6 Steps to Peace
As the holidays have wrapped up and the new year is off to a fresh start, there’s a phrase from the Christmas story still lingering in my heart and mind. It’s a promise I hadn’t caught before and it’s a promise not just for Christmas or the New Year but for everyday of the year. It comes from the prophecy given by Zechariah, John the Baptist father. It holds significance because Zechariah hadn’t spoken for nine months and as the Holy Spirit came upon him these were among the first words of hope proclaimed. “Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness...and to guide us to the path of peace.” Part of Jesus’s coming was to show us a pathway to peace, how to live a life of peace. This promise stands out to me because it’s not at all what I’ve been living. I’ve been anxious, really anxious. The promise of Christ is a pathway to peace and I want to find it. His word points to 6 specific things that God promises promotes peace in our hearts and minds.
Time with Jesus “I have told you all this so you might have peace in Me.” John 16:33. Our peace ultimately comes from abiding in Christ. If our time connecting with Jesus is non existent then our peace will be too. Our to-do lists are insurmountable and so we reason that diminishing the list is the secret to peace. We forfeit time with God in order to complete another task, but the tasks keep coming and the peace keeps fading. God promises that when we seek Him first that He will take care of the rest. (Matt 6:33).
Time in God’s Word “Agree with God and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. Receive instructions from His mouth and lay up His words in your heart.” Job 22:1-2 Filling our minds with truth from God’s word crowds out the anxious noise. It puts things into perspective so that seemingly urgent things that demand our attention don’t seem quite so important anymore. Peace comes not only from reading God’s word but in agreeing with Him in our hearts, minds and actions that His way is the right way. We learn to prize what He says is important instead of what the voices and culture around us say.
A Good night’s sleep. “In peace I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” PS 4:8 I know this one seems not as spiritual but resting requires us to trust God. We trust Him to renew our energy. We trust Him to work in the problems that we can’t solve in a way only He can. We trust that He alone has the ultimate power to protect that which concerns us, and we leave ourselves and our lives in His capable loving hands.
Watching what we say. “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceit. Turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.” PS 34:14-15 Our words can create a lot of our problems. Saying what we shouldn’t, be it gossip, slander or mistruths and then hoping we won’t be found out or it won’t come out, creates a lot of stress. We create more anxiety within through what we say to ourselves fearing or believing the worst will happen. We create anxiety in ourselves and others through our complaining.
Following God’s Instructions. “Abundant Peace belongs to those who love Your instruction; nothing can make them stumble” Ps 119:165. When we not only read God’s word but actually live by its principles, it creates great peace in us. When we follow God’s ways, instead of our own or the world’s, we walk in a supernatural peace. God’s word gives us wisdom to know how to deal with people and problems with kingdom principles that bring peace because we have confidence that we handled ourselves in a way that would please God and that’s what matters in eternity.
Not living in fear. “Peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Jn 14:27 We must protect our hearts from feeling troubled. When we notice that nagging unsettling feeling, we must ask ourselves where is this from? What happened? What was I thinking about? What am I afraid of? Then entrust God with the fear that comes to the surface.
In Luke 24 the first thing Jesus says to his group of disciples when he appears to them after His resurrection is “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36). Jesus went through the crucifixion with the weight of our sin upon Him to purchase our peace, and it pleases the Heart of God when we walk in it.
2020/01/16 at 3:36 pm