Learn to chill out when life heats up
Have you ever lost your car keys? You frantically search, knowing they should be exactly where you left them. And as soon as you realize they’re gone, you lose your peace.
I remember when Dave and I wanted to have extra keys made to our safety deposit box. Knowing he had the original key, I asked him for it. He said he didn’t know where it was.
Days passed. I contacted the bank and was told if we wanted to have a new key made, it would cost us $200. That reminded me: Dave had done this before. He’d also lost the key to a previous box, and we had to have that lock replaced.
On the fourth morning of searching for the key that I knew Dave had, the thought came to me: I wonder if I have that key. Dave came in just as I exited my closet with a safety deposit key dangling between my fingers. To top it all off, I also found the other key from the first box. Both were marked Safety Deposit Box.
The amazing thing was that we remained peaceful through all four days of searching. It wasn’t easy; but it is possible to live with peace no matter what the circumstance.
What causes us to lose our peace? Lots of things—running late, traffic jams, spilled coffee. That’s why it’s so important to “exercise” walking in peace every day. For example, you have to decide when to close your mouth and to not be easily offended. And you have to be OK with being wrong sometimes.
Psalm 34:14 says, “Depart from evil and do good; seek, inquire