If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and believe the words He spoke to His disciples, then you can definitely find peace in your life. He’s helped me find a lot more peace than I used to have, and He can help you find peace too.
What Jesus Said About Peace
Peace is important because Jesus talked about it many times, especially in His final moments before He ascended to heaven.
In John 14:27 (AMP) He tells His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]”
Jesus essentially said, “I’m leaving you My peace. Now you need to do all you can to hold on to your peace and stop letting yourself get upset.”
Jesus also gives His peace in John 20:19, 21.
Now, you might be thinking: “Okay, we can see that Jesus likes peace and wants us to have it. But how can I have it today?
Here are seven practical ways you can immediately increase your peace.
1. See the value of peace. Maybe you need to take peace a little more seriously. If you don’t think it’s a big deal to lose your temper, worry all day or get stressed out, you may have underappreciated the gift of peace more than you realize. See 1 Peter 3:11.
“ Jesus designed us to be fruitful, not busy. ”
2. Take inventory of where you spend your time. Do you have an unsustainable life? Maybe you have way too much on your plate, but you keep saying yes to things and filling up your calendar. Remember that Jesus designed us to be fruitful, not busy. So cut away the branches that are not bearing fruit.
3. Trust God. Believers in Christ are supposed to believe, right? That means we trust what He says in His Word and completely give everything over to Him. When we do that, we enter His rest (peace). See Proverbs 3:5.
4. Decide not to be a people pleaser. It’s impossible to keep all the people in your life happy all the time. This doesn’t mean you should be rude to them. Just don’t try to please someone at the expense of displeasing or being disobedient to God. Live to please Him first.
5. Mind your own business. I’ve learned that usually, the less I know about other people, the better off I am. Being nosy and spending energy trying to learn what others are doing or saying produces anything but peace in life. See 1 Thessalonians 4:11.
6. Let peace be the umpire of your life. If you are thinking about doing something, but you don’t have peace about it, don’t do it—because if it’s not peaceful, it’s not God.
7. Do whatever you can to work toward simplicity. I’ve learned that the busier you are, the more important it is to have simplicity, which means sometimes it’s best to let things go instead of starting a war over something petty. Also, it might be simpler to not own so much stuff. Trying to take care of too much can just overwhelm and frustrate you.
If you will put these suggestions into practice, a more peaceful life is possible for you. Remember that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and He can provide the tranquility you long for…even in today’s busy world.
This article is taken from Joyce's four-CD series, Calm, Cool & Collected.
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