Ahhhh, peace. What comes to your mind when you think of peace?

Are you envisioning everything going smoothly? As believers, peace can be present within us and exude from us even when we experience bumps in the road. At times, we may exaggerate our situations and get ourselves into a tizzy unnecessarily. Other times, we may choose to take on too much responsibility. And then sometimes, various life events just come upon us without our permission!

Do you need peace right now, but it seems to be just beyond your reach?

It isn’t! God offers his steady, overflowing peace to his children – those surrendered to him through Jesus. Will you accept it? Will you choose his peace though it means releasing your control and, instead, putting your trust in God as you focus on him?

Isaiah 26:3 (ESV) tells us this about God giving peace: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Jesus’ words in John 14:27 (NIV) are: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us to give over our troubles to the Lord and he will give us unexplainable, overwhelming peace! This is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our life (Galatians 5:22).

We are to not be anxious about anything. That’s a tall order, isn’t it? It can be easy to worry about things both in our control and out of our control. What should we do in these situations that present concern?

God desires that we talk to him about it and ask him for help – and trust his ways. Should we go to the Lord in a whiny way? No. We need to have an attitude of thankfulness as we present our requests, confident in his ability to handle our concerns.

How can we be thankful when our emotions are jumbled? Foremost, praising God for who he is can be done regardless of the situation. When we step back from our situation, we often can see things for which to be thankful. When we take our mind off of ourselves, our perspective changes. When we take our mind off of ourselves and put it on Christ, we see more clearly. Then, God’s peace comes upon us – peace that logically wouldn’t be there or peace that we did not think we could have.

Ahhhh, peace.

What comes to your mind now?

Read more about how God can give you peace as you give him control.