Do you ever feel like everything is going wrong and you can’t seem to escape? Remember Job? In Job chapter one we see that within six verses, he lost his cattle, his sheep, his camels, most all of his servants, and all of his children. Now that is a bad day! But if you notice the last two verses of Job chapter one, you will notice that in the midst of all of his troubles and bad news, Job allowed the peace of God to rule and reign in his life. Today, I want to look at the 4 ways to maintain the peace of God in your life, no matter what is going on.

Before we begin to look at the 4 ways to maintain the peace of God in your life, let us first take a look at the 4 reasons why you should desire to maintain the peace of God in your life.

4 effects of Gods peace in your life

The first effect of having the peace of God ruling and reigning in your life is that the peace of God will give you the ability to be forgiving

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts 7:60

This verse is at the end of the story for Stephen, but what I wanted to focus on and the thing that I wanted to remind you, is that even while Stephen was in the midst of being murdered, in one of the most painful ways possible at the time, with his dying breath he asked God to forgive the very people that were murdering him.

Forgiveness does not come naturally to us. We are not forgiving by nature, instead, when we are wronged, or natural response is to start to plan our revenge or at the very least we love to hold grudges, but as we are commanded in Ephesians 4:32, we are supposed to be forgiving and if we will allow the peace of God to rule and reign in our hearts and in our minds, we will be able to be forgiving of others.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:32

The next benefit or effect of the peace of God is that it will give you encouragement as you are going through trouble and difficult times

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

2 Corinthians 1:3-6

Not only will the peace of God give you encouragement as you are going through trials in your life, but it will also give you the ability to be an encouragement to other people as they are going through the same or similar times in their lives.

If we don’t go through some of the struggles that we do, we would not have the ability to comfort or the encouraging impact on the lives of other people as they are in the midst of their own trials and tribulations.

Thirdly, if we will allow the peace of God to rule in our lives, this will completely eliminate all of our insecurities

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Proverbs 1:33

The final benefit or effect of the peace of God in your life is that it will provide you with real hope

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Romans 15:13

Only by allowing the peace of God to rule and reign in your heart and mind will you be able to experience the hope of God. The hope that you will experience is a joyful and peaceful hope that you can rely on because it comes from the Lord and he has not and never will, let you down.

How to maintain the peace of God

Now to the main subject of our Bible study, now that we know why we should want to allow the peace of God to rule in our lives, we will look at the 4 ways that the Apostle Paul told us that we could utilize in order to maintain that peace in our daily lives.

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4–7

Rejoice in the Lord

The first admonition that we receive from Paul in this passage, is that if we want the peace of God to rule in our lives if we want to maintain the peace of God in our daily lives, we need to start by rejoicing in the Lord.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 5:1–5

We generally have an attitude of murmuring and complaining, when we should have the attitude of rejoicing and thankfulness for everything that the Lord has done and has promised to do in the future.

• We should rejoice in the Lord because we have been justified
• We should rejoice in the Lord because of the grace that he has bestowed upon us
• We should rejoice in the Lord because of the love that he has freely given to us

If you will concentrate on the list of things above, it will help you to keep things in perspective and in rejoicing in the Lord, you will be maintaing the peace of God in your life.

Keep a level head

The next way to maintain the peace of God in your life is to exercise moderation in your life. If you will keep a level head and if you will keep your emotions in check, you will be able to forgive other people in the same way the Lord has forgiven you

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Colossians 3:12–13

Release your anxiety

The third aspect of maintaining the peace of God in your life is simply to make the decision that you will release your anxiety and trust the Lord with everything. Anxiety is fueled by worry, and it does not do any of us any good at all to sit around and worry about things. You will never fix an issue by worrying about it

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Joshua 1:8–9

When Paul tells us to be careful for nothing, he isn’t saying that we should never be careful, in other words, he is not saying that we shouldn’t look both ways before crossing the street. What he is telling us, is that we need to stop being so full of care, we need to stop worrying all of the time.

Instead of worrying about our problems or issues that we are experiencing we should follow the instructions found in the above passage:

• Meditate on the word of God
• Obey the word of God
• Remember you are no in this all alone

Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Isaiah 26:8–9

Daily prayer

The final element that we see in Philippians 4:6 is that we need to ensure that prayer is integrated into our daily lives

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Philippians 4:6

Replace worry with prayer. Prayer is just simply you communicating with the Lord, I have spoken to people and have heard them say things like, “I just don’t know how to pray”. Prayer is not complicated, it is simply a conversation, granted there should be certain aspects to your prayer such as reverence for the Lord, but essentially it is just you speaking directly with your creator.

Supplications are simply you petitioning God for specific needs and or requests, for yourself and also for others. In fact, I find that if I spend more time praying for other people than I do for myself, that my problems and circumstances don’t seem so large anymore. if you will follow this model:

• Rejoice in the Lord
• Keep a level head
• Release your anxiety and
• Daily prayer

The peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and has helped you to develop a closer relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.