The Peace That Surpasses All Understanding

"Your words were found, and I ate them.  Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart..." (Jeremiah 15:16, HCSB).  
"I rejoice at Your promise, like one who finds great treasure," (Psalm 119:162, HCSB).  
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope," (Rom. 15:13, ESV).  
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Rom. 5:5, ESV).  

God promises peace to all whose hearts are fixed on Him (cf. Isaiah 26:3).  Heb. 3:1; 12:1 also emphasizes this only more specifically focused on Jesus. Corrie ten Boom said that if we look at the world we are distressed, if we look at ourselves we are depressed, but if we look at Christ we are at rest!  We must heed biblical admonition and fix our thoughts on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, to get the "perfect peace" promised, Phil. 4:6-7 takes it from another angle:  avoiding anxiety is as simple as letting our requests be made known unto God with a grateful heart and we shall have this peace (the formula is that we worry about nothing, pray about anything, and thank about everything!). As David said in Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O LORD," we are to bring every thought into the captivity of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 10:5) to enjoy His peace. 

Many believers seek peace through some comforting or favorite Bible passage or verse, as I have been asked to cite a good verse for someone depressed.  The answer is that what elevates and lifts my spirits may not work for that person, and besides, they're just getting into the habit of spiritual dependency instead of maturity.  We must learn to feed ourselves sooner or later and not be spoon-fed by our spiritual leaders.  

If I tell you some fantastic verse that could lift your mood and get you out of a funk or the doldrums, it would only be a temporary fix, and then later you would need another verse from me or another spiritual leader.  We can search our Facebook posts from our friends for something uplifting or read and like someone's post or re-post, but this isn't maturity.

The psalmist of Psalm 119:162 said that he treasured the Word of God as bounty and treasure--the joy is in finding it and letting God open your eyes to something in the Word. Job 23:12 says that he treasured the Word of God more than his necessary food!   As is also said in Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes that I may contemplate wonderful things in Your instruction,"(HCSB).  The joy of a treasure hunter is in the discovery, the proclamation of eureka, or "I found it!" Then we won't need the crutch of some website to inspire us and give us verses to lift our spirits. 

So there is no single verse that's going to lift someone from their depressed funk or downcast spirit of discouragement, but the answer is in knowing how to find one of your own tailored to your needs at the moment--suited just for the situation you are in. I would tell that person who is an earnest seeker that God rewards those who sincerely seek Him and His face and that they simply should open the Bible and start reading and let God do His work and perform a miracle on their soul.

The main reason we get moods is that God intends us to know how to manage them and what to do to overcome our natural inclination to be negative--that is to say, we all are subject to the blues now and then!  But how we handle them is the challenge and we must learn to do something therapeutic for our spiritual health, not harmful to our attitude, for we all need an attitude check too, now and then.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Peace Beyond Comprehension

"'There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked'" (Isaiah 57:21, NIV).
"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you" (Isaiah 26:3, NIV).  

To say that knowing Jesus is knowing peace, and with no Jesus, you get no peace.  But the devil always has his counterfeit peace with just enough truth to lure them into his lies and deception, inoculating them from the real thing, for example, secularists are intellectually fulfilled by adhering to evolution to explain reality.  He offers the world faux peace through idolatry, crutches, the supernatural, drugs, and in many forms.  Putting anything where God should be in one's priorities is idolatry--a time-consuming habit, hobby, or pastime.  

Christians can only know peace when they give Christ first place in their lives.  He is called the Prince of Peace for a reason!  He paid the price to set us free from our guilt and confusion brought on by sin. And only by His truth can we be set free from the lies of the enemy.   He is still in the resurrection business and can transform our lives into something beautiful to His glory.  Ephesians 2:14 says He is our peace!

One of the Jehovah texts is Judges 6:24, which calls Jesus  "the LORD is our peace," or Yahweh Shalom in Hebrew.  God's peace is manifold and multi-dimensional in the spiritual realms transcending our comprehension.  We are given peace with God, with ourselves, and with each other, and the ability to bring peace to the land by humbling ourselves in repentance to Him, and even being set free from our bondage and slavery to sin.  

We are also given the ability to share, communicate, and bring peace to others as Christ's "peacemakers," and we are lights to the world of what real peace is.  We experience this peace in the Lord and want to pass it on!  But it must start with a decision to call upon the Lord as our peace!  We must look to God, not ourselves and we will be saved, keeping our eyes focused on Him and not the obstacles.  Without Jesus, in our lives, we head towards chaos not knowing where we are going, and cannot find God or any real lasting peace.

Everyone has a God or god and if not the real thing--Jesus--there is some idol in the life filling the void.   So-called faux Gods are only the substitute that the devil offers to lure us away from the real thing!  People mistakenly believe that if something works, it's true.  The test of an idea is not whether it's true, but whether it works just considering the consequences (this is pragmatism):  because it works is no guarantee it's true (e.g., TM, hypnotism, astrology, meditation, channeling, and yoga).

That's why it's so important to seek the truth and to seek the Lord, not peace per se.  Many are really looking for the benefits, not the Benefactor, and are content with the things the devil offers the world, which will diminish one's appetite for the spiritual things of God.    Soli Deo Gloria!