Peace

Peace Beyond Understanding

Do you ever feel stressed out, weighed down with the worries of the world, your family, or work relationships? This is something people have experienced since sin entered the world. But as with all of the evil and wrong that is in the world today, God offers His support and He holds out incredible peace that we can embrace and experience daily. This peace goes beyond all understanding.

Peace Promised in the Life of the Believer

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

I have told you these things (about his crucifixion, resurrection, going to the Father and sending holy spirit to help in trouble) that in me you may have peace.  In the world you have trouble, but cheer up!  I have overcome the world! (John 16:33 AMP)

Shalom, Promised Peace

The Bible promises the believer strength and peace in their life. If we look in the Old Testament to the Hebrew word shalom, it is often translated peace. This peace is not a peace that most Americans or people in general understand. It encompasses all areas of your life. Shalom is “completeness, soundness, welfare, peace.” (BibleHub)

We should desire to constantly have this shalom peace in our lives. When we have it, we are able to deal with anything that comes our way, whether good or bad. It does not make bad things good nor does it make them right or acceptable. It helps us deal with them and have peace in our hearts and minds no matter the situation. It is scientifically proven that when we do not have peace in our lives, our health suffers. If we have continual stress and worry, we not only suffer emotionally and psychologically but physically as well.  Many cancers and diseases are caused by excess stress in our lives. We should desire a peaceful life in our inmost being. And we can have it if we choose. It is held out to us, but we must take it, accept it, and walk in it.

Be Open to Receive God’s Peace

I cannot explain it or draw a picture of it for you. It is something that you must experience. Even so, I can tell you from experience, this peace is available if we choose to have it. Unfortunately, God does not just pour His peace out on you and saturate you with it. You must have an open bucket to receive, just like if it rains. If you do not have a rain barrel to catch the rain or if it’s full of dirt, you will not be able to receive any rain.

If we have shalom peace, we will have more joy in our lives even in spite of bad circumstances. We will be better able to represent God and Jesus if we have shalom peace in our lives. It will help us to ripen the fruit that we should have since we have God’s spirit in us.

You Must Choose

Unfortunately, many people choose to keep their stress, worries, and problems instead of accepting God’s peace. Think about things in your life where you need peace. Is it your job? Finances? Relationships? Whatever it is, God’s peace can be present. Will you seek His peace and receive it, or will you hold on to your problems and your stress and try to deal with them yourself? I can tell you for a fact that if you are willing to let go of them and put them on God’s altar, you will have a great blessing. Your life will be much better because of it, and His peace will be reflected in others.

God will not force his peace upon you. If you are not willing to get rid of your anxiety and the problems causing you stress and lack of peace in your life, you will keep them. As we said, stress and anxiety cause health problems in many organs of our body. If we want peace in our bodies, minds, and whole being, we must be willing to put whatever is weighing us down on the altar and leave it there. We cannot Hold our problems and hold God’s peace at the same time. We must choose one or the other. It’s there for you, but it’s your choice.

Peace Beyond Understanding

God revealed to me long ago the importance of having peace in my life. His peace goes beyond my understanding and the understanding of the world. His piece does not make sense but it is real and it is the only true peace that lasts. The world does not understand how you can have peace in the midst of a storm. But as David said in Psalms 23, God will be with us when we go through the valley of the shadow of death. We are not guaranteed as a Christian to not have valleys and not come near death. But we are promised that He will be with us and walk with us through those times.

The Key to Peace

Philippians 4:4-7 gives us the key to peace. We must rejoice in the Lord and not be anxious about anything. We should talk to God about everything and petition Him with thanksgiving.  Don’t hesitate to make your requests known to God. As a result, you will have God’s peace which goes beyond all comprehension and it will guard your heart and thoughts in Christ Jesus. I have found this true in my own life over and over again.

Praise Him in the Storms

Casting Crowns song, “Praise You in the Storm,” touched my heart deeply. In that song, God asked me if I was willing to praise Him in the midst of my storms. That is when I understood what a true sacrifice of praise was. It is when we praise Him not because of something good in our lives, but just because He is good and because He is present.

