Rule
by Ray Prinzing

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts..."  Colossians 3:15.

With the gracious inworkings of the Spirit, as step by step He leads us onward, into the revelation of divine truth, our hearts respond with the thrill of our holy, heavenly, and high calling in Christ.  And though the very loftiness of its height causes our imagination to stagger beneath its weight of glory, and we scarce can take it in, yet we would say, as one declared, "while we cannot comprehend this scope, whatever God means by it, that is what we desire."  We would lay hold of all that for which we have been apprehended by God.  With Paul, "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the HIGH CALLING of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14).

Now, though the vision is glorious, since our heart is yearning for the full manifestation of its reality, we are grateful that the Lord also works deep within - as HE shows us the qualifications and route into its fulness, that we might receive what HE has prepared, which is now "reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:4-5).  It is in view of all this, that we now share together a message on PEACE, and its operation in our life.

One hardly need comment on the fact that in spite of all the talk and clamor for peace today, our world has any thing but peace.  The unrest, tension, pressure, riots and tumults even in those nations which do not have an actual warfare going on within their borders, can tell us how little peace is left in our world-system today.  In fact there is little peace is left in our world-system today.  In fact there is little peace in the religious-systems of our times, for each group seeks to build its kingdom, and strengthen its own security, and fight everything and everyone which threatens their program.  It will require far more than just and ecumenical council, or union of organizations, to produce a lasting peace.  We must all bow to the sovereign LORDSHIP of Christ.

It might be further stated that we need more than just abstract doctrines of peace, and appropriate terms for religious occasions.  To speak of the need for Christ to come, and that HE is the "Prince of Peace", as long as this is not brought into vital relationship to each man, it has little effect and result.  To know that HE is our Peace, and then to know that the riches of the glory of the mystery of the good news is CHRIST IN YOU becoming the security of the full victory to come, all of this must begin to WORK IN US and bring us into the desired fulness.  He, peace personified, must rule.

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