W6D6: Peace

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7 NASB

Life is not easy. It can be hectic and hard; sometimes it is rugged and cruel. We all need grounding, anchoring and security to help us from being knocked over and undone by the instability of this life and by the one who tries to rule it. We fail to realize that we have an enemy who specifically targets us in our most vulnerable areas. He knows our habits and he knows our deepest fears because he studies us. He wants to knock us around and disorient us so we grasp onto anything within our reach to maintain our balance. He doesn’t swing at us hoping to land a lucky punch. He is calculating every move against us.

He knows that when the trials of life come at us we tend to hold on to our emotions or our intellect and lean on them to guide us. We sometimes latch onto old habits we know are not good, but now they somehow seem comforting and safe. We pour ourselves into new habits, work or sometimes we just run away. When we are afraid, we default to our instincts…we let our “fight or flight” mechanism take over. When we run out of fear or we fight with the wrong weapons, we are actually trying to grasp stability. But in the panic and emotions of the moment we don’t realize those things are not anchored. So, when we grab hold, they give way and we fall flat on our faces.

The stability we need comes from the Peace that is beyond our understanding, the Peace of God. But in order to have the Peace OF God, we must have Peace WITH God. We need an intermediary, Someone who could help us reconcile our unrighteousness with God’s righteousness and bring us into relationship with Him. It is in that relationship that we find the stability we need to traverse the rugged terrain of life.

Our relationship with God gives us peace no matter what this life or Satan has to throw at us because now God is on our side and He is in control. It gives us peace to know that life is going to be hard, but God will always work it out for good. Our peace comes from the promise of eternal life. We must hold on and fight the good fight from the moment we accept Jesus as Savior to the moment we draw our last breath. Then we enter into that promise of eternal life, free of the troubles we have now.

We don’t just have peace; we have His Shalom. It is not the absence of chaos; it is peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility in the midst of chaos. That is what we are to grasp onto when Satan is throwing his punches at us because, “Salvation isn’t just about heaven. It’s about being empowered on earth.” (Priscilla Shirer). Salvation is about having an abundant life here and now that's rooted in Peace.

Have you ever felt great peace in the midst of a fierce storm? Describe some times you felt peace in the chaos and/or times you wish you would have had peace in the chaos.

Meditate on Philippians 4:7 today.