We’re all inundated by everything around us and the pressure of these things can get to us. And then we lose our peace. Suddenly we feel anxious, incapable of handling the simplest of tasks and stress overwhelms us.

Is this what God wanted for you? Absolutely not!

So let’s change this (because it can be changed), and live in the peace of God that we’re meant to.

What is Peace?

Peace is often thought of as a state of being such as quiet or tranquility, or the absence of stress or anxiety. These are true, but not the fullness of peace.

When we look at the meaning of peace to its core in the Hebrew, the word for peace is Shalom, and it means: wholeness, wellness, well-being, safe, happy, friendly, favor, completeness, to make peace, peace offering, secure, to prosper, to be victorious, to be content, tranquil, quiet, and restful.

The noun shalom is derived from the verbal root shalam, which means “to restore,” in the sense of replacing or providing what is needed in order to make someone or something whole and complete.

So shalom is used to describe those of us who have been provided all that is needed to be whole and complete and break off all authority that would attempt to bind us to chaos. (source)

But, in all of this, you can’t experience these attributes of peace in your life IF you don’t come to know and be intimately acquainted with the Person that is peace, Jesus. Peace….

• is the substance of the atmosphere of heaven
• tames every bit of opposition around a person them
• iIs the Prince of peace that crushes the power of darkness
• is the umpire of our minds

Peace isn’t the absence of noise, conflict or war; it’s the presence of Someone.

Why Peace Is Important

If peace is a Person and the substance of heaven, which is what each of us as children of God should contain, the enemy wants nothing more than for you to disconnect from Jesus.

And how you can disconnect from Jesus is by allowing the enemy to expose you to anxiety and stress.

Anxiety is meditating and magnifying on an idea over the promises of God.

It’s difficult to operate out of a place of health and wholeness when you’re filled with fear. Yes, perfect love casts out all fear, but if we give our heart and thoughts to anxiety and stress, which is from the root of fear, it will infect love. And the two cannot co-exist.

The Lord longs to express His very nature, character and glory thru us, His children. But, this takes our full surrender to Him which means that we need to be free from anxiety and stress.

You Can’t Hold Onto Worry Expecting Things To Change

Have you ever been so worried about something, that after feeling unwell, having headaches, changes in appetite, etc. you decide that it just isn’t worth it anymore. And finally, you’ve come to the end of your rope and decided that it’s time to let go and let God?

When we get to this place, we determine that we can’t have it both ways.

We can’t ask the Lord to lead our lives while worry about something that we can’t control and aren’t willing to give to the Lord. There’s only one steering wheel in life. You can’t give the wheel to Lord while holding onto it yourself. Erma Bombeck once said,

“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.”

This quote is so true. When you let go of your worries and your cares casting it over to Jesus, isn’t there something so supernatural about how you begin to feel?

You start to feel like a weight came off your shoulders and like you’re not preoccupied with consuming thoughts. That feeling comes from surrender and a yielded spirit to the Lord. Since we can’t do anything about things in our life anyway, why don’t we just allow the Lord to do it. This is what the Lord CAN work with and wants to work with.

How Peace Can Be Achieved

Firstly, getting to know the Person, Jesus, is how you can begin to experience true peace. And you begin to know who Jesus is by what He did. This comes from reading the Word of God and finding out Jesus’ character and nature.

Peace Which Surpasses All Understanding

What you meditate, speak and think on will have an affect on your source of peace.

Let’s say you’re constantly bothered by a bill that needs to be paid, a report from the doctor, how your child is doing at school, things you’re not getting done, etc. By allowing these thoughts to spin in your head, you’re actually meditating on them.

When we meditate on anxious thoughts, effective, faith-filled prayers can’t be prayed. But if we first acknowledge that we need to get rid of these anxious, fear-filled thoughts, by our prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, perspective, and ideas, will guard and protect your heart and mind.

A peace, which you can’t articulate and explain, but that it allows to rest in God’s work, His plan and purposes, comes from the peace of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-9 NKJV says,

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 understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

So it’s key to keep your mind fixed on Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the promises of God and allow this to reign superior in your life. Anything outside of the Word will have us feel defeated and hopeless, stressed and anxious because we’ve bought into something that’s inferior.

Based on the Word of God, peace:

• is a Person
• is a gift
• is a fruit
• is a covenant
• is to be sought after
• comes from being spiritually minded
• is to be lived in
• was made by the blood of Jesus
• is the kingdom of God
• is to be preached
• is authored by God
• surpasses understanding and guards our hearts and minds

I’d love to hear from you how knowing Jesus has helped you in experiencing the peace of God in your life! Feel free to share a testimony of God’s faithfulness and goodness to encourage others.

Anchored in Jesus,
Melanie