Peace that Lasts

Going Beyond Anxiety

Ever caught yourself scrolling mindlessly through social media, binge-watching shows, or filling every moment with noise, just to avoid sitting in silence with your own thoughts?

If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Only God gives peace - not the temporary kind that comes from carefully curating your life, but the unshakeable kind that remains even when everything around you is falling apart.

When Your Coping Mechanisms Stop Working

"What is unshakeable peace and how can I attain it?" Pete began by acknowledging something we all know but rarely admit – that despite having access to every relaxation technique, mindfulness app, and self-care ritual imaginable, we don't seem to be becoming more peaceful as a society.

"We have access to every tool and technique that man's ever come up with. And yet we don't actually seem to be becoming a more peaceful people," Pete observed. "With all of the formulas and techniques that we've got, we only seem to be becoming more anxious."

Perhaps you've tried to find peace through distraction, avoidance, or carefully controlling your environment. Pete referenced German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote nearly 100 years ago: "We flee silence, we race from activity to avoid having to be alone with ourselves for even a moment, to avoid having to look at ourselves in the mirror."

These words feel eerily prophetic in our age of perpetual notifications and endless scrolling – as if Bonhoeffer somehow foresaw our smartphone-saturated world where, as author Tony Reinke puts it, we experience "a social reversal: the desire to be alone in public and never alone in seclusion."

A Different Kind of Peace

So what makes the peace Jesus offers different from what the world gives? At the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid" (John 14:27).

The distinction couldn't be more stark. As Pete explained, "The peace which the world offers is the peace of escape. The peace which comes from the avoidance of trouble and from refusing to face things."

By contrast, the biblical word for peace (shalom) "never means simply the absence of trouble. It means everything which makes for our highest good."

So while the world's version of peace depends on preferable circumstances – enough safety nets, buffers, and backup plans to keep trouble at bay – the peace Jesus offers comes in spite of our circumstances.

"Where the world's version of peace is something that comes from having desirable circumstances, the peace God gives comes in spite of our circumstances," Pete emphasised. This is exactly what Paul meant when he wrote in Philippians 4:7 about "the peace of God which surpasses all understanding."

During Conversation Street, Anna shared how she'd experienced this supernatural peace after experiencing her fourth pregnancy loss. "Even in the middle of what's such an awful situation and so sad and hopeless in the natural...I just felt like God's peace was all over you," a friend had told her later. "This situation isn't the one we wanted, but I'm at peace with the fact that God's bigger than this."

The Power of a Shift in Focus

Perhaps the most vivid illustration of true peace comes from the gospels, where we find the disciples in a boat during a violent storm. Mark 4:35-41 tells us that as waves crashed over the boat, threatening to sink it, Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the stern.

"The carpenter was asleep in the boat while the fishermen were panicking," Pete pointed out. "The guys with all the experience of being at sea, the ones with all the expertise, they're just flapping."

When they woke Jesus in panic, he simply stood, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still." Immediately, the wind ceased and there was great calm.

Real, unshakeable peace comes not from managing our circumstances but from knowing the One who rules the raging sea. As Psalm 89:8-9 declares, "O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord...You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them."

Pete also referenced the story of Peter walking on water, noting that "nothing at all had changed in Peter's experience from when he was walking on the water to when he started to sink. His surroundings and his circumstances were exactly the same...The only thing that was different was where he was choosing to look."

Dan shared during Conversation Street how this resonated with his experience running his own business, where income can be erratic. "Even when times are tough, times are hard, I pray that prayer and God has actively given me that peace. He said, 'Yeah, it's okay, Dan, you can just rest in the fact that I've got this.'"

The Three P's of Peace

So how do we access this supernatural peace? Pete offered a simple framework he called "the three P's of peace":

1. Peace Is a Person

Isaiah 9:6 prophesied that Jesus would be called the "Prince of Peace." True peace isn't found in a practice or technique, but in a relationship with the Prince of Peace himself.

"Peace doesn't come from a new practice. It comes from knowing a person," Pete emphasised. This is why Isaiah 26:3 promises, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."

2. Peace Is a Promise

When Jesus appeared to his disciples after the resurrection, his first words were, "Peace to you" (Luke 24:36). This wasn't just a casual greeting – it was the fulfillment of his promise, "My peace I give to you."

What makes this remarkable is that the disciples had all abandoned Jesus during his crucifixion. Yet here was Jesus, keeping his promise of peace to the very ones who had betrayed him, showing that his peace isn't dependent on our performance.

3. Peace Is a Position

Romans 5:1 tells us, "Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we now stand in a position of peace with God.

As Dan reflected during Conversation Street, "If we know Jesus, if we've asked him to come into our lives, asked him to change us, we're in that position that he has taken away that fear of being outside of God. So we can stand in that position of peace."

Finding Your Peace This Week

So how do we apply all this in our daily lives? Here are some practical takeaways from our conversation:

1. Shift your focus : When anxiety rises, consciously redirect your attention from your stormy circumstances to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

2. Worship : Andy shared in the comments that "worship or listening to praise music really helps him." As Anna noted, "Whenever I put on Christian music, it brings me right into that sense of the presence of God."

3. Pray with thanksgiving : Following Paul's advice in Philippians 4:6-7, bring your requests to God with thanksgiving, allowing his peace that surpasses understanding to guard your heart and mind.

4. Remember your position : You have peace with God through Christ. Stand confidently in that position, knowing that nothing can separate you from his love.

The command "do not be afraid" appears throughout Scripture. As Dan observed, "If God hadn't given us that assurance of peace, then that would be a horrible commandment because you'd be asking us to do something that's impossible."

But the good news is that he has made it possible – not through our own efforts or techniques, but through the peace that only Jesus, the Prince of Peace, can give.