How many times have you gone to the Lord and said, "Lord, do You really want me to do this? Or do You really want me to go this way?" Or, "Lord, are You saying this?" Or, "Lord, should I give this?"
How many times have you had to face that dilemma? We get into that dilemma because we have not recognized that God has built into the spirit of every born-again Christian a direction compass device called peace.
God uses the fruit of peace to guide the steps of His children so that their lives will be in keeping with His perfect plan and purpose. That's one of the ways He uses His peace.
If you're having problems hearing from God, you can learn how to depend on this built-in security system that God has put on the inside of every born-again believer, a built-in direction finder. And that security system and direction finder is called peace.
This function of peace is explained in Colossians 3:15: "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body; and be ye thankful." Now, notice the word "let." That means it is my responsibility to let peace rule.
In order to benefit from this security system which is built into me, I have to let it work. And let the peace of God rule. The word "rule" in the Greek means to act as an umpire or to arbitrate or to decide. When there is a question of direction, the peace of God is to be the deciding factor in a believer's heart.
When you are in doubt and have questions in your mind about which way to go on an issue, the peace of God will decide the matter for you if you know how to let it work. Sometimes it's the lack of peace in your heart that will give you the clue that you're going in the wrong direction. Let me give some examples to illustrate this principle.
Don't Overrule the Umpire!
Have you ever been in a situation where everything about it seems just right on the surface, even though the words are right and it looks right, questions arise in your mind? You can't put your finger on what's wrong with the situation, but you just don't "feel right" about it. Even though everyone else is all for doing whatever it is, inside you're uneasy about it for no visible reason.
Child of God, when that happens, when you get that uneasy feeling inside that says you don't have peace about what's going on, you need to run to the nearest exit!
That is the peace of God inside you acting as an umpire to tell you, "Something's wrong. There's deception here. There's danger here. Watch out. Better get out of here." And if you don't listen to that inner umpire, if you overrule its decisions, you'll wind up in trouble. Later, you'll be shaking your head and saying, "Something told me not to do that."
Learning to operate in this function of peace would save many good Christian people from making mistakes about marriage partners.
Sometimes a man looks at a woman or a woman looks at a man, and everything about that potential mate just seems to look perfect. The woman checks out the man and finds out he's got a good job, he's got a nice car, he treats her nicely when they go out, takes her to nice places, acts like the perfect gentleman, answers all her questions just as she dreamed he would - everything seems to be so right.
And yet, for no reason she can determine except she doesn't "feel right" about it, she doesn't want to marry him. She even loves him, but "something" on the inside of her is telling her to leave him alone.
If she's been taught to operate in the peace of God, she'll listen to that inner umpire and wait until a more suitable mate comes along. She'll wait until she finds the man God intends for her to marry, and she'll know who he is immediately because inside she'll be all calm and peaceful - she'll know this man is the right one because the peace of God is all over the relationship.
The Price of Not Letting Peace Rule
But if she chooses to go contrary to the direction of the inner umpire, she may wind up in a bad marriage. Oh, things may go all right at first. They get married, have a fancy wedding, have a romantic honeymoon in the Bahamas - everything seems to be so right.
And she begins to wonder if she just imagined being uneasy about marrying him. But now she's operating in the peace we often make up in our own minds. Instead of being God's peace, it's a peace that says everything's all right just because we want it to be. And soon after they get home from the honeymoon, her husband comes in one day acting crazy and she finds out he's quit his job, wrecked the car, and now all he wants to do is just lie around on the couch all day and watch wrestling on television.
Now the marriage is in trouble; they're both miserable, and it's all because they didn't know how to let the peace of God rule in their hearts before they got married.
The peace of God, the built-in security system that is inside every born-again believer, will always work if you let it. It will get your attention every time, but if you don't know what it is, if you don't identify it as God's guidance system, you may ignore it. And if you ignore the warnings of the inner umpire, you will end up going contrary to what you know in your heart is right.
Peace is designed to lead you in the right direction. But God never forces you to go His way. His peace will lead you, but you have to let it rule in your heart.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers