In Pursuit of Peace: 21 Ways to Conquer Anxiety, Fear, and Discontentment by Joyce Meyer
Copyright © 2004 by Joyce Meyer
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE (AMP). THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE, OLD TESTAMENT, copyright © 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. THE AMPLIFIED NEW TESTAMENT, copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from THE LIVING BIBLE © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Warner Faith
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First eBook Edition: September 2004
ISBN: 978-0-7595-1248-1
Contents
Introduction
Part 1: Be at Peace with God
Peacekeeper #1: Trust the Lord of Peace
Peacekeeper #2: Make Peace Through a Surrendered Will
Peacekeeper #3: Know Your Enemy
Peacekeeper #4: Don’t Worry About the Future
Peacekeeper #5: Don’t Be Double-Minded
Peacekeeper #6: Stay Supernaturally Relaxed
Peacekeeper #7: Avoid Strife to Maintain Peace with God
Part 2: Be at Peace with Yourself
Peacekeeper #8: Stop Rushing
Peacekeeper #9: Accept Yourself
Peacekeeper #10: Focus on Your Unique Strengths
Peacekeeper #11: Keep Your Priorities in Order
Peacekeeper #12: Protect Your Health
Peacekeeper #13: Avoid Financial Pressure
Peacekeeper #14: Keep Your Thoughts Above Life’s Storms
Part 3: Be at Peace with Other
Peacekeeper #15: Esteem Others as Higher than Yourself
Peacekeeper #16: Adapt Yourself to the Needs of Others
Peacekeeper #17: Beware of Idle Talk
Peacekeeper #18: Establish Boundaries with People
Peacekeeper #19: Let Go of Offenses
Peacekeeper #20: Maintain a Quiet Inner Life
Peacekeeper #21: Aggressively Pursue Peace
About the Author
Other Books by Joyce Meyer
Don’t miss Joyce Meyer’s companion devotionals!
Introduction
The first forty years of my life, I lived without the blessing and benefit of peace; therefore, I can say from experience, life without peace is miserable. One cannot enjoy life without first having peace. Without it, we live in turmoil—always worried, anxious, and upset about something.
I came to a point in my life of being so hungry for peace that I was willing to make whatever changes were necessary in order to have it. As a result of that decision and the investment I made during the following years, I now enjoy a life of peace that often passes understanding. In other words, I enjoy peace during the storms of life, not just when the storms don’t exist. I am not saying that I have arrived at a state of perfection in my pursuit of peace, but I have made a lot of progress. As the apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:12, I have not arrived but I press on.
There were times in my life when I could be peaceful if everything was going my way, but since that seldom occurred, I rarely had peace. Now I have learned to change what I can change, accept what I cannot change, and regularly seek wisdom to know the difference. What I can do, I do with God’s help; what I cannot do I turn over to Him so He can work. This leaves me free to enjoy my life.
A life of frustration and struggle, a life without peace, is the result of trying to do something about something you cannot do anything about. The apostle Paul said, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV).
Once we realize we are struggling with something and feel upset, we need to start praying and immediately turn the situation over to God. You and I are not called to a life of frustration and struggle. Jesus came so we could have righteousness, peace, and joy (see Romans 14:17). He said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)” (John 10:10). The Word teaches us to “search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]” (1 Peter 3:11, italics mine).
Simply desiring peaceful relations is not enough. We’re to pursue peace with God, peace with ourselves, and peace with our fellow man. In this book, I will share with you many things within these three areas of relationships that needed to change in order for me to enjoy peace.
If you sincerely want a life of peace, you will need to be willing to change too. Peace does not just come; we have to pursue, crave, and go after it. Walking in peace must be a priority, or we will not make the effort needed to see it happen. I spent years praying for God to give me peace and finally realized He had already provided peace, but I had to appropriate it.
Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]” We will refer often to this verse throughout this study.
We can see that Jesus has already provided peace, so now we must take action and stop responding to unpleasant things by being upset. Being upset certainly does not change anything, but it does make us—as well as the people around us—miserable.
