Have you ever got into an argument before church and felt like a hypocrite during the entire service? The enemy knows that God’s Word can only be ‘sown in peace’ (see James 3:18), so he’ll do everything he can to keep us from receiving it and being blessed by it. That’s why we must do whatever it takes to keep our peace. There’s power in peace! If the devil can’t get us upset he has no power over us. He only gains control when we ‘lose it.’ He plans to get us upset in order to steal our peace, confuse us and make us run in circles. We mustn’t let him. James wrote, ‘The wisdom that is from above is…peaceable.’ In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases this Scripture: ‘Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterised by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoys its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honour’ (v. 17-18 MSG). Getting along with others can be ‘hard work.’ So next time you get worked up about some issue, ask yourself, ‘What’s the Enemy trying to do here? If I give in to these emotions what will the result be?’ When we’re stressed out, we lose our joy, and when we lose our joy, we also lose our strength because ‘the joy of the Lord is [our] strength’ (see Nehemiah 8:10). So today, pray, use your self-control, and keep your peace.