He is Peace | Judges 6:24 & Ephesians 2:14

At the beginning of 2022, I prayed and asked the Lord for a word for the year.

I am not sure what I expected, but what I got was definitely not it.

Peace.

I remember thinking, "Yeah right. That's not possible for me. I'm a worrier. It's who I am. It's just my personality."

Then, I prayed again, asking for my real word for 2022.

As you probably guessed, the Lord didn't budge. My word was peace.

I spent the majority of the year praying and asking God to give me peace. Sometimes even begging. There was even a season where I was hit with the most intense anxiety I have ever experienced in my life. I wondered, "How is this the year of peace?"

It was not until August that the Lord taught me something. Or rather, reminded me of something. Something I knew was true but not something I was living as if it was true.

I was in a time of intense prayer, and I was doing what I had done all year. Give me peace, God. Please.

In that moment, my eyes were opened to the most amazing fact: He IS peace.

Jesus is peace. I have Jesus; therefore, I have peace. I was asking for something that I already had in my possession.

I was asking God to give me peace: what I really needed was more of Him.

We see in Judges 6:24 where Gideon says, "Yahweh-Shalom" (The LORD is peace). We see in Ephesians 2:14 that He Himself is our peace.

In Judges, Gideon had just been called to a pretty intimidating task, but he knew the Lord was his peace. In Ephesians, Paul was writing to the church in Ephesus, and in his letter, he wrote about doctrinally who we are in Christ as well as practical application of how we are to live as Christians. Paul wanted the people to know that in Christ, peace was theirs.

Do you have God? If so, you have peace.

It is a revelation that I continue to come back to even now, and it was the beginning of God showing me my next step, my word for 2023: humility.

To answer the question on your mind right now: is all of my worry gone now in 2023? Honestly, no.

But 2022 was important. I needed to know peace was possible, and not only was it possible, it was already mine.

And to start walking in what already belongs to me, I will walk in humility and ask for more of God. (I will write on this someday. Just not now. God still has much more to teach me on that.)

For now though, know that peace is yours as a child of God. We know this Biblically. You have peace because you have Him.

Photo by Isaac Kandel