Peace Comes From the Holy Spirit

Yielding to the Holy Spirit isn’t always an easy concept for us to understand. But Jesus left us with a promise and a description. In John 14, speaking to His twelve disciples during the Last Supper—and knowing their fear and impending feelings of aloneness when their Master’s earthly ministry was ended—Jesus promised to send a “Comforter” who would lead them into all truth. Paul tells us that the Spirit indwells every believer (Rom. 8:9). It is the Holy Spirit who rebukes us when we are wrong (Heb. 12:5) and motivates confession; it is the Holy Spirit whose task it is to produce in us the qualities and characteristics seen in the life of Jesus and called the “fruit of the Spirit”—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22–23 NIV).

Notice that these characteristics are called the “fruit of the Spirit” rather than the fruit of our own effort. The Christian life is not a commitment to try to be like Jesus. Rather, it is yielding our lives to the Holy Spirit so that He can express the qualities of Jesus through us.

We cannot work hard enough to produce peace. Peace comes as a by-product of yielding our lives fully to the Holy Spirit. The same is true of joy, patience, gentleness, goodness, and all the other qualities listed above. The key to the Christian’s victory is recognizing and accepting the control of the Holy Spirit.

Peace comes as a by-product of yielding our lives fully to the Holy Spirit.

How then are we filled with the Holy Spirit, or controlled by the Holy Spirit? Having confessed our sins and accepted God’s forgiveness, we then ask Him to fill us, or control us, totally by His Spirit. That is, we ask the Holy Spirit to ascend the throne of our lives. That is a prayer God will answer because John says, “We are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him” (1 John 5:14). We know it “pleases him” to fill us with His Spirit because of the command in Ephesians 5:18: “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, when we ask Him to fill us, or control us, we know that He will.

We accept the Spirit’s control over our lives by faith. We do not wait nor plead for some great emotional experience. Having confessed our sins and asked for His control, we simply believe that He is working within us, and we journey along through life, trusting that through God’s Spirit we can nurture our lives through candor, confession, and forgiveness.