peace revelation

This is something I wrote soon after learning about peace:
When I speak of revelation, I am speaking of truth that has been revealed personally to me, not just a truth that I can acknowledge with my head. Revelation puts me in a place to go beyond acknowledgment and into a place of a personal belief that can be acted on. And since deciding to choose peace, this is what is happening to me as I read the word. With my new-found belief in this peace teaching, the Holy Spirit is opening my eyes to scripture like never before in the areas of forgiveness, faith and the absolute, remarkable tenderness of Jesus Christ.

The first night, after learning about peace and non-resistance for the first time and receiving it, I began to doubt this stance of absolute peace, but the Holy Spirit simply said, "on earth, as it is in heaven." Do I believe that or not? How can I pray that prayer and then act, think or believe contrary to it? This is the Lord's will—would I go against it?

The following night as I walked my dog, I slipped into fear. And then I realized that to walk in peace, one must give up fear. To give up fear, one must grow in love, which casts out fear! To walk in true, complete love, one must walk in peace--peace with all people, not just those you love or can at least tolerate. And then, as I wrote this, I began to see how, if I walk in peace, if I set my heart to walk in peace, then satan can no longer frighten me, he can no longer taunt me as he has in the past with fear. If I determine to walk in peace, whom have I to fear? Whom have I to fear!!

Deciding to live in peace means deciding to give up my perceived "right" to revenge. It is not my place to seek revenge. It is no longer my responsibility--it never was. I was only attempting to hold onto it, and only failing, because revenge only sets a cycle turning. This is a cycle that satan would like to place me in. Deciding to live in peace gives me the freedom that I need to forgive others who hurt me. I came to this decision by looking at peace versus war. I rejected war, seeing it as violence against my enemies, which is contrary to God's word. And as I accepted this part of God's word, my eyes were opened to how I could forgive those who hurt me! I have trouble forgiving those who hurt me, because I have been holding onto my perceived right to revenge! How can I forgive if I think it's my place, my right to set things straight--straight the way I see it? I can not. Deciding to live in peace means walking away from that perceived right to revenge; instead, it means walking in the freedom to forgive my enemies, or those who hurt me.

And this revelation continued as I prayed and read the word. I read the passage where Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world; if it were, my people would fight.” And suddenly I realized that I belong to the kingdom of God, not to the United States. I have believed that, to the extent that I wish and allow the Holy Spirit to move in my life. But I never extended it any further than that. With this peace teaching, I am realizing that my allegiance to my country has taken precedence over my allegiance to God and all the while, I was unaware of this. Allegiance to my country was so ingrained in me from a very young age, that I unknowingly equated the purposes of the US with the purposes of God. As I became an adult, I sensed a conflict between these two purposes, and avoided politics of any kind, and I avoided world affairs because I could not make my understanding of God coincide with the activities of my country. It was easier to avoid, because I still did not want to give up what was left of my patriotism, my love for my country. Deciding to live in peace means we must recognize our citizenship to a kingdom not of this world!! This must be where our allegiance is placed! We must change our thinking and ask the Holy Spirit to help us develop this as the platform from which we make decisions where peace is concerned. If our allegiance to God’s kingdom is in our framework of thinking and believing, then we can walk in peace.

And more. I began to see my personal responsibility for spreading this gospel. I have brothers and sisters in the countries of China and North Korea who are persecuted for what they believe. Here I sit in a country that is free at the cost of the lives of men who believed violence was the only way to freedom. I questioned that, and the Holy Spirit answered me. We too often fight in the flesh what might be won if we would only first fight in the spirit. God said that if we would only have faith as a mustard seed, the mountain would move. God said, if my people who are called by my name, would humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then I would heal their land. We, who called our nation a Christian nation, who picked up our weapons to take freedom, should have instead taken up our holy armor. God’s will will be done—period. If we have to step into the flesh to make happen what we think should happen, then we are stepping out of the will of God in some way. I’m not saying it is not God’s will that we have a free country. But I am saying that it didn’t need to happen the way it did. This fight, too, was in allegiance to an earthly country. But since it’s done, and I have my freedom, even more now than ever, I know that I can not sit back and enjoy it—I must instead USE that freedom in ways that those who are oppressed can not.

I read the Bible daily. How did I not see this side of Jesus? I did, to an extent, but when I compare that extent to what I am seeing now, I didn't really see him like this. I didn't understand that part of him. His tenderness has always captivated me, but now I don’t know how to respond to this new tenderness that I see. He is more, so much unbelievably more than I could ever hope or imagine! I want others to see Jesus like this, to accept this truth for themselves, because it answers so many questions, fills so many spaces. We need to believe this, because it is an integral part of the gospel—without it, we are leaning on an incomplete gospel. Without it, we will not be able to do what God has called us to do!