Last Updated on June 4, 2015 by Stacy Averette

I want peace. Peace of mind. Peace in my home. Peace in the world. I’m fairly confident that most people want that, too.sunset, clouds

I searched for the definition of peace. Here’s what I found: Definition of peace (n.) Bing Dictionary peace [ peess ]

  • freedom from war: freedom from war, or the time when a war or conflict ends
  • tranquillity: a calm and quiet state, free from disturbances or noise
  • mental calm: a state of mental calm and serenity, with no anxiety.

What I find interesting about this list is the order of the definitions.  Are they in no particular order?  Are they in order of the list maker’s priority? Are they dependent upon one another—meaning—is freedom from war and tranquility necessary before one can have mental calm? Hmmmm.

So then I Googled it. (If you got paid to Google, I’d be a billionaire. If Google were a university, I’d have a Ph.D.,) Here’s what I found.: A wiki-how article entitled How to Have Peace of Mind in nine steps.

  1. Be true to yourself first
  2. Introspect on a daily basis how you have conducted yourself during the day.
  3. Devote at least 10 minutes to yourself every day.
  4. Take responsibility. After introspecting be accountable for your own actions (good or bad).
  5. Own up. If you have done something which has made you feel stupid, be strong go ahead and say sorry, be it a person an animal or an inanimate object.(it helps)
  6. Cease from committing the error again. Next time when you are about to err, you will be reminded of how you felt before you asked for forgiveness and you will automatically refrain from doing it.
  7. Try to be generous whenever you can afford to give without asking for anything in return. It always does come back tenfold.
  8. Try not doing things on a daily basis which would make you feel bad – love yourself instead. This is the main mantra because it’s very simple – if you love yourself, then you will try to do everything right, which will in turn simplify your life because you are doing things right. And since everything is going right, you have no worry and no stress. And you have peace of mind. It’s that simple
  9. Always remember your Mother, Father’s and God’s love toward you.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Any attempt at peace that begins with yourself will not end well. Tweet this

I’ve tried that peace plan many times. The only supporter is the Enemy who wants to “steal, kill, and destroy” me. Remember, “Satan’s only real hope to control my life is me. We often labor under the misguided notion that Satan wants us to do his will in our lives. He only wants us to do our will. (Rutland)

sunset

Jesus showed me a better way when He laid down His life for me.

And because He laid down His life for me I am able to lay down my life for Him. And when I lay down my life for Him, I lay it down for you, and my kids, and my husband, and my neighbors, and whomever else God has placed in my life.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Yesterday I wrote about Laying it Down and quoted Hession:

“All day long the choice will be before us in a thousand ways. It will mean a constant yieldedness to those around us, for our yieldedness to God is measured by our yieldedness to man. Every humiliation, everyone who tries and vexes us, is God’s way of breaking us, so that there is a yet deeper channel in us for the Life of Christ. You see, the only life that pleases God and that can be victorious is His life—never our life, matter how hard we try. But inasmuch as our self-centered life is the exact opposite of His, we can never be filled with His life unless we are prepared for God to bring our life constantly to death.”

Yieldedness means not “I”, but “Christ”. Not my life, but His. Trying, trying, trying does not bring peace.  It is so counterintuitive for us to believe that laying down our life will give us peace. We’ve been lead to believe, along with wikihow,  that peace of mind starts with me—taking care of me, standing up for me, protecting me, and on and on. Here’s what I’ve learned. I cannot produce peace. I cannot create “a state of calm tranquility”.  Peace cannot be bought , eaten, or drank. I’ve also learned that I can have peace on the crazy days with crazy people in a crazy world. A war in the middle east or a war in my home does not prevent real peace in my heart.

In John 14 when Jesus promised His disciples the Holy Spirit He said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”(John 14:27). The Prince of Peace gives me peace and if I’m looking for peace it is obviously because I’ve lost my peace. How and why do I lose my peace? Hession says, “We do not lose peace with God over another person’s sin, but only over our own. We shall have to see that the thing in us that reacts so sharply to another’s selfishness and pride is simply our own selfishness and pride, which we are unwilling to sacrifice.”

He adds, “Oh, but what a simple but searching thing it is to be ruled by the peace of God, none other than the Holy Spirit Himself! Former selfish ways, which we never bothered about, are now shown to us…grumbling, bossiness, carelessness, down to the smallest thing, are all revealed as sins when we are prepared to let our days be ruled by the peace of God.”

sunset

God’s Prescription for Peace?

Present my empty, broken self to Him to let Him fill me and keep me filled. This is revival—the constant peace of God ruling in my heart because I am full to overflowing and sharing it with others.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2: 5-8)

My inspiration for this series came as the Holy Spirit spoke through a small, paper-back book that I have read and re-read many, many times—The Calvary Road. You can get your own copy here or you can get the free kindle edition here.

You can read the rest of this series beginning with The Death of Me: Introduction.

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