Q: How can I remain peaceful when everything in the world is unstable?

A. I can tell you right now that staying peaceful is not something we can do on our own.

When we look around the world, we see a lot of people who are mentally or emotionally destroyed because of the things going on in their lives, and in our flesh, we naturally want to respond just like these people. When we’re born again, however, that is not how things should be for us. Jesus took everything on Himself that would take our peace, and we can see all over the Bible that the Holy Spirit came to live inside us and that He brings His fruits, one of which is peace.

Philippians 4:7 describes this peace, saying, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

This is the peace and power that’s in you, friend. This is the Holy Spirit on the inside of you. In the original Greek language, this verse actually talks about the peace guarding our minds like an umpire in a game. In sports, the umpire says, “No, that wasn’t right. That play was wrong. You’re penalized.” Likewise, the peace of God in you says, “No, worry. You’re not coming in. No, fear. You’re not coming in.” It stands guard and calls the shots on the inside of you.

We can only have peace through God, friend, but there are some actions we can take to prepare our hearts and minds. With our own mouths, we have to give the job over to that umpire. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You [God] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

We can see here that when we make the choice to keep our minds on Him, God will keep us in perfect peace. Instead of letting your fearful mind tell you what to think, you can use your mouth to say, “Well, things are not going so good right now, but God has not given me a spirit of fear. He’s given me power. He’s given me love. He’s given me a sound mind.” When you start declaring that the peace, the Spirit within you is so stirred up, and peace starts saying, “No fear, you’re not allowed.”

There’s one more thing we can do to foster this peace in our lives, and that is to stop feeding on fearful things. If you want peace in your heart, you can’t meditate on things that are wrapped up in fear or confusion, because that will just lead your thoughts to fear and confusion. Instead, you’ve got to concentrate on what brings you peace, and I’ll give you a hint what that might be, friend, because one of the names of our savior is “Prince of Peace.” If you’re not sure what to focus on instead of your fear, just focus on the name of Jesus, because He is the only one who can give you true peace.