The Gift of Peace
”I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous!“
John 14:27 TPT
I stood at the edge of the shore where the sand ended and the water began. My toes sank more and more into the sand. I looked out into the horizon and all I saw was endless amounts of water. I took a deep breath and exhaled. Everytime I took more breaths I felt more grounded. I love the beach.
I feel as though there’s an invitation to be refreshed when I'm there. I love feeling the wind brush on my skin and hear the waves crashing against the shore.
There is so much to be stressed and overwhelmed about. These stressors can range from cooking dinner, picking out an outfit to making life altering decisions to unexpected things happening to traumatic events occurring. The list can go on and on. No matter the circumstance, big or small, there will always be the temptation to surrender to fear and anxiety.
Jesus told His disciples that they will experience trouble, sorrow and even persecution because they were His disciples (John 16:33). The same is true for us today. We live in a broken world with people who are broken. There is no perfection in this world and no one is perfect. As hard as it is, experiencing hard times is inevitable. There will always be something we will have to navigate here on earth until Jesus returns for His people.
Pain and sorrow won’t last forever, because Jesus is returning for His people and all pain will be no more.
You might be facing some hard circumstances right now. Living in a state of anxiety and fear is no fun. A few weeks ago I had a moment where I was feeling so much anxiety that I was having trouble forming thoughts and words. I was struggling to focus, have motivation, and I was overthinking everything. Every thought caused me to feel fear and get overwhelmed.
I got to the point where I cried out to the Lord and said, “ I don’t want to live like this. Something has to change”.
Our vocal scripture for today is one where Jesus is talking to His disciples. He tells them that He is giving them a gift - His peace. Within this scripture, Jesus is giving us three reminders that I want to encourage you with.
1. His Peace is Perfect
There’s a difference between the world’s peace and His peace. In this scripture Jesus describes the world’s peace as fragile. Fragile means to be easily broken or damaged. However, He calls His peace perfect. Perfection means having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; to be complete and without fault.
It’s important that we take note of that contrast here. Our jobs, relationships, awards, social media likes, or whatever else this society has to offer will not satisfy us and give us the lasting peace we are looking for. None of the things I mentioned are bad, but they don't provide true peace. The peace Jesus gives us keeps us grounded even when our external life is chaotic.
Jesus is the source of all peace.
2. You Can Choose to Open the Door to Fear and Anxiety
It’s so easy to entertain negative thoughts. It’s easy to think about the worst case scenario. Jesus is encouraging us that we don’t need to yield to fear and anxiety. For the past three weeks I have been putting this into practice. It’s been hard work but I’ve seen progress. Think of your mind as a beautiful house. Every house of course has a front door. No matter the situation, image yourself standing inside your home and you hear a knock at the door. You ask who is it and you hear it’s fear and anxiety.
We have the choice of who comes in our house. We don’t just let anyone walk in our space without permission, right? The same is true with your mind. Even though it’s hard, we have the choice with the help of the Holy Spirit to evaluate what voices to come into our space. Fear and anxiety are not from the Lord so they don’t deserve to come into our minds and mess things up.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says ”We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.“ Let’s be quick to identify when we are feeling anxious. Address it as quick as possible with the Lord.
3. Be Courageous
As believers of Jesus, we are able to face any circumstance because we know who is on our side. When you have develop a intimate relationship with the Lord your trust in Him grows. The Lord is faithful to help His children. Matthew 6:34 in the Message Translation says, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. " So you can trust that the Lord is with you and will help you deal with whatever hard things come up.
Our lack of peace is connected to our lack of trust in God.
There are so many things pulling at our attention and hearts that can cause us to spiral in anxiety. But that doesn’t have to be our story. We must keep our eyes on the Lord. He is our refuge, our strength and strong tower.
I have continued to pray for a renewed mind and that the Lord will free me from anxiety. I've seen a new level of confidence and calmness I have walked into. I am choosing to no longer be easily tempted to overthink, stress out about situations or surrender to fear. I am more quick to acknowledge when I’m struggling and to lay that at the feet of Jesus. I pray you are able to experience the same.
It’s possible to experience peace in every circumstance.
”Now, may the Lord himself, the Lord of peace, pour into you his peace in every circumstance and in every possible way. The Lord’s tangible presence be with you all.“2 Thessalonians 3:16 TPT
Practical steps I have practiced when I am struggling with anxiety (I’m sure there’s other healthy ways to handle anxiety but these are some ways that have helped me):
Prayer
Memorizing & Studying Scripture
Consistent Intimacy with the Lord
Deleting Social Media and/or limit TV for a certain period of time
Exercising
Practice Pausing Throughout the Day to take deep breaths
Talking to Trusted Friends, Family & Mentors
Christian Counseling/Therapy