Jesus made the statement recorded in John 14:27 after His death and resurrection and prior to His ascension into heaven. There were many things He could have taught His disciples, but He chose to talk about peace. This fact alone reminds me of how important peace is. What a tragedy it would be if we spent our lives without peace when it was available all the time.
Some people don’t have peace with God because they are not born again and need to trust Jesus Christ to be their Savior. But some, even Christians, still lack peace because they have not responded to the leading of the Holy Spirit simply to do what is right. They don’t have peace because they are living in disobedience or they have built up a bad habit of worrying over the years. And some people don’t have peace because they are mad at God. Perhaps they prayed for something and it didn’t happen. Perhaps somebody else got what they wanted. Perhaps somebody they loved died, and they don’t understand why, or they were praying for a healing and didn’t get it.
There are many, many reasons why people don’t trust God, but in order to enjoy peace, we must learn to trust Him in all things. We must trust that God is totally and completely just, which means He always makes wrong things right if we continue to lean on Him. The Bible says we know “in part.” I believe God has an individual plan for everyone. God i
We always want God to change our circumstance, but He’s more interested in changing us than He is our situation. A lot of people have faith to ask God for deliverance from something, but they don’t have enough faith to take them through anything.
Job said, “Even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (see Job 13:15). If we’re asking God for something and don’t get it, then we have to believe God knows more than we do. We need to trust God beyond what we see and beyond what we know. We cannot have peace without that trust in God.
We tend to think that the persons with the greatest faith are the ones who get the miracles. I’m not really sure about that, myself. We make so much out of miracles when they happen. We think, Oh, what great faith they have! They got a miracle. But I think the ones with the greater faith are the ones who keep their peace even when they don’t get the miracles they wanted. I think the greater faith is in those who have to walk it out and decide to love God anyway. The people who don’t get everything they’re asking for, and who might not understand why, but yet continue to love and praise God, are truly trusting God. They stay in church, give their tithes and offerings, and stay full of peace. That is remarkable faith, in my opinion.
Thomas wanted proof that Jesus really had risen from the dead. He said he would not believe unless he could see in Jesus’ hands the marks made by the nails and actually put his fingers into the nail prints and put his hand into Jesus’ side. Jesus allowed Thomas to do so but told him that those who believed without having to see were blessed and happy and to be envied (see John 20:24-29).
We all would enjoy a miracle breakthrough every time we had a need, but we should have enough faith to stay the course if God chooses to take us on the long, hard route.
If you are ready to do whatever you need to do to enjoy a life of peace, this book is for you. I cannot promise that all your unpleasant circumstances will change, but I sincerely believe you can have and enjoy peace no matter what your circumstances are if you are willing to learn how to respond to people and situations the way Jesus did.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten you and grant you revelation as you press toward a life of peace. The book includes twenty-one ways you can do this. Even after you have completed the book, I suggest you read it often to remind yourself of the principles of peace. If you find you are slipping back into old ways (something we all do at times), go back over the principles and see where you have begun to backslide. I pray this will be one of those books you can use the rest of your life to help you maintain peace, which I believe is one of the most important benefits and blessings that God has given us.
Part 1
Be at Peace with God
Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
—THE APOSTLE PAUL, Romans 5:1
PEACEKEEPER #1
Trust the Lord of Peace
God wants us to enjoy life and see good days. In fact, God’s Word tells us to search for peace, and seek it eagerly (see 1 Peter 3:11). We are not to merely desire peaceful relations with God, with our fellow men, and with ourselves, but we are to pursue and go after peaceful relationships!
The first way to find peace is in learning to trust God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. We cannot have peace with God, others, or ourselves without His lordship in our lives. The Bible says that Jesus is our wisdom from God (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). His Word teaches us how to live properly. He doesn’t just give us wisdom—He is our wisdom. Through trusting the Prince of Peace and having a personal relationship with Him, we actually have indwelling wisdom from the Lord’s presence in us.
