When you are tossed into chaos, busyness or hostility, would you allow the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) to see you through? Rev Dr Isaiah Fadzlin brings us the understanding.
Christmas brings hectic schedules, crowded malls, harried shoppers, and seasonal tasks that have nothing to do with Jesus’ birth. Details, people, events, and crises pull us in many different directions.
In all the hustle and bustle of the season, let us not forget the reason for the season and experience the fullness of rest and peace amid all the commotion.
Jesus is called the Prince of Peace for an important reason.
The promise of “peace” appears throughout the Christmas story.
The prophet Isaiah speaking about our Savior said, “A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called… Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Jesus is called the Prince of Peace for an important reason. The Hebrew word for “prince” is “sar”, which means “commander, ruler, leader, or captain.” It reveals a person who is able to overcome all obstacles and is in the place to order and accomplish His purpose. In other words, whatever your circumstances may be, God is always completely able and willing to help you. The One who can give you victory in every situation will never leave or forsake you.
Not only is Jesus called a prince, He is the prince of all peace. The word “peace”, used more than four hundred times in the Scriptures, was woven throughout the prophecies of Jesus’ coming as a special gift to us from God, and this gift is for us to receive freely.
We must first understand what the word “peace” means.
In order to receive and experience the promised peace in our lives, we must understand the kind of peace Jesus came to bring us. We must first understand what the word “peace” means. When we usually think of the word “peace,” we think of the lack of conflict or hostility, or picture someone being free from internal and external strife.
The Biblical concept of peace is much fuller than that. The Hebrew word for peace, šālôm, or the Greek word, eirēnē, means a sense of totality or completeness, success, fulfilment, wholeness, harmony, security and well-being. It is God’s perfect peace–His complete, lacking nothing type of wholeness and harmony. It is what we might experience when we say, “it is well with my soul.”
Jesus came as our Prince of Peace to bring us wholeness, perfect unity between God and us, harmony among creation, and a victorious sense of well-being. Jesus Christ is the only reason we can truly live peacefully with God and others.
It is a peace that comes from knowing that God has everything well in hand, even when it doesn’t look like it.
The peace Jesus brings is beyond comprehension. It is a peace that comes from knowing that God has everything well in hand, even when it doesn’t look like it. Christ’s peace is not based on circumstances; rather, it is a supernatural gift that we are blessed with when we walk with Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
It is a sense of well-being, knowing you are perfectly safe in the storm because you have something beyond what is visible to anchor you. It knows that you are part of the unshakable Kingdom where you are safe, loved and abounding with grace.
Jesus shows us how to have peace even during the most challenging circumstances. He taught that we could have His profound inner peace in even the most chaotic situations by displaying it while walking through the storm and even when He was hung on the cross. He told the disciples, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. “(John 14:27).
Jesus revealed that His disciples could walk and live like him in John 16:33 when He said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
The good news is that Christ has made this kind of profound, abiding peace available to all of us who believe in Him, and this peace is made available to us in at least two ways.
Trust completely in Jesus alone as God and Savior, the lover and leader of our life.
Peace with God
When we turn away from our sins, religious behavior, and false gods, we abandon the wrong kind of living that pushes God to the margins of our lives instead of placing Him at the center of our hearts. Trust completely in Jesus alone as God and Savior, the lover and leader of our life. When we make this choice, Jesus will give us His peace. It will be the same peace with God that he has always enjoyed.
As children of God, we can experience the peace of God from the Holy Spirit by meditating on the truth of the Word of God.
Peace in Difficult Circumstances
As children of God, we can experience the peace of God from the Holy Spirit by meditating on the truth of the Word of God. Like the first disciples, you will encounter difficult circumstances in your life. But when anything threatens to disturb your peaceful heart and mind, God will keep your heart and mind at peace when you remember what the Bible says about that situation and choose to depend on that.
As you consider these thoughts, take note of these similar and appropriate words from Paul when he said “goodbye” at the end of two of his letters. Near the end of his letter to the church in Rome, he said, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). And at the end of his letter to the church in Philippi, he said, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:16-17).
I pray that the PRINCE of PEACE will grant you a fresh dose of His peace among all the chaos!
Rev Dr Isaiah Fadzlin is the Ministry Overseer at Faith Assembly of God Singapore and Executive Director of Inspire Community Services. Currently, he is the Next Gen Commission Singapore Coordinator for the Assemblies of God Singapore. He has been in full-time ministry since 2002. He is married to Carol and together, they have three beautiful daughters.
