THE INCREASE: Prince of Peace - Jack Easterby

This time of year we often talk about joy to the world and peace to all men. But what is peace? Peace is not an absence of conflict, it’s an internal presence that’s consistently greater than any conflict. When you walk with the Lord, you understand that you gain the presence of the Holy Spirit, who settles you. He gives you peace. Often we mix peace with success; we assume if we have success or attain a certain objective, it will bring us peace. But even when you reach your personal goals or level of success, you will still have conflict.

“For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” — Isaiah 9:6

In this passage, we are given the description of Jesus. He will be called Prince of Peace. On our own, we get beat up by the bully of sin. It intimidates us and makes us walk with our heads down in fear. But when Jesus comes into our lives, He beats up the bully of sin for us. Suddenly we are walking differently because we know our biggest obstacle has been defeated. The Prince is using His princehood to institute a new reality; He’s governing the peace of God here on Earth. There are no other princes of peace. There are princes of chaos, but only one Prince of Peace.

When you look at your life and wonder why you are so discouraged, down or confused, ask yourself, “What have I allowed to be my prince of peace?” The world’s economy is based on who wins the momentary wars. Every peace treaty ever made has been broken because man is incapable of solving the problem; we are the problem! In the Kingdom economy, Christ has won and peace forever reigns.

“And He will be their peace…” — Micah 5:5

He will be our peace. He not only is the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ is peace Himself! He is the ultimate example and personification of peace. This is displayed when He tells Lazarus to come out of the grave, when He calls Zacchaeus down from the tree, when He calls the Pharisees out, and when He meets the woman at the well and challenges her to get her life together. For the three years of His ministry that we see in the gospels, He is the ultimate peacemaker.

Everyone loves peacemakers. It’s a positive attribute to find in someone. These are the people we want to have around us at all times, right?

Do you want to see how Jesus navigated those who were hard to make peace with? Take a look at what He did when the soldiers came to arrest Him. Peter jumped up and cut off one of their ears, but Jesus reached up and healed the man. Think about the conversation that man had with his wife when he came home from work: “I went to arrest a man and had my ear cut off. But it’s OK, Jesus healed me.” And look at how Jesus handled it when people talked behind His back — He prayed for them.

In the same way, when we pray for those who are hurting us, our hearts will change toward them. The Lord is asking us to be institutors of peace for His glory.

— Jack Easterby, New England Patriots chaplain

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