Even when there are bad things happening in our lives, we can still praise our Father in heaven.  There is incredible freedom and we are released from whatever is weighing us down when we offer up a sacrifice of praise to Him. We can choose bondage or freedom; the choice is ours.

Release What You Cannot Control

We cannot control situations or people. You can only control half of the relationship, your half, whether it be a marriage, with parents, children, friendship, or a job or business. If there are other people involved you cannot control them or their part in their relationship with you.

If you are having a problem or stress in one of these situations, you must look at yourself and see what you can do to help the situation, and then take action and do those things. But if it is something that you cannot control, then you must release it and cut that chain that holds you in bondage. If it is not something that you can do anything about, release it. Either choose to cut that chain and experience God’s peace, or drag around the heavy ball and chain of your sorrow and problems. When you cut that chain you are not approving, you are just releasing the burden.

Cut the Chain

To illustrate that better, let’s say you are chained to an elephant and walking around the jungle. If the elephant dies you can either cut the rope and continue on, or you can try to pull it with you. If you try to do the latter you will realize that not only is it heavy and tires you out, but it gets snagged on a lot of other things which cause even more problems, not to mention the stench after a while.

Another illustration might be two athletes tied together and running in different directions. You cut the rope that holds you together and then you experience the freedom to go the direction you need to go. You determine the speed as well, rather than trying to pull somebody who is going in the other direction. If Either of the two athletes decides to turn around and join the other in the direction they are going, then they can enjoy that run together. If not, better to have peace and release the struggle and the extra weight.

The Struggles Are Real, But so is Freedom

I have experienced some very big struggles in my life. If to allow them to break me down, I would become so wounded that I would not be able to stand up or function. I would not be able to care for the people that need me. I could have allowed those issues and problems to destroy me. But I rejoice that God showed me the value of peace in my life, and gave me the strength to release my burdens. His peace is life and health and leads to well-being. I have found that we can even have joy as we go through the valley of the shadow of death. Of course, we are not rejoicing in that particular valley, but rejoicing in Him who is walking with us. That is true freedom, peace, and joy.

Put it All on the Altar

As Galatians says, I have been crucified with Christ and it is not I who lives, but he who lives in me. We are a new creation. The old man is gone and the new one is here. We must be willing to put all of our cares on the altar before God and leave them there. We may still have to deal with consequences and other things associated with them, but God will give us the strength to do so. The difference is that we will have peace of mind and our hearts will be at rest. I encourage you to choose the way of peace.

You Have a Choice

The choice is ours. We are free to exchange our burdens for peace.

It may sound harsh and it may sound like it is crazy, but the choice is yours. The world is not fair. People are selfish and self-centered. Maybe your parents were not there for you. Maybe your child ran from you and from God. Perhaps your spouse left you, or worse yet, is with you, being abusive or cheating on you. You cannot change those things or those people. But you can cut the rope spiritually by putting it on the altar. In some instances, you must do it physically by removing yourself from a dangerous situation.

There are many wives who cry themselves to sleep at night because Their professing Christian husbands are not showing them the love that they desperately need and desire. But you cannot change that circumstance or spouse.  Either way, you are in the situation, so better to be in it with peace.

Perspective

As a Christian our hope is when Jesus returns and we are resurrected and made immortal. This life of a mere 60 or 80 years, is not the life that is truly life. It is not the end-all or the best part of life. We still must live it, and there are good things. But life in the coming age, the next age when Jesus returns, is the life that we should be more focused on and more concerned about. 

This life is a race and the most important thing is to make it to the end and cross the finish line on our feet.

I Wish You Peace

My prayers for you are for strength and peace.  May you not fear releasing your burdens or cutting the chains that hold you in bondage to stress, worry, and anxiety.  May you accept and experience the peace that goes beyond any peace that you can imagine, God’s peace.  Shalom, my friends.