Many of us have developed a practice of protecting our inner peace. Without even realizing it much of the time, we avoid certain people, news sources, conversations, and places in order to avoid feeling discomfort. We turn our eyes away from heartbreak and injustice. And when we have lost our inner peace, we rely on things like shopping, food, Netflix, alcohol, or a vacation to restore it.
In John 14, Jesus promises the disciples that the Holy Spirit is coming. John 14:27 (NLT) says “I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
Last year, I took my first mission trip to the Dominican Republic, where I got a glimpse of what it’s like to seek and find true peace. The people we met and loved there don’t have the luxury of most of the things that we use to help us numb the pain when our peace and joy are stolen. This has allowed many of them to find the only source of true, supernatural peace that makes no sense whatsoever - the peace given by Jesus. You can see that peace on their faces, in their tears, and in how they worship. They are grieved and heartbroken, but they have something that many of us do not have - peace from the Holy Spirit Himself.
These past few weeks, my family has been in a crisis, and the truth is that I don’t know if it will work out in the way that I have been praying for the last several years. As I’m faced with a reality that I was truly trusting Jesus to help me avoid, I have played out every way that this whole thing can go. I have mentally prepared for the best, the bad, and the worst. I have a plan for the financial, emotional, and logistical implications of all the ways this can go. If I’m completely honest, I think I have set aside the faithfulness that God has demonstrated to me over all of these years, and picked up trust in my own ability to solve this problem. When I examine that, I think of my friends in the Dominican Republic. They didn’t have access to any of the things that I have access to when their families were being ripped apart or kidnapped or worse. They had Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 says “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
In my crisis, I have coped by working all scenarios out in my mind. Made a plan with the vast resources that I have access to. Do I have peace? Yes, I have worldly peace. The kind of peace that would quickly dissolve if you took away my access to the resources that I need to get me out of this mess. In this trial, I have forgotten, for a moment, what is available to me in Christ. I have forgotten to pray about everything and to thank Him for all He has done. That is what it takes to experience true peace. Only then will I be able to see this trial as a gift and an opportunity to depend on Him like never before; to watch Him work a miracle like I’ve never seen.
Prayer and gratitude ACTIVATE God’s supernatural peace. Remembering what God has done and responding in worship and thanksgiving is the key that unlocks peace. THIS is true peace. Not the artificial, temporary peace that we can get from shopping or binging Marvel movies or any other distraction that the world offers us. If you, too, are in the middle of a trial and a whirlwind of emotions, let it all bring you to worship and gratitude of what He has done and what He will do in this trial and in your future. Let His peace wash over you. His plans are good even if good doesn’t always look the way that we expect.
Activation: Where might you be relying on your own understanding or resources to preserve your peace? Talk to the Lord about it. Meditate on all God has done in your life, thank Him for that and for who He is. Experience His supernatural peace.
~Nicole Hathorn, Worthy Content Writer
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