Can't find peace? It's closer than you think!

What would you say are the top circumstances that people say would give them peace?  I am thinking good health and a long life.

There is a couple that I follow on Instagram and You Tube who are not Christians, but their zest for life and travel is contagious!  I've gone to many parts of the world with them and it is amazing all the stunningly beautiful places that the Lord has created on Earth for His creation to enjoy.

But one of the most contagious attributes about them is their positivity.   They seem to have mastered living in the moment and enjoying life to the fullest like a small child seeing something for the first time.

Their company actually created a gratitude journal.  They definitely live out a life of gratitude.

But one thing that always makes me bristle is when they talk about "the Universe giving them this or that".  It makes me sad really that they seem to have captured a way to live in peace and happiness that many Christians haven't attained, (waving my hand wildly over here), but they don't know the ONLY One who gives true peace.  We, however, do know the One that gives true peace, but too often live in fear and worry.

It's a well known fact that stress kills. That's the most stressful sentence I've every blogged!  lol.  But seriously, stress, worry, anxiety, living a sinful life and making unhealthy choices, all will lead to significant health problems.

But the Lord has provided the answer to cultivating a long life lived well...

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,  that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.  Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, 

Deuteronomy 6:1-3

The Peace that Comes From Letting Go

I don't know if Facebook is reading my mind again, but I keep having articles about anxiety appearing in my newsfeed.  And I will say most of them have been encouraging reads.  Well done Facebook!  Haha.

But seriously, yesterday I read one that really resonated with me in this season of debilitating anxiety.  The person in the article recognized that an anxiety attack she had had was directly related to not letting go of something she needed to.  Once she let go, her anxiety resolved.  Now she didn't divulge what she had to let go of, but it caused me to analyze my own anxiety and the ugly truth came forward...

I need to let go of control.   That which is at the root of my anxiety is based on lack of trust in God and His faithfulness.  Lack of trust in His will for my life.  Lack of trust in His provision if my worst fears were to be realized.  And lack of carrying God's statutes, commandments and Words close to my heart.

If I or any of us were to follow God's command above, indeed life would go well AND we would avoid stress related illnesses that can take a serious toll.

The Peace that Comes from Throwing Away Junk

I heard a story yesterday that I will modify, but the basic gist was a man came to seek wisdom from a master, but never stopped talking to even hear what the master had to say.  While the man was  talking, the master got up and filled his own tea cup to the brim and then began pouring into the man's cup, but once it was full, he just kept pouring and pouring.  The man yelled out "Stop!  Your spilling tea all over the table." The master then proceeded to explain that the teacup represented the man who wouldn't stop talking long enough to listen.  He was like the cup which was so full and overflowing, there was no room to take anything new in.  In the man's case, he wouldn't learn anything because he felt he knew it all already.  The master said, you need to empty yourself of yourself so that you can become wiser.

We are like this with our own selfish desires and thoughts OR when we are consumed with worry and what-ifs.  Our minds are filled with so much junk, that God's Words, Commands and Promises have nowhere to go, nowhere to stick and no way to make a difference in our lives.

 If we were to conduct ourselves with a Holy, healthy fear of the Lord, to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, to consume His Words to the point that it will crowd out any selfishness, sin or worry from our lives, He will add everything to us.  It WILL go well with us, and we WILL add years to our lives.

When God's Words and Commandments are at the forefront of our minds, our go-to mindset in any struggle, whether a trial, a temptation or a selfish thought, will be God is faithful.  He will keep His promises to me.  His Words are true.  He is mighty to save.  He will provide.

True peace comes from peace with God and His Faithfulness  

The couple I mentioned earlier, do have a chink in their armor.  They have repeated on several occasions that "If you don't have your health, you DON'T have ANYTHING."  I thought to myself, whoa!  That's going to be a problem for them one day because everyone will suffer with some health crisis and everyone will die. They can do all the positivity and gratitude, which is indeed wonderful and healthy, and eat all the healthy plant-based foods, BUT they WILL crash when their health gives way and they can't travel anymore and do all the external and internal things that seem to make them happy.  Because at the end of the day, without the peace of Christ living inside of them, everything they are finding their happiness in WILL fade away...

That's not to say that we as Believers don't fall into a faith crisis with bad health, but we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and the Lord is faithful whether or not we are faithful.

if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2:13

To read more about God's faithfulness, please click on the following:

God's Faithfulness Shines Brightest in the Darkest Hours.

                                                        God's Waiting for you in the Fire

Living Life in God's Faithfulness

The key to true peace in life is a steady diet of God's Word, a healthy prayer life and constant communion with the Holy Spirit who is as close as your breathing.  Even though the storms of life WILL blow, there is a peace that resides deep within you that nothing can touch.  Nourish that peace with all that God provides.

And we can say with the Psalmist...

I remain confident of this: 

I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13

To read more about how to experience God's peace please click on the following:

Trials Usher in Peace

Looking for Peace in All the Wrong Places

Peace that Surpasses All Understanding: Lessons from Corrie Ten Boom

Peace in the Christian Life Hinges on One Thing

5 Comforting Scripture Prayers that WILL Bring you Peace

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