So many people today espouse the idea of “following your heart,” or “listening to your gut,” or ”paying attention to your intuition.” These tricks of the trade may work to an extent, but they do not always lead to wise choices or lasting peace (Jeremiah 17:9). Following the peace of God is the only fool-proof way to live (John 14:27).
When Jesus returned to Heaven, He left us His peace, the same peace He gave to His disciples while He walked with them. His peace exceeds and goes deeper than any peace we can gather from worldly endeavors and methods. The world uses meditative moments and exercises to invoke peace.
God’s peace eliminates all trouble in our heart, as well as regret over our past, and fears of our current and future circumstances (John 14:27). God’s Spirit abides within us, and as we trust God, His Spirit pours out His peace into our soul – our thoughts, emotions, and choices.
If we focus our mind on God’s perfect plans and provision for us, we walk in perfect peace - day in and day out. As we trust Him and walk in His Spirit, we continually experience this deep, abiding peace that removes all fear (1 John 4:18; Isaiah 26:3). A lack of peace in our soul is a red flag that signals a negative issue in our life.
We are either removing our focus from God and placing it instead on our circumstances, or living in sinful practices, or adopting the mindset of the world rather than Biblical wisdom, or straying off God’s narrow road of protection and wandering onto the wide road that leads to destruction (Lamentations 3:17; Matthew 7:13-14; Psalm 28:3; Isaiah 48:22).
When facing the cross, the human side of Jesus wavered in faith. He dreaded the upcoming persecution and crucifixion. Then, He put His focus back on God’s purposes for Him, and He remembered that He came for the intention of paying our sin-debt, from every generation from Adam to the last person born on the earth. He went to Calvary’s cross to save us and to glorify our Father God’s name (John 12:23, 27, 13:21).
Prayer:
Father God, without a personal relationship with You and walking in Your Spirit, we cannot know peace (Romans 3:17). We wander through life with anxiety that we attempt to quell through worldly means. We experience pandemics, terrifying natural disasters, increasing hatred and discord, political divides, racial tensions, buildings and roads and bridges collapsing, uncontrolled fires, etc. These events cause us to lose any peace we were able to produce through worldly efforts (Ezekiel 7:25; Jeremiah 30:5; Ezekiel 13:10; Jeremiah 8:15).
Thank You for removing Your supernatural peace from our spirit and soul when we stray from Your perfect path for our life. When we identify unrest in our soul or spirit, we know that we are, or about to slip out of Your will for our life. When we trust only and completely in You, You give us the blessed existence of having no anxiety and the ability to rejoice in everything at all times. You guard our soul through Your peace through Jesus, our Christ (Philippians 4:4,6,7).
Thought for the Day:
When we feel troubled, anxious, and lacking in peace it is because we strayed from God’s plans for us; we could be following the world’s mindset, desiring to date or to marry or to choose a profession that is out of God’s will for us, or we are seeking peace and fulfillment in worldly gain or the cravings of our flesh.
- Lamentations 3:17; Deuteronomy 23:6; Ezra 9:12; Isaiah 59:8
