A couple weeks ago a friend of mine spoke to me about the war within. He said we must no longer be at war within ourselves if we are going to access all that God has prepared for us in this day and hour. Those words have been mulling around inside of me and continue to challenge me. I had never thought about having a war inside of me, but the truth is most people have a war inside of themselves. If we had peace inside of us we would have peace all around us. This goes for people, cities, churches, and nations. The war around is because of the war inside of us.

Now today I am reading James 4 in my personal time and it says, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?” The source of your pleasures, what? James goes on to say we lust and we are envious; we ask but don’t receive because we will spend it on ourselves. How do you stop a war inside of you with these kind of fighting words?

The Lord is inviting us to declare a cease fire inside of us. He is inviting us to agree to a peace treaty with ourselves, so we stop fighting, stop arguing, stop complaining as though we know the big picture of all things. He is inviting us to rest not war; to peace not strife; to the pace of grace not striving. The invitation from the Lord is not to take up arms, but to lift up our hands in praise. There is so much He has prepared for us, but until we are done with the war in us, we will not be one He trusts to build through us.

The Bible says, because David was a man of war, he could not build a house for God, so it was passed on to the next generation. Solomon was a man of peace and he built the house for God. Friends we are the house of God, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and I hear the spirit saying, “Peace be still!” There is so much to inherit, but it begins with ending the war within.