How to Have the Peace of God

By Alexandra Copeland 

1Corinthians 14:33(KJV) tells us, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”  Every Word from God is life-giving and wonderful, but verses like 1Corinthians 14:33 are exceptionally special to me, because they inform us about God’s nature. Knowing about God’s nature should be important to every believer because He has given us the privilege and responsibility to take on His nature and make it our own. In 1Peter 1:16, He tells us to be holy because He’s holy. He’s our Heavenly Father. He created us in His image, and He wants us to be like Him. 

A good parent has a pretty good handle on right and wrong. They understand that living morally and ethically will give a child a firm foundation upon which to build his or her life. A loving and compassionate parent will want their children to grow up mirroring their good manners and behaviors. This isn’t motivated out of selfishness; it’s motivated out of love. If you’ve learned the best way to achieve something, you want to pass this on to your children. If you multiply the loving, unselfish, compassionate nature of a supportive parent by infinity, it still would not touch the love that God has for each of us.

2Thessalonians 3:16 (NLT) tells us, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.” Heavenly Father desires that we live a peaceful existence. When you look at everything that is happening in the world today, you might question this. We live in a world so filled with hatred, confusion, and chaos. It can be very challenging to maintain a state of peace in our minds and hearts, but through Christ it is not only possible, it is our responsibility to him.

If we have it in our minds that we are to be like everyone else, then having peace in the middle of craziness wouldn’t make sense, but God has commanded us NOT to be like everyone else. In Romans 12:2 (NLT), He tells us, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”  We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience, not the other way around. God has called us to a higher, spiritual standard of living. 

In the first verse of this same chapter, Romans 12:1(MSG), through the Apostle Paul, God tells us, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” We can't navigate this life successfully without leaning on God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Embracing what God does for us, recognizing that He's in control, and He is our sufficiency; this will give us His perfect peace. 

God’s peace is a spiritual reality. The world cannot give it and the world can’t take it away. This lets us know that we’re not to be dependent on the world to give us the things that only our Heavenly Father can provide. He knows that we can become so distracted by what is happening around us that we begin to let those things occupy our thoughts. The harm of worldly distractions is that they occupy too much heart and mind space. They cause us to squeeze God out of our life’s equation, and this will reap havoc on any peace we might claim to have. 

Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV) tells us how to achieve the peace of God. It says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” Rather than allowing the world and its chaos to occupy our minds and hearts, Isaiah 26:3 tells us to keep our minds stayed on the Lord. Philippians 4:8(NLT) echoes this by telling us, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” God has placed our emotions and thoughts under our own self-government. He will not reprogram our minds or come into the inner sanctum of our beings and start shoving all the bad stuff out, and putting in all the right stuff. Boy, would it be great if He did this, but God didn’t create us to be robots. He created us to be His children. He gave us free-will, and He will not overstep it. 

It’s our privilege and responsibility to change the way we think and feel, and line our thoughts and emotions up with those that represent the nature of Christ. This is a choice. God assures us in His Word that if we will put on the mind and heart of Christ, He will keep us in His perfect peace. This is His promise, and God never breaks His promises. He will move heaven and earth to back-up His Word.

Believing and trusting God’s Word is the foundation of our peace. His Word is life to our souls, and when we have faith in what God says, we can forever and always have confidence in the outcomes we receive. In 1Peter 5:7, He tells us to cast ALL our cares on Him, because He cares for us. There’s never a burden too heavy for God. His power is greater than any obstacle we face. 

The thing that causes disruption, corruption, disharmony, and discontent is separation from the peace that God offers. These are problems that our Lord and Savior has taken care of. Romans 5:10 says, “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.”  In Christ, we have peace with Heavenly Father. He’s our sweet anchor, and we can experience serenity and peace of mind as we lean on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don’t have it in your life, all you have to do is ask. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.