How do I find peace?
How to find peace in every situation.
There is a great story in the Gospels of the disciples and Jesus crossing the sea of Galilee in a boat. There was a huge storm that arose, and the disciples were overwhelmed and very concerned. Meanwhile Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat.
Isn’t that the perfect picture of peace, being asleep in the middle of a storm!
Jesus woke up and rebuked the storm and said “Peace be still” and the storm ceased.
There have been many times in my life that I have faced trials and challenges and in the middle of them, I would picture myself in the middle of a storm, on that boat, resting with Jesus in the stern.
Do you know that there are 134 verses in the bible that talk about peace?
One of my favourite verses about peace is Isaiah 26:3, it says, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
Sometimes I think we believe the illusion that to have peace means we won’t encounter challenges. Yet, all throughout Gods word he gives us his promise and many verses that show us how to find peace in every situation.
Lets face it, in our lifetime we are going to face different seasons of joy, laughter, fun, and their will be seasons of grief, tears and sadness.
So, how do we find peace in any situation?
1. Gods Word.
The word of God contains the antidote to our concerns, worries and anxiety. Gods word is his truth and his promise to us.
There are many passages in the Bible that give us clear direction and guidance when we are facing a difficult situation.
What can we do when we need to find peace?
The first thing we need to do is go to Gods word and find a passage that relates to what we are going through and meditate on it, focus on it, and memorize it.
In Psalm 34:14 it says “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.
Gods word provides a roadmap for us and gives us direction when we feel uncertain or unsure when we are faced with something bigger than what we think we can handle.
2. Get your eyes off your situation and focus on God
One of the most common things we all do when we are trying to find peace is to focus on attention on the problem, and the more we thing about it, the bigger it gets. One of the most important things we can do to find peace in any situation is to focus on God, take our eyes off what is troubling us, and look up to God.
When we know how powerful God is, and we start to focus on all the things he is to us, we will realize he is bigger than anything we are facing. It says in Gods word that he is our Healer, our strength, our strong tower, our peace, our hiding place, our provider, our shield, our Saviour, our hope and joy.
Its important to remind yourself of who you belong to. This gives us a sense of security and assurance.
3. Whatever you are facing is temporary.
How many times have we lost sleep or been worried about something and it never happened? How many times did we go through a season that felt like it was never going to end?
Most of the things that we tend to lose our peace over, are things that are temporary situations, that are subject to change.
If you look back throughout your life, can you recall some of the things that you have been through and how God healed you, blessed you or helped you at overcome a challenging time?
Just like we have 4 different weather seasons, we have different seasons in our lives.
There is peace for us in every season, in every moment, whatever we are facing.
Peace is knowing that our God is by our side and we can rest in him.
Surrender to God and exchange your worries for his peace. You can’t hold onto worry and peace at the same time. You have to let go of the worry to receive the peace.
I have found that living in peace is a daily habit, its not something that comes naturally to us. We have to build habits in our lives to continue to find peace regardless of the situation.
Whatever you are facing today, I want to encourage you, that God has peace for you, right now, in the middle of it. That he loves and accepts you, and cares about you. His word is our anchor, and we can hold onto his promises and truth for us, in the middle of any storm.