Psalm 85:8 “I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.”
Mindfulness is a term that is fast becoming the new savvy-chic word for “peace”. It is defined as a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. This technique is used in meditation and yoga to help control our thoughts in order to obtain peace. It is the practice of not focusing or following a thought but allowing it to leave the mind as quickly as it arrived.
When we follow our thoughts, we can sometimes daydream into scary places, over thinking, and catastrophizing (assuming the worst). We can become irrationally anxious from our imaginations. But if we let them go, we find peace.
But ironically, during the technique of mindfulness, the mind must struggle to be at rest – the mind struggles against itself. Peace, on the other hand, is non striving because it doesn’t come from us, it comes from God. It is one of the fruits of the spirit that is promised to us through the Holy Spirit. The world has always attempted to possess the fruit of the Spirit and gifts of the kingdom (without going through Christ).
Peace without Jesus is temporary because its origin is temporary. We get a glimpse of peace when we use substitutes like mindfulness, alcohol, drugs, sex, and prescription drugs; but then we’re thrown back into chaos. God’s peace doesn’t end. I’m often surprised at the peace I have in very stressful situations. People have asked, “How can you not be freaking out right now?” Then, like Peter, If I look at my situation with my natural eyes I begin to sink. Peace works from the inside out; mindfulness works from the outside in – and is temporary.
God commands us to be obedient to Him. When we wonder off course, He can bring us back – as a nation or individually – overnight. Matthew 10:34 says, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, the One who brought peace to the earth. God’s peace is internal – as He takes a sword to what is evil.
true peace can only come from true justice~Terri
As we have seen with COVID-19, God can stop this world at the blink of an eye. He can defy time, gravity, space, logic, anyone or anything to fulfill His will. He has authority over everything to rock this world but give us peace in it while he works it out. God blankets us with peace and shields us with it as He works.
His peace also comes with the guarantee that if we follow Him, we will arrive on the other side of the trouble. There is a specific place for us on the other side of the turmoil, but we must follow the footsteps that He has already made for us to get there. He gives us peace through it, so we don’t give up and drown in it.
Real peace – from God – has purpose. It gives us hope, joy and rest all the way through to the other side – nonstop.
