In order to have rock solid relationships with people it is important to have a rock solid relationship with God through our relationship with Jesus. Many people try to build relationships on their own and they end up consciously or unconsciously sabotaging them every time. It is humanly impossible to be at peace in our relationships without God. We can try as hard as we want but ultimately we will end up disheartened, discouraged, and damaged, if we do not look to Jesus as our peace, in our relationships.
I spent many years trying to live right, be right, and speak right, in my relationships. There were days I would succeed and days I would fail. My success came on days I allowed myself to be controlled by the Holy Spirit and allowed the peace of Christ to reign in my heart. On those days I felt a true sense of accomplishment. All of my interactions with people were peaceful. When I would go to bed I was filled with peace and my mind was clear.
I have discovered that on the days when I failed, I was in control. My thoughts, words, and actions, came from within me and I wasn’t giving the control of my thoughts, words, and actions, over to God, to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. I was living in my own strength and depending on my limited knowledge and understanding of relationships to direct my steps. On those days I found myself feeling weak and inadequate. My mind would be full of suspicion, while my spirit was anxious and in unrest. I couldn’t shake negative thoughts and I had a hard time putting sentences together that made sense. I would go to bed agitated and angry at someone who had offended me during the day and frustrated with God for not intervening on my behalf.
One day when I was reading the Bible I read Romans 5:1 which says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I then started to pray about this verse and realized that Christ is our peace, and that in order to have peace, not only with God, but also with man, it has to come from our relationship with Christ. I remembered the armor of God and especially Ephesians 6:15, “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;” It was my responsibility to have my feet planted firm and fitted in the Gospel of peace and the Gospel of peace is Jesus Christ. Every promise of God has a condition. This is not a works condition in order to gain God’s approval, but rather a condition of the heart and mind that makes Jesus the Lord of every area of our lives. So in order to have peace in our relationships with people, on a consistent basis, we have to make sure our relationship with Christ is consistent and rock solid.
In Matthew 7:24, 25 Jesus says, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” We will always face storms in our relationships but if Christ is the center of them, we will be intact during and after the storms. We will also have peace in the assurance of knowing that sometimes He will calm the storm and at other times He will calm us in the midst of the storm.
I want to encourage you to look up the Scriptures that talk about peace.
Here are some Scriptures that I studied in this process:
Isaiah 9:6 - Jesus is our Prince of peace.
John 14:27 - Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Isaiah 48:17, 18 - Heed His commandments and your peace will be like a river.
Isaiah 48:22 - There is no peace for the wicked.
Isaiah 32:17,18 - The work of doing what is right will be peace.
Psalm 85:8 -10 - The Lord will speak peace to His people, but let them not turn back to folly.
Isaiah 26:3, 4 - You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts You.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 - God's thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Luke 2:13, 14 - God's purpose is for peace on earth and goodwill toward men.
Philippians 4:6, 7 - Let your requests be made known to God, and His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds.
Romans 5:1 - Our peace with God is through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:14, 17 - Jesus is our peace. Apart from Him, we do not have His peace.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 – The God of peace sanctifies you completely.
John 16: 33 – In Christ we have peace.
As you can see Christ is our peace. Again, if we want to have rock solid relationships with people, we must first build a rock solid relationship with God through our relationship with Christ. I am not talking about religion here. I am talking about a relationship and through that relationship you will have the peace of Christ reigning in your heart and being reflected in your relationships with people, no matter how a relationship takes shape or how it might end.
To be continued……………………………
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