Guard Your Peace
Peace. It’s what our world is longing for in this unprecedented time we never saw coming and in some ways, surprised us all with the impact it is now having on our daily lives. This morning, I found myself stepping away from the sensationalized TV coverage of the pandemic, remarking, “I need to guard my peace.” Peace is so available to you and I—it comes from Jesus and is the presence of Jesus Himself.
In this time we are walking through, it is so important that we guard our peace. I am grateful for the Holy Spirit’s reminder this morning. This involves what we choose to intake and meditate upon. What spurred this charge in my spirit this morning were some nagging thoughts unrelated to our current health situation that were causing fearful questioning. As I sat down to have my morning one-on-one time with the Lord, I felt Him exhort me to let His peace rule my mind with His thinking.
You see, cultivating the peace of Christ and allowing it to rule in our lives also involves guarding our minds. I felt God remind me that our thought life is at the epicenter of our emotions and actions. What we think upon very much effects what we experience. You’ve experienced this before—how your thoughts become a filter of how you interpret a situation. Have you ever thought something only to find out it wasn’t true at all? I have. You see, that’s what the enemy wants—to disempower us by causing us to live from a place of fear, discouragement, anger, and the like; so he shoots for the mind, because he knows that if he can attack our thoughts, he can influence our emotions and actions. But, only if we let him.
As a believer, this is the victory we have—the mind of Christ. We just have to put it on. Romans 8:6 has been a go to verse that God has used to encourage me:
“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
To focus on God’s truth and allow the Spirt to rule my mind produces in me life and peace. If we have Christ, we have the Spirit! (Romans 8:9)
As we journey through this unique season of life, remember to guard your peace by guarding your mind. There are a lot of avenues being thrusted at us right now, including ones of fear and anxiety, but as followers of Christ, we have both the invitation to walk down and the opportunity to offer the way of hope, joy, and peace through Jesus. This is the true path, because the ultimate reality is, God has this all under control! He is not a God of lack, but of fullness, and in Christ, we are invited to live in that fullness. He will provide. He will deliver. He will do it. As God encouraged my heart yesterday:
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him.” (Psalm 34:8)
I encourage you to read Psalm 34 during this time. It’s so powerful!
Peace is not determined by circumstances—it is a state we are invited to live in. May we unapologetically live from the reality of His peace and in turn, offer this reality to a world that is longing for answers.