Peace and Vigilance
by Pastor Jack Hayford
The communist empire
around the world may be crumbling, but at least one Marxist state
in Asia has yet to get the message.
I've just returned
from a visit to Panmunjom—scene of the signing of the armistice
between North and South Korea in July, 1953.
The elaborate military
installation which continues there at this writing is comprised
of U.N. peacekeeping forces backed by a significant contingent of
U.S. troops
A survey of the nearly
forty-year history of efforts at sustaining the border against North
Korean aggression is a study in the timeless and insidious persistence
of evil.
No less than fifty thousand
incidents of armistice violations have been documented as the South
seeks to preserve its freedom from Northern intrusion. A seemingly
endless web of conspiracy has been woven by the North against her
fellow countrymen, ever seeking to duplicate a preposterously oppressive
system below the thirty-eighth parallel. Everything from murder,
bloodshed, and brutality, to armed assault and political chicanery
of the worst order have been utilized.
Panmunjom is a solemn
reminder that preserving peace requires vigilance. It's also a graphic
picture of the need for such efforts in all of life.
Evil is a deadly
presence orchestrated by hell in a quest to invade life at any point
possible. Minds and bodies, marriages and families, businesses and
finances—all are open prey to the powers of darkness.
Relentlessly, intentionally, hatefully, and fiendishly, the Adversary
conducts a campaign designed to depress, divide, defeat, and destroy.
There are no boundaries of blessing honored by hell except those
which are guarded by the vigilance of prayer, faith, and obedience
to God's Word.
I've stood at the ramparts
of freedom in several parts of the world. Panmunjom summarized the
spirit of them all: Peace doesn't happen without being sought earnestly
and preserved diligently.
So the Word of God teaches
us: Seek peace and pursue it; blessed are the peacemakers;
let the peace of God rule in your hearts (1 Peter 3:11, Matthew
5:9, Colossians 3:15). To keep our hearts and minds under the protection
and power of God's peace, we are told to fix our minds against a
takeover by either anxiety or impurity (Phil. 4:6-8).
In short—whatever
it is . . . yourself, your mind, your body, your family, your job,
your life—peace must be preserved.
He will keep in perfect
peace all whose minds are stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3). Set yourself
in partnership with Him. The Prince of Peace is able to sustain
peace in your life and mind, even in the face of the Enemy's endlessly
evil efforts.
The power is
God's, but the vigilance is ours.
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Jack
Hayford Ministries
14800 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91405-2233