Peace Within

PEACE WITHIN

I tweeted this recently

"ONE NATION bound in FREEDOM, PEACE AND UNITY."
The 'heroes past' of this Nation had the right idea.
TOGETHER
FREEDOM FOR ALL
PEACE IN ALL
Say no to all forms of strife. And yes to working together to get this Nation working.
I believe in our UNITY.
We are the 'heroes today'

Peace within is a topic that I find interesting. I was priviledged to be able to access a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) titled: "A Long Walk of Peace - towards a culture of prevention.

Here are a few excerpts from the book:

"While Peace keeping efforts produces peace in conflict areas. Peace building efforts are designed deliberately to ensure the continuity of peace.

Peace building is the construction of a new environment to avoid the breakdown of peaceful conditions and prevent a reoccurrence of crisis, recognizing that "only sustained cooperative work to deal with underlying economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems can place an achieved peace on a durable foundation:

Reports: Agenda for Peace and Agenda for Development highlight the importance of these in keeping peace respectively:

Early warning, Mediation, Confidence  Building measures, Fact finding, Preventive deployment, peace zones.

Humanitarian Aid, Arms Control, Social Welfare, Military Deployment, The Media.

Now, the focus is on Preventive Deployment.

Research on liberal peace provided arguments in favour of economic development and democratization as the pathway to a prosperous, peaceful world.

Social engineering of conflict prone societies is essential to prevent their relapse into conflict.

Thus, peacebuilding may involve ‘working around conflict’, ‘working in conflict’ and ‘working on conflict’, where it is feasible (Kievelitz, Kruk and Frieters, 2003: 8).

Although UNESCO conceptualized a ‘culture of peace’ in 1989, its ethos is grounded in its preamble: ‘a peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could secure the unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the peoples of the world … peace must, therefore, be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind’.

‘A key role in the promotion of a culture of peace belongs to parents, teachers, politicians, journalists, religious bodies and groups, intellectuals, those engaged in scientific, philosophical, creative and artistic activities, health and humanitarian workers, social workers, managers at various levels as well as to non-governmental organizations’ (UNESCO, 1999).

On 20 November 1997, the UN General Assembly gave a much wider definition to the ‘culture of peace’, stating that: the task of the United Nations to save future generations from the scourge of war requires transformation towards a culture of peace, which consists of values, attitudes and behaviours that reflect and inspire social interaction and sharing based on the principles of freedom, justice and democracy, all human rights, tolerance and solidarity, that reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation and that guarantee the full exercise of all rights and the means to participate fully in the development process of their society (UN, 1997).

Drafted by Nobel Peace Laureates, ‘Manifesto 2000’ was signed during the International Year for the Culture of Peace by 75 million people, all pledging to work for the culture of peace ‘in my daily life, in my family, my work, my community, my country and my region’.

The International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures (IDRC) represents an important culture and education-based supplement to the emerging notion of ‘sustaining peace’. Achieving a true rapprochement of cultures entails nurturing a culture of peace and achieving peace through non-violence and peaceful dialogue.

Interestingly, the International Decade has preferred the French word ‘rapprochement’ to the earlier term ‘dialogue’, which in a sense implies a greater emphasis on a mutually enriching synergy between cultures

The IDRC document reiterates that ‘international security and social inclusion cannot be attained sustainably without a commitment to such principles as compassion, conviviality, hospitality, solidarity and brotherhood which are the cornerstones of human coexistence inherent in all faiths and secular ideologies’
(UNESCO, 2014)"

I will end the excerpts here where the researchers introduced faiths as one of the ideologies that provide knowledge of compassion, conviviality, hospitality, solidarity and brotherhood which are immensely important to attain a sustainable international security and social inclusion.

I am of the Christian faith. That I am in Christ is something I like to boast about. From the view of a Christian, Peace is something that we should have within us. It is not something that is produced by the environment. Peace within us produces the peace that we need within our environment.

It is my belief that every person who is a Christian have been given peace as a fruit of the new spirit we have and as a gift from Jesus Christ our Lord to us:

Gal 5: 22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (Compare)
23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

John 14: 27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Of particular note to Christ's statement is that "not as the world giveth, give I unto you" This means a lot when I think about it. It means that as Christians we do not look to the world to give us peace, rather we look to Christ to give us peace. It also means that we can be sure of stability, in that the world is known to change: as they say change is the only constant thing - however, In Christ, we have one who is constant. The bible says "He is the same: yesterday, today and forever" This means we can rely on the peace that he gives.

Paul, one of Christ's Apostles, said:
1Thess 3: 16  Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.

I am excited to see that the Lord of Peace doesn't just give peace, but He does so always.

Defining peace is a very difficult task -especially, defining peace that is limited to that which is within a person. However, we can define the experience of this peace - that is what people who have this peace within them have defined as their experiences: biblically, the experience is aptly defined as "Beyond Understanding".

Phi 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Another translation says:

As a result, God will enable you not to worry about anything (OR, God will protect your minds in every way) That is, he will cause you to have inner peace because you have a relationship with Christ Jesus. You will not be able to understand how you can be so peaceful in such difficult circumstances!

My prayer is that no one reading this faces such difficult circumstances in Jesus name, Amen. Yet, the point is that the peace of God is such that it will be beyond reason.

A testimony from the bible about Christ and His disciples justifies this experience of peace within.

Mark 4: 35  And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
36  And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37  And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
38  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

First, my prayer is that no one faces the kind of storm described here, whether in the seas or as an allegory to real life problems. Nature is at peace with us, all men, including those who may not like us are at peace with us in Jesus name as it is written proverbs 16 v 7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. In Christ we are always pleasing to the Lord. Amen!

1) while the waters were troubled and every man was troubled along with it, Jesus was asleep! That is Peace beyond understanding!!. It doesn't make sense to a mind, except Christ's mind, to be at peace at such a time.

2) Now, Christ Jesus was woken up by his frantic disciples at this time, who wondered if He did not care that they all died in the storm. And He stood up, rebuked the wind and spoke to the sea: Peace be still! I imagine he did it without rushing or even shouting, he just did it calmly. That is Peace beyond understanding! We have received this peace by our faith in Christ Jesus.

The very interesting thing is that by the peace within Jesus, He was able also to affect his environment positively. Remember that Christ was in a boat, but there were also other boats around him. By stilling the storm, He saved all those boats and their crew also.

To enjoy this peace as Christians we ask for it as Paul did for his disciples a number of times:

Rom 1:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ

1Co 1:3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ

In all His letters he prayed for grace and peace to all His readers and we also should do so for all saints in our Nation and for the world. For if every man, woman, and child have the peace of God abounding within themselves, all wars will end, there will be space for growth and development of all villages and cities the world over. Joy will feel our homes and work places in abundance.

I invite you to join me in praying this prayer for saints all over the world:

Grace and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be unto all saints of the world in Jesus name, Amen.

Thank you for reading.

I would like to use this opportunity to invite anyone who wants to receive Christ and gain this Peace. If you are willing, just pray this prayer of faith:

Heavenly Father, I believe that Christ Jesus died for my sins and I ask you to come into my life and be my only Lord and Saviour. Amen

May the grace and peace of God be with us all, Amen.