At Peace with God

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

AT PEACE WITH GOD

Rom 5:1-5

5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

NIV

The, therefore, is following all that was just said, about being justified through faith, or being declared or rendered innocent, or the word justified could be seen as being declared righteous, such as Abraham was because he believed God. This translated directly to us for because we believe God, we have been rendered righteous. The icing on the cake is that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. As we have researched many times regarding the Greek word eireenee which means peace we are always in awe of our relationship with God. We are in a tranquil state with God, which is the opposite of rage and the havoc of war. However, as the word peace relates to this tranquil state, it has been seen as relating to Christianity, it has been defined as the tranquil state of our soul, assured of our salvation through Christ, thus fearing nothing from God and content with our earthly lot, whatsoever that is. The fact is that because we believe God, which means we believe every word within the holy scriptures, leaving nothing out, not cherry-picking just certain truths, but believing everything God has said and is saying through the power of the Spirit, we are entirely at peace with God, and he is at peace with us. This puts to rest any thoughts about God punishing us because we disappoint him, or do or say something that may not be appropriate for us as a believer. This peace with God through Jesus gains us access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. To have access to that which affords us joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, good-will, loving-kindness, and favor leads us directly to the result of all those characteristics of God, which is our spiritual condition because we are governed by the power of divine influence, or that could be said that grace is the divine influence upon our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. How well do we reflect the loving-kindness of God? How well do we reflect God's joy, delight, charm, and sweetness? If we are at peace with God and we are standing in his grace through our faith in Jesus Christ, then we should be filled with the Spirit and our lives should reflect the glory of God within us. The wonder of all that we cannot manifest with our power. We cannot make it up or pretend to be holy and righteous by following any pattern established by the rules and regulations of man. Our joy does not come from us, but from the Spirit within. He is the one who manifests his joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and even self-control within us. It is not by our might, but by the might of God that we are saved, justified, sanctified, and blessed beyond all measure. What we can do is have faith, we can believe God, and we can live in this peace and grace of God with confidence, assurance, and with joy.