HOLD ON TO YOUR PEACE. PERIOD. Let no one or nothing impede on the PROMISE of peace that God guarantees His children. It’s so easy to be more protective over our natural possessions than our spiritual possessions. When we get a new car, we don’t want anyone hardly touching it. When we a wearing new shoes, we guard them relentlessly to avoid getting them dirty. When many of us move into a new home, we establish a rule that shoes must be removed at the front door to preserve the floor and maintain its cleanliness. It is important to guard such possessions; however, it is far more important to guard our spiritual lives through our hearts and minds.
When we allow life’s circumstances to rob us of our peace, we are actually acting in disobedience, which is displeasing to God. We are not to worry or dwell in negative emotions. While we are human, we will experience a wide range of emotions, negative and positive; however, we are always to take our concerns, hurts, offenses, worries, etc. to God and by faith, trust that He is just and will answer our prayers. This is so much easier said than done, as is everything in life; however, it is important to remember that we do not draw from our own natural strength – it was never meant for us to. This leads to exhaustion because the carnal mind is not wired to operate in the holiness that God requires, which is only possible through His Spirit. We draw our power and strength from Him through prayer, worship, and the study and application of His word. Period. This is what it means to sleep through the storm.
Guard your heart. Guard your mind. Guard your peace. At all expenses, guard it all! As a wise man once said, get rid of everything that interferes with your peace. While we cannot always control and remove people, situations, outcomes, etc., we can always control ourselves by governing ourselves according to the Spirit, which always produces peace and joy. Tap into that higher power and soar high above the things that try to take your peace. Always.
Want to learn more about the peace available to every Christian by faith? Check out the books of Philippians, Romans, Colossians, Mark, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter (just to name a few). These are a few of my go-to books for reminders on the peace we are promised as God’s children.
It is imperative to get rid of everything that disrupts our peace. Everything. Nothing exempt. This doesn’t mean that we can always remove or alter situations, circumstances, dilemmas, people, issues, or anything else less ideal that life brings our way, but it does mean that we can rid ourselves of the burdens that cause us to forfeit the peace, joy, and victory that God wants us to live in and enjoy.
What we must realize is that we do not have to worry or remain upset about anything. We always have complete access to the peace and joy in Christ. Always. He’s never-changing and He’s always available, so there’s never the need to wait for the relief through any other means of pseudo-remedy. The Lord is present with us…always. We must be ever more aware and cognizant of His consistent, glorious Presence with us. He wants us to lean on Him, withholding nothing. He who bore the weight of the cross is surely strong enough to bare the weight of our burdens. Though many Christian already have this knowledge, actually putting it into practice is far easier said than done.
I have wrestled with rumination for as long as I can remember. It’s basically a form of negative meditation where you get stuck in a loop of negative thoughts. It’s truly a form of self-torture and it’s completely illogical. Rehearsing the same negative thoughts over and over brings zero change. Zero. It only drains us, causing us to plummet to a low state of emotional agony and depletion, which effects how we function and live. We must identify faulty thought patterns and abolish them. This is where the mind renewal comes in to action (Romans 12:2). When we come to Christ and receive His Spirit, we are not necessarily given new minds; however, the Lord helps us to reform our thought life through the understanding and application of His word, prayer, worship, and faith.
As a very intellectual and logical person, I can get really stuck in my head sometimes and it can be hard to snap out of it. For some reason, sometimes it feels like the only way to get peace is to mull the issue over in my head until it makes sense. Funny enough, it never makes sense, and peace doesn’t come until I truly let go. One of the main ways I have learned to interrupt rumination and gain peace is by rehearsing scripture that combats it. Sometimes I’ll even speak it aloud. We have to know that God’s Word is powerful, and it is a weapon (Hebrews 4:12) that we can always use to combat the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:4), demolishing every lie and winning victory with the truth. This is how we make our thoughts bow to Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). We have to remember that Jesus gives us peace (John 14:27). Peace is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Such a wonderful gift. Through faith, we also rely on prayer, knowing that God hears our prayers and He will surely answer (James 5:18) and come to our rescue every time.
We are called to truly release our burdens at the feet of Jesus (1 Peter 5:7) and we are guaranteed peace when we do (Philippians 4:6-7). Once we release our issues and concerns, we are officially free of them! It doesn’t mean that our problems just go away in that instance, but it does mean that the worry goes away and we have peace in Jesus because, through faith and trust, we know that everything will be ok. Even when issues aren’t resolved as we would like, the Lord will give us the grace we need to endure and the peace and strength to persevere. This is part of the many privileges of belonging to Him. We can literally drop off burdens in prayer and stop thinking about them. What a relief…true relief. This is the ultimate anti-anxiety and stress relief.
Join me the commitment to worship God and not our problems. Join me in the commitment to get rid of everything that interferes with peace. If a thought is stealing your peace, you should not be entertaining it. Replace it with the truth set forth by God’s Word. If an experience or encounter is interfering with your peace, release it in prayer and trust that God will handle it best. Regardless of what we’re facing, we have an Advocate who’s for us and with us always. We don’t have to forfeit our peace for anyone or anything. Our peace isn’t predicated upon anything in our natural lives, but it is a supernatural gift from God that allows us to soar above the many dilemmas and issues of life (Isaiah 40:31). When keep our eyes fixed on the Lord, we are kept in peace beyond this world (Isaiah 26:3). That’s how we can rest through the storm.
Take a listen at this sweet worship song from Elevation Worship. I had this on repeat while I was writing this entry. Hope it blesses you. This is the stance we should always keep as believers and followers of Christ.
Through The Valley to the Mountaintop 