The Peace of God

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonablenessbe known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;do not be anxious about anything, 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

When we step back and look at everything happening in the world today, we would call it anything but peaceful. We have worries about what’s to come. There is fear about safety and security within our country. We also feel anxiety about our jobs, our futures, and so much more. We have so many different thoughts running through our mind daily. Sometimes we don’t even realize we are overstimulated, overwhelmed, and well over our capacity until we are at the tip of a breakdown. We all have a desire for peace both internally and externally with others.

There is peace that the world offers and there is eternal peace that God offers.

The version of peace that the world offers is temporary. It is fleeting and based on things going in our favor. This peace is simply the absence of conflict. We get temporary peace when we go on vacation. We also experience it when we go get a massage or do other self-care activities. We feel a sense of relief for a short period by avoiding our issues. However, once we return to the regular scheduled program, reality sinks in. We realize the temporary peace and calmness are gone. In the end, it does not bring the peace we are so desperately searching for.

But God gives us a different type of peace. His peace is ‘shalom’ which means wholeness or completeness. The idea of shalom is when things are coming together in the way in which the Lord intended. When we have the peace of God, our anxious thoughts are replaced with security and trust in the Lord. That’s why he gives us the instructions to come to him when we are feeling heavy and burdened.  He wants us to exchange those thoughts for something better

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-20

The peace of God is not dependent on what is happening around us. It does not change when we are in the midst of a storm. It remains steady through the chaos of life. The Holy Spirit was given to us to be the peace of God. God’s peace gives us the reassurance that he is with us always and a gentle reminder to fear not. His peace is unshakable and transformative. It changes how we see the world and how we handle the hard things.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

God’s peace is a gift that is given to us. We gain this peace by simply being in relationship with The Father. Philippians tells us that this peace will surpass all understanding. That means when it doesn’t make sense to have peace, you have it anyway. Our job is to rejoice in the Lord, pray, give thanks, and offer our requests to God. Everything around you may be out of whack. Yet, for some reason, you have this peace that you can’t even explain.

I can definitely attest to this! I was laid off from my job last year. For some reason though, I felt a sense of peace. When others around me were concerned and worried, I felt the peace of God within me. It definitely surpassed understanding, because I shocked myself by how peaceful I felt. That peace was guarding my heart and mind from the lies of the enemy. The enemy wants to creep in and make you feel anxious and afraid. The enemy whispers, “What are you going to do? Things aren’t looking good. You should probably just give up.” But the peace of God is saying “The same God who brought you out of the last storm is the same God who will bring you through this one. He gave you peace. He has a plan. Trust him.”

This peace must be built on the hope we have in The Lord. We must be confident that he is in control always. We must know that he is always on the throne and working behind the scenes. The peace of God brings comfort in uncertainty. When we focus on the faithfulness of God, his peace keeps us strong.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, or the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26: 3-4

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