In the congregations where I serve we recently worked through a special Bible study called “The Keys to a Christian’s Peace.”   This is such a pertinent and important topic that I’m sharing some of the “keys to peace” here.  I pray they are a blessing!.

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Most would agree that finding personal peace in this chaotic world is challenging.  And keeping it, even more so!

There are so many things that seem to impact our peace.  So many people, problems, situations, and uncertainties that tend to rob us of the peace we long to have – for the peace that God longs for us to have.

But the shocking truth of the matter is that the peace-stealing culprit in our lives is actually … ourselves!  Or more specifically, our own minds.  (Our thoughts!)  We rob ourselves of the peace God wants us to have by how we mentally process things. 

In his book, “Finding Peace: God’s Promise of a Life Free from Regret, Anxiety, and Fear,” Dr. Charles Stanley writes about this very thing:

On a number of occasions through the years when I have felt troubled, anxious, or frustrated, I blamed other people for “stealing” my peace.  I was wrong.  The truth is, nobody else should ever have been blamed for my loss of peace.  In each and every case, I was the one who laid it down.

Hear me carefully on this point.  Nobody can take your peace from you.  If you have lost your peace, you have lost it for one main reason – you surrendered it. … The truth is that no circumstances, situation, person, or organization can steal your inner peace.  We lose our peace because we lay it down.  We give it up.  We concede it.  We abandon it.  (pp. 34-35).

Where our personal peace is undermined, it is undermined by none other than ourselves.  The Lord didn’t remove it.  Circumstances didn’t ruin it.  Other people didn’t pillage it.  We blew it up ourselves!

This goes back to last week’s post where we discussed “The Simple “P” Summary:

The Simple “P” Summary

Where we should NOT focus … but often DO: 
our Problems

Where we SHOULD focus … but often do not:
God’s Promises of Provision and Protection

How we think about things affects how much … or how little … peace we feel.  If we are focusing exclusively on our problems, peace will be far from us.  If centering our thoughts on God’s promises, peace will be much more present.

Again, quoting Dr. Stanley:

You have the control mechanism for determining what you will think.  Every person has the ability to say, “I will think about something else” and then refocus the mind on a new topic, task, or problem to solve.  Every [Christian] has the ability to say, “I choose to trust God,” or conclude, “I choose to be overwhelmed.” (“Finding Peace” – Charles Stanley, p. 92).

I have come to recognize that the way we mentally process things matters a great deal.  Furthermore, the way we mentally process things tends to be deeply ingrained in us.

If unexpected events in the past have brought on personal anxiety, unexpected events in the present and future will do the same.  If we have naturally gravitated toward perceiving things in a negative manner in the past, we will continue to perceive things negatively going forward.  If crises have caused fear previously, they will also cause fear in the future.

That is, if we don’t alter our thought process!

Changing how we think is absolutely possible.  However, some necessary components must be in place to do so. 

First, we must recognize that we sometimes (even often?) struggle with “stinking thinking.”  Our thoughts aren’t always as positive as they could be or focused where they should be focused – namely, on our loving God and his all-encompassing promises.

Secondly, we have to want to mentally process matters differently.  That is, we recognize the peace robber our negative thinking is and wholeheartedly desire to be done with it.

Finally, it is crucial that we are committed to a new mindset.  We don’t hope it happens; we make it happen!  We embark on a deliberate and intensive process of evaluating our thoughts, exchanging poor focuses for more peaceful ones (the promises of God!), and training ourselves to think differently.

Even secular counselors recognize that this is possible, that it is often beneficial, and that it is sometimes necessary.  They lack the source of ultimate peace (the Lord), but they still encourage adopting a different, more positive mindset and maintain that people can indeed train themselves to think differently.

The Apostle Paul actually addressed this very thing in the Scriptures.  “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Whether the opposition to God’s truths arise from the world in general, our personal environment or our own sinful natures, we “demolish [those] arguments.”  Instead, we corral our thoughts inside the peace-providing promises of our Savior.  Our almighty, all-knowing, ever-capable God really does love us, and has assured us he will work everything out for our good!  (Romans 8:28).

Embrace the truth that our God will always take wonderful care of us, no matter how alarming our situation may seem at the moment.  This is called trust, and it is not only suggested by our God … but commanded repeatedly by him in the Bible.  And why?  Because the Lord knows how important trusting him is for our personal peace!

The path to inner peace?  It actually meanders through our minds.  The more we walk in God’s promises, the more peace we experience.  Which makes it a path worth walking!

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(John 8:46-47)  [Jesus said,] “If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.”