Anointed to Peace

Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.
1 Peter 3:11
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9

At 3:00 a.m. this morning, the first scripture above, came to my mind, as the one thing we as Christians are admonished to do and my mind ran away with it. I began to think of marriages that are in turmoil all over the Church. Satan hates marriage for he knows this is the one institution that God has created that represents true oneness. The spirit of oneness is what God is looking for in His people and marriages represent God’s desire to see us walk in unity and agreement.

Husbands and wives profess their love for their spouses, all the while devising ways to control them. Control isn’t love; control is fear, and fear causes more discord in the marriage than anything else. Control will suffocate a marriage to a slow death. Relationships’ suffering from the spirit of control is identified by one spouse need to control everything in the other spouse’s life. It is one person’s desire to make another person do what they want them to do. A husband may want his wife to stay home because of his fear of her meeting another man, so because of his insecurities, he will create situations to keep her home. He will first try to destroy his wife’s self image by criticism of her body, clothing or hairstyles. If that doesn’t help, he will then try to control her by criticizing her choice of friends or family, to cause division. Eventually, if manipulation doesn’t work, he will take the car, check the mileage on the car, and in one case I counseled, the husband went as far as taking the cord off the television, to control what his wife watches, these insecure husbands, will deny money and affection after isolation, if she resists his control efforts. Many times, if an insecure husband sees that his wife is growing and becoming interested in other things besides him, and is good at what she does and loves it, he will try to sabotage what she loves to stop her. He will find fault with what she loves by criticism of the hobby, job, talent or calling. His mind is in a place of total fear of her becoming self sufficient and moving on without him. Of course, by no means is control just relegated to the husbands, for there are insecure and selfish wives who want to be the only interest in her husband’s life. She will do all she can to stop his interest in anything other than herself, and will stop at nothing, to find ways to control and manipulate her husband’s interest in his job, friends, hobby or calling.

Of course, there are wives who also try to control their husbands by means of criticisms and spying in his life as well. Many wives deny sex as a means of control. There are marriages that both spouses devise evil schemes toward one another to hurt or belittle, or to gain control over the other one’s life. We were not called to control one another, but to love one another. Stop the control and evil schemes against our mates and look for avenues of peace and run after it. Control is nothing short of witchcraft.

Marriages are not the only relationships where there is control, fear and manipulation. We see it in friendships, where one friend tries to control the other person, by naming how much they have done for the other one, or how they have improved the other friend’s life. Some will even try to remind the friend that before them, their life was a mess, but because of their guidance and skills, the weaker friend is now a better person. This is control at its best. The Church isn’t exempt from control either. We witness those who are in leadership who try to control others by their titles or positions. Where there is control, there is very little understanding regarding love.

The best antidote for control is peace. The controlling person need the peace of God to overshadow their lives. They need a spiritual heart transplant; they need peace. If the controlling person would take an honest look at their heart, they will realize that they try to control others because of their insecurities and issues. They hold on tight to a person, because they fear the person will get away if they don’t. I pray this day, that all control freaks will see themselves in this article, repent and loose their grips on the necks of others they are in relationship with.

Repent and become a man or woman of peace. Look for ways to be a blessing to those you are in relationship with, whether in the home, Church, job or friendship. Bless them, loose them and set them free. If they love you, they won’t run away. Desire peace and look for peaceful ways to live with others. Search for, try to find and hunt for ways to be at peace with others and chase it down. Follow after peace and practice it.

Let those who are around you love your company, because you have decided to become a man or woman of peace. God’s peace, which surpasses all human understanding, is for you today. It is an awesome fruit of the Spirit. Seek peace, it looks beautiful on you.