How to Have Peace

　

There is a great quote by Joyce Meyer in which she says that there are too many angry Christians in this world. But how can Christians learn to be at peace? The Bible gives us many ways and methods to stay at peace with ourselves, God and others. The main key to peace is forgiveness.



Steps


The first key to having peace is to do as Jesus said, stop worrying. There is no point to worrying, unless you are actually coming up with a game plan to tackle something. If you are worrying for no reason, stop. Let go and let God. Don't try to control things that you really aren't able to control anyways. God is in control and you are not. He has the whole world in his hands, so we don't need to worry. As Jesus said, "Who of you by worrying can add a single day to your lives?" You can't. So it has no point.

Another big key to have peace is to stop caring what people think about you. People will always have their opinions. Don't worry about it. What you think about you (and what God thinks about you) is all that matters. You can never please everyone, so stop trying so hard to please people. Paul said in Galatians 1, "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ." Amen. You can't try to please both God and people. Generally you have to pick whether you are going to try to please God or the world. And as John said, "If anyone loves the world, the love of the father (God) is not in him." To try to please the world all the time is to love the world, so we need to be careful of this.

The next key to have peace is to forgive yourself, for anything and everything. This includes things you did as an adult and way back to things you have done since you were born. You can't change the past, so let it go and move on. You won't really have peace in general until you make peace with yourself. You need to generally like yourself and get along with yourself, because you will always be there. You can't get away from yourself. Wherever you go, there you are. :) So become your own friend, then you will have peace inside of yourself. God, the perfect and holy one, even gives you grace; so give yourself grace. You never have been and never will be perfect. So get over trying to be. Amen :)
Next, make peace with God. Confess what you need to and then forget about it. God says he will remove your sins as far as the east is from the west when you confess them and admit you were wrong. He puts them out of his mind and you should too. There is no sense beating yourself up over something that you can't change. Like the Serenity prayer says, "God help me accept the things I cannot change." Amen. :)

Finally, and this is very key, make peace with others. The only thing you can change about the past is the damage you may have done to relationships. You may need to make amends with some people and say sorry. Sometimes it feels like we have unfinished business if we leave something in a state of tension. Break the ice, admit you were wrong, and then you and the other person can let go of any bitterness and move on. Sometimes God won't let us rest with ourselves and be at peace unless we take care of certain things. The Bible says in Matthew 5, "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." Another good verse that is related to this is in Mark 11, "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions." So we need to forgive others and we need to ask for their forgiveness if we have done them wrong. When Jesus was asked how many times we have to forgive others He said 70 times 7, as in, countless times. Joyce Meyer says, "Do yourself a favor and forgive," because you will never truly have peace until you forgive everyone and anyone who has done you wrong. Amen.

Some random things that will help you to have peace: Don't do much. Don't overwork yourself. Take a Sabbath; one day a week to do nothing overly hard. Give yourself breaks. Get a massage. Go to the beach. Get outside and walk in the woods. If you don't live by woods, drive to some. :) Get a pet that will make you laugh. Always remember to have fun and find joy in life.

Lastly, don't do yoga to get peace. It is possibly occultic. It seems innocent, but it can open a door to Satan in your life. I know this from personal experience. Seek God for peace, not things of this world. Amen. :)