This summer, do you find yourself bogged down by discouragement, anxiety and fear? Renew your soul by diving into God’s promise of peace as laid out in Scripture. This is part 5 of our annual Summer Soul Refresher series.
Want even more encouragement? Read the rest of the series: part 1 (God loves you), part 2 (God will provide), part 3 (God will never leave you) and part 4 (God will fight for you).
“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” —Matthew 11:28, ESV
Peace.
Sometimes it feels completely foreign. Completely out of our grasp. Completely unattainable.
We go through life with our hearts racing with anxiety. Scared. Afraid.
Tensions reign in relationships and marriages. Politics are a mess. The world slowly feels like it’s dilapidating, ripped apart by sin.
Is the peace we all desire even attainable?
The answer is yes. And it starts with the Gospel.
Peace Comes Out of Our Relationship With God
The very beginning of the Bible tells us about the Garden of Eden—a beautiful place, created by an infinitely creative and loving Father. It was paradise.
But into that paradise came sin, severing the relationship between God and man.
Thousands of years later, God sent his only Son Jesus Christ to repair that rip (Ephesians 2:1-6). He bridged the gap we could not, paid the penalty for sin and ushered us into a new life. A life where peace is actually possible.
>>Peace comes from God and is attainable only by restoring what was broken. Read and watch more on this kind of peace.
There is a war going on for your heart. A war between sin and God, right and wrong. And when you are in the middle of that war, there can never be peace.
But once you choose Jesus, the only one who was able to fix what was broken, suddenly a supernatural peace is opened up to you. As Billy Graham once said:
“The war that exists between you and God can be over quickly, and the peace treaty is signed in the blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ.”
A Promise
Peace is promised to those who follow Christ.
In the book of John in the Bible, Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Do you understand the fullness of what that means? We aren’t promised a life without trials, but what we are promised is peace within those trials. We can have peace precisely because Jesus overcame the world.
“Not only can we know that God is with us, we also can take comfort and find hope that our God rules over all. He is sovereign over every detail of our lives. Not a single sparrow, a single atom or a single germ lies outside of His control. He rules over nations, over kings, over history, over evil, over pandemics. There is nothing outside of His command, and He will use everything for His glory and our good.” —Franklin Graham
The all-knowing and infinitely loving God created the world, and He created you. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
That’s the God who promises peace.
A Command
Christians aren’t just promised peace; they are commanded not to worry.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7:
“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.”
Paul is giving the Philippians a command: “Do not be anxious.”
And he gives them an action they can take to fulfill that command: pray.
Take the things on your heart that keep you from the peace God promises, and bring them to Jesus. When you do that, peace takes over—a peace that “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). A peace that can come only from God.
Notice something else about that verse: the word “thanksgiving.” Not only can you pray over the things on your heart; you get to thank God for what He has done. And no matter how bad things might be for you, you still have the cross of Jesus Christ to be thankful for.
So do that. Give thanks for what He’s done. Spend time in His presence. Lay your prayers before His throne.
And there, find peace.