God's Peace Is Not What You Think It Is — And Once You Have It, You'll Fight to Keep It

I had no idea peace could feel like something you own until I started actually living in it.

Before then, I thought peace was the absence of problems. Like, peace was what happened when everything was calm, nobody was stressing you out, the bills were paid, and nobody needed anything from you for five minutes. That kind of peace comes and goes based on what’s happening around you. It’s weather-dependent. The moment a storm hits, it’s gone.

Then I encountered John 14:27.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Two things stopped me here. First: “my peace.” Not peace in general. Jesus’s specific peace. A peace that belongs to Him that He is handing over to us.

Second: “I do not give it to you as the world gives.” The world’s peace is conditional. It’s situational. It’s dependent on everything outside of you cooperating. God’s peace is something else entirely. It doesn’t come from circumstances being right. It comes from knowing who is in charge of your circumstances.

And here’s what I know from personal experience: once you have lived in that peace, you become very protective of it.

I’ve been in seasons where I let things steal it. I allowed things — people, situations, fears — to reach in and take the peace that was mine. And when I lost it, I did everything in my power to get it back. Because once you know what it feels like to live without anxiety as your constant background noise, you don’t want to go back.

The call to action that came with this verse was honest and a little uncomfortable: imagine a box in front of you. What thoughts would you put in it? What patterns keep showing up? What makes you feel afraid?

I did the exercise. And what came up for me was avoidance. I hate taking tests. I hate interviewing. I hate conflict. I hate confrontation. So I’ve built patterns around avoiding all of it. Avoiding the situations. Avoiding the people who might put me in those situations.

That’s not peace. That’s management. That’s a coping strategy dressed up as calm.

Real peace means you can face the test, the interview, the difficult conversation — not because it’s comfortable, but because the God who gave you His peace is with you in it. “Do not let your heart be troubled” isn’t telling us that nothing hard is going to happen. It’s telling us we don’t have to receive trouble in our hearts. We don’t have to host it.

So the prayer I’ll take into today is this: God, show me the difference between the peace I’ve found in avoidance and the peace you’re offering. And give me the courage to want yours more than mine.

Because His peace isn’t just better. It’s the only kind that holds.

Peace, Love and Joy always — Infinite Faith and Favor | InfiniteFaithandFavor.com