Stop freaking out. I’m starting off blunt because too many people today are worried about:
What if I don’t get the job?
What if I don’t get married and am single my entire life?
What if they don’t get better but their sickness gets worse?
What if we don’t get the money?
What if I can’t find a place to live?
What if they fire me and I can’t find another job?
What if they don’t come back and I’m left alone?
What if the country falls apart?
Many of us face questions like this and in our heads it plays out to be the worst scenario. That leads us to anxiety and worry about these situations and many others.
Our response to our situation is to freak out. So we reach for a pill, alcohol, reassurance of others, long bouts of sleep, a financial loan or deliberate denial of the situation hoping it goes away.
Why?
Because we long for calm, tranquility, bliss, contentment and quietness about our stressful conditions. We long for peace. So we search for it…and in most instances, we are searching for it in the wrong places. Resulting in a peace that is temporary, false and not secure. A fragile peace that is easily shattered by doubt, difficulty, disappointment, fear, failure, guilt, shame, anxiety, regret or a wrong choice.
But there is a peace that does not fluctuate when uncertainties of life come. There is a peace that is not manipulated with the right substance or the right circumstance. There is a supernatural peace, a Godly peace, that has nothing to do with human beings or human circumstances. In fact it cannot be produced by any means on this earth.
This peace is a person.
The Bible speaks of this unique peace in 2 Thessalonians 3:16,
“16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.”
Peace is a person.
“It’s impossible to be overwhelmed by circumstances when you are overwhelmed by God. ”
God Himself is giving us peace which is…Himself. That word “himself” in the Greek text is an emphatic word that underscores God’s “personal involvement” with us. God is basically saying, Christ-centered peace, the peace that is unique to followers of Jesus, comes personally from Jesus Himself. It is his essence. It is his nature.
God doesn’t get stressed out.
Ever.
God doesn’t worry about things.
Ever.
God doesn’t get afraid.
Ever.
God lives in perfect contentment.
Peace to us becomes an encounter with God. Peace is a daily surrender to our creator. Peace is a submission to the presence of Christ. Peace is an alignment to His voice.
That means this: people can say whatever they want because you have access to what God says. People can do whatever they want because you have a God who is doing on your behalf. Situations can evolve how they need to because you have a God who is presiding right now over your situations. Jobs can come and go because God is your provider. Relationships can come and go because you have a God who loves you infinitely more than any person ever could. In times of uncertainty you can be certain God is who He says He is and will accomplish all that He sets out to do. It’s impossible to be overwhelmed by circumstances when you are overwhelmed by God.
Philippians 4:7 says,
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Peace does not only come in the person of God but the peace of God guards us and protects us. Fear and worry come at us from all angles. Fear is from the enemy (2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 4:18). Worry is a sin (Matthew 6:25-27). One operates in the flesh. One operates from the enemy. And we are not strong enough. So God protects us and keeps us in peace. Not only does God protect us with peace but peace is a weapon:
Romans 16:20 says,
“The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet.”
Not God’s feet but yours! The strength of the peace of God becomes yours now! The peace you are experiencing from God now becomes your peace to not just feel good about you and your situation but to become a weapon of choice to destroy the attacks of the enemy who is trying to steal your peace. God even reassures us of this by giving us the armor of God with the sandals of peace (Ephesians 6:15) to walk into whatever we are going through to face today with the presence of peace, the sandals of peace and the crushing power of peace as a weapon for you to walk into your future with confidence.
Part 2 is next....