Keith Battle - The Journey to Peace - Part 2

By the way, it’s a journey to peace. It may seem long and arduous, but God wants us to live in peace when we get there. Transitioning from peace to worry is fast; you don’t have to work at it. All you have to do is let feelings, Satan, and the world take you back. You might think, «Dang, man, it’s terrible, ” and just in your mind, you find yourself back over there. It takes nothing. It’s just like when I used to take trips while dating my wife. We began dating in 1987; I think I’ve mentioned that before. Our first date was at Washington Bible College—you know how spiritual we were! I was on the basketball team, albeit on the bench. I believe I was better than that; it was probably racism, to be honest. I truly think I was good enough to not be sitting on that bench at Washington Bible College. She came to watch me and sat while I was on the bench during the game.

When we first started dating, she lived in Hempstead, New York, and we would take trips to Hempstead, where she lived on Long Island. I had never been there before, but I became familiar with the places because we went there often. There were landmarks, so I knew if we were headed to Hempstead because we would first hit that Maryland House (I think that’s what it was called). Then we would cross the Delaware Memorial Bridge, followed by the New Jersey Turnpike. After that, we would take the Perth Amboy exit, which led us through this outer crossing area that stank like a landfill. Then we would cross the Outer Bridge Crossing, which felt a bit demonic because it was so small; it was supposed to have two lanes, but only one car could really fit on it, so you were scared the whole time you might scrape against the wall or hit another car. After that, I think we crossed the Verrazzano Bridge. Somewhere in there was the Belt Parkway, which was also demonic because drivers in New York act like they’re trying to kill you! Finally, we would get on the Southern State Parkway. Every landmark let me know we were getting closer; we were in the right place.

However, I always noticed that we got back home from New York faster than we got there. The same is true spiritually; you can return to worry just like that. But it takes a process—you have to learn tools to get to peace. Once you have the tools, you can stay in peace. When worry raises its head, you can say, „I know that isn’t God.“ I told you I used to work at Kmart as a cashier; they never let us hold or touch fake money. We were never given counterfeit money; we only dealt with real money. Do you know that counterfeit money doesn’t even feel like real money? It has a different texture, and it looks different. We handled real money so much that when we touched counterfeit money, we immediately recognized it as fake. Jesus says, „My sheep know my voice, and they will not respond to another.“ You have to become so familiar with God through prayer, praise, and being quiet before Him that you recognize His voice. When Satan comes at you with something, you should say, „I know that isn’t God. I know who you are. I rebuke you. I acknowledge you and respond with God’s truth. I appreciate God for making a way, and He’s going to work this out in my life.“

That’s how you do it. Let me say it again: first, acknowledge where the spirit came from, then rebuke it. You also respond by saying, „I don’t receive that; God’s blessings are going to overtake me in my life, ” and then you appreciate God, saying, „Thank you, God, that I have the victory in this situation.“ Acknowledge, answer, and appreciate. You must be skillful at it. Are you understanding what I’m saying? Because this is a fight. You have to engage in this fight outside of church. This is not just something you say, „Oh, I heard a good word.“ This is not just a good word; these are tools to help you fight something that has been dominating your thinking—it might even be generational. Sometimes, you have to deal with issues in your family; people in your family may face similar battles. Some things are ingrained, and one of those battles is simply fighting off your thoughts and saying, „I know who I am. I know what God says.“

Now, one more thing, and I’m done: the elephant in the room for me in Philippians 4:6-7 is this: there’s a promise in verse 7 where God says that if you do verse 6, He will give you peace; He’s going to give you His peace—that’s the promise. However, the problem in verse 7 arises when you are worried about something. You might be worried about someone or about something ominous that is pending. You’re worried about a job, a relationship, a medical situation, or financial matters, and meanwhile, you hear about peace. You don’t want to be disrespectful, but part of you thinks, „Well, that’s not what I asked for.“