If we would get still long enough to let that wisdom rise and minister to our minds, we wouldn’t do so many foolish things. Too many times, we react through our emotions and we don’t pay any attention to the wisdom in our hearts. We tend to make decisions according to our thoughts rather than living by discernment and according to what the Holy Spirit is placing in our hearts. Consequently, we get ourselves in trouble.
I believe that Jesus is everything we need in any situation. He is sufficient to meet the need for every circumstance that we will ever face. So, we certainly must learn how to go to Jesus for much more than just salvation or a ticket into heaven. We need to take Him as our everything in life, including as our Prince of Peace.
JESUS GOVERNS OUR LIVES
Isaiah 9:6-7 says, “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father [of Eternity], Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end” (italics mine).
The government that is upon the shoulders of Jesus is not a political government; the verse is referring to the governing of our lives. We are not supposed to be running our own lives. In fact, we are not capable or qualified to run our own lives. Not one of us is intelligent enough to know what is best. That is why we should be thankful for God’s interference.
I like the promise that there will be no end to the increase of His government and peace. The more His government increases in my life (the more He governs my life, my thoughts, my conversations, my decisions, and my actions), the more peace I am going to have.
Peace doesn’t come from success and money and promotions and feeling good about everything in life. We find peace in the kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy within us. Being right with God, knowing we are right with God, and doing the right thing out of knowing who we are in Christ is a process, but it leads us to peace, and peace leads us to joy.
And if we don’t have righteousness, peace, and joy, then we are not enjoying the kingdom of God as we should. Sometimes we may need to take a vacation from all the other things we look for and instead seek the kingdom. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides” (italics mine).
We work and struggle and strive at “all these things,” such as food and clothing and position in society. But what we should be doing is searching out God’s kingdom; we should seek Jesus and His government in our lives. Colossians 1:10 says, “That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things.”
BE A DISCIPLE OF JESUS
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34 NIV). If we want to have peace, we have to stop following other voices; we must be God pleasers, not man pleasers, and we must choose to follow Jesus on a daily basis.
For many years, I was in a church that gave me a great foundation about salvation, but I never learned much past that. I had many problems in my life, but I wasn’t getting any victory over any of them. I certainly didn’t know how to pursue or go after peace. Satan distracted me by getting me involved with many activities that did not produce good fruit in my life.
I was not taught to study God’s Word myself, and because I didn’t know the Word of God, I wasn’t aware of the many deceptions that can grossly mislead people. For example, before I was in ministry I worked at an office where a coworker studied astrology. At the time, the things she talked about seemed to make sense (because I had no knowledge of God’s Word on this subject). She believed the position of the planets and stars directed her life. She said there were even optimum times to get a haircut to have the best results.
Today, advice is easy to obtain from psychics, tarot card readers, sorcer
To be a disciple of Jesus means to study His teaching, imitate His life, and correctly analyze the Word of Truth (see 2 Timothy 2:15). We will have God’s power to live our lives well if we devote our attention to God’s Word and allow Jesus to transform us by following the peace that He alone can give.
Peace is our inheritance from Jesus, but we have to choose to follow Him daily. Colossians 3:15 teaches us that peace is to be the “umpire” in our lives, settling every issue that needs a decision. To gain and maintain peace in our hearts, we may have to learn to say no to a few things.
For example, if we don’t feel peace about something, we should never go ahead and do it. And if we don’t have peace while we are doing something, then we shouldn’t expect to have peace after we have done it. Many people marry others they didn’t have peace about marrying, and then they wonder why they don’t have peace in their marriages. Many people buy expensive items they didn’t have peace about buying, then continue to lose their peace every month when they have to make payments on them.
I want to repeat the text I used previously because it is vital to living life well. Colossians 3:15 says to let the peace from Christ “rule (act as umpire continually)” in our hearts. The presence of peace helps us decide and settle with finality all questions that arise in our minds. If you let the Word have its home in your heart and mind, it will give you insight and intelligence and wisdom (see v. 16). You won’t have to wonder, Should I or shouldn’t I? I don’t know if it’s right. I don’t know what to do. If you are a disciple of Christ, He has called you to follow peace.