“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. - John 15:5

 . . . Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peaceby those who make peace.  - James 3:13-18

Jesus calls us to live God pleasing lives. The following Scripture in Galatians lists the fruits that should be evident  in our lives. The kind that are to be pleasing to God the Father.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,  . . .  - Galatians 5:22,23

The third fruit mentioned here is peace. The kind of peace that gives us confidence towards God, and through the storms of life.

PEACE - shalom (shah-loam); Strong’s #7965: Completeness, wholeness, peace, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony; the absence of agitation or discord. To be complete, perfect, and full.

Psalm 35:27- God takes delight in the shalom (the wholeness, the total well-being) of His servant.

Isaiah 32:17, 18 - The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, In secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places,

James 3:18 - Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

We have peace with God, because we are righteous in His sight through our Lord Jesus Christ. The effect of righteousness is shalom as we have seen from Isaiah 32.

Romans 5:1, 2 - Therefore, having been justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

How To Have Peace In Times Of Trouble

"How can I maintain the fruit of peace in the midst of the storms that are in my life?," someone may ask. That's a great question, because all of us face some kind of trouble or problem in life. Because the world that we live in is a world filled with troubles, and danger (See John 16:33). However, that does not change the promise of God's Word for us concerning peace for our lives. Let's take look at Jesus who is our greatest example of peace, and see how He allowed peace to pilot Him and His disciples through the storm that they faced.

Mark 4:35-41 - On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

I would like to point out from these verses in Mark four important truths that you and I need to know in order to make it through our times of troubles to victory.
 

• Hear From God

I remember when I received direction from the Lord in going to Rhema Bible Training Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. In seeking the Lord in prayer one day as to what Bible Collage to attend, because at that time I was concerdering Rhema, or Bethany Bible Collage in Scotts Valley, CA, which was about an hour away from home. In prayer concerning God's direction in this matter, the Lord spoke to me in my heart about attending Rhema. So with that specific direction I applied for that particular school, and was accepted. After being accepted to Rhema, I made plans to go out there to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma to find housing and to get a job lined up so that I could make the move to attend the school that the Lord directed me to attend. This was the first time I was to be on my own. Out in the world, out from the comfort of all that I knew. Out in another part of the country that I've never been in before. Not knowing anyone one. I never heard of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. All I knew was, that I heard from God. I knew where it was He was leading me to go. That's all I had at the time.

So after saying good bye to my family, I boarded the airplane, being nerves, and my emotions running havic in my soul,  wondering to myself, "did I really hear from God about this." As I was sitting there in the plane, and as the plane was gaining speed, lifting off the ground. It was then, I will never forget it, right then. Sitting in that plane, as it lifted off the ground, I literally could feel the peace of God all over me. The only way I can describe it, it was as if God open up the top of my head, and poured into me some kind of warm liquid, filling me from the souls of my feet to overflowing. From the inside out. Saturated in the peace of God.

Let me tell you something here, just because your in the will of God for your life does not mean that it's going to be easy. Just because I was following God's plan for my life by attending Rhema, it was not easy. In fact there were times when I was ready to quit and give up. Living in another state, seperated from family and friends, especially around the holidays. If I didn't hear from God in the first place, I would have left Rhema, and would have come home, and might not be in the ministry today.

Remember, before you move towards a certain direction in life, hear from God. Then once you have take the next step.
 

• Launch Out

We must understand from the account in Marks gospel that Jesus and the disciples where in the perfect will of the Father, and that even in the will of God an attack from the enemy came against them. Just because you and I maybe in the will of God doesn't mean that the enemy  is going to leave us alone. He is going to try to stop us anyway he can, to hinder us from fulfilling the will of God in our lives and in the lives of others as we are about to see in this account in Marks gospel. God the Father is not the one who sends storms our way. It's the devil, he's the one who hinders, not God!

Someone may ask, "Well didn't the Holy Spirit know that Jesus and the disciples would encounter an attack from the enemy?" The answer is, Yes. But just because the enemy attacks does not change the will of God. Jesus showed them then, and shows us today how to get through the attacks of the devil, in victory. We need to use our faith and speak to those waves and rebuke the winds that the devil sends against us. You maybe sitting there reading this and be thinking to yourself, "What do you mean use my faith?" Well, let's look at what Jesus said to them in the following verse, But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” What Jesus was saying here is, "you guys have been with me for sometime now. I have been teaching you about faith, in fact all day long I have been teaching you about the Kingdom of God, sowing seed, and the principles of faith, and you still don't get it!"

You can sit in the most anointed service where signs and wonders and miracles are happening all around you. You can hear the most powerful message on faith and healing. But, until you begin to apply what you hear and receive, you will not get any results. Just like them that day in the boat with Jesus. They heard  Jesus Himself all day long minister about the principles of faith, and the Word of God all day long (See Mark 4:2-9; 13-20; 26-34). So if anyone should have had faith it should have been those twelve men in the boat with Jesus. So rather than being good ground like Jesus talked about earlier that day, because of the storm they let go of what they heard from Jesus and became rocky ground (See Mark 4:16, 17). They heard the Word and received it with joy, but were not established, or rooted in what they heard. At first they were going along just fine and then as soon as they had a problem, at the first sign of trouble they let go of what they heard and allowed fear to enter in. Which leads me to my next point.
 

• Don't Do What They Did

Mark 11:22, 23 - So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God (Or, have the faith of God). “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

You see, the faith of God speaks to the mountain, to the hinderances, to the problems, and to the storms of life. Jesus tells us here to have the God kind of faith, and to use the God kind of faith and speak to the storms that blow our way. He did not say in verse twenty two here to speak to God about the mountain, or pray for God to do something about the mountain. He says for you to speak to the mountain, - ". . . I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea, . . .".

Let's look at another verse of Scripture that talks about calling on Jesus to do something about the devil.

Romans 10:6-8 - But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

You see the answer that you need is in you as a born again child of God. Faith speaks from the mouth, and from the heart that is full of the Word of God. Stop waiting for Jesus to do something about the storms in your life, and you do something about them. You release your faith upon the Word of God, and use your authority in the Name of Jesus against those storms that the devil is blowing against you.

Jesus has given you His faith, His authority and His Name as well as His Word. You have all that you need to be victorious in the face of the storms of life.

You see Jesus has given to the church, the Body of Christ the authority to cast out demons and to rule over the enemy. Your the one with the authority. Your the one with the Word. Your the one with His Name. Your the one with His Faith.

Matthew 18:18 (Amplified Version) (Jesus said,) Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven.

Notice what He said here. "Whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth . . .  whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth . . . ". Your the one with the say so! Your the one who needs to do something about the devil. Your the one who needs to quit waiting on Jesus to do something about the storm. You stand up and speak to the wind and say to the sea, peace be still!

The other thing that they did in Mark 4 that we are not to do is, they questioned His love and care for them. Let's look at that again. Mark 4:38 -  . . ., “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" It's one thing to question God when you or I want to learn something. However, it's wrong for us to question His love and care for us when we are going through a storm. Don't do what they did, never question His love and care for you. Know this, that no matter what kind of storm or difficulty we're faced with, He loves us with an everlasting love, and there is nothing in all of creation that can ever seperate us from the Fathers love and care ( See Romans 8:35-39).
 

• They Got To The Other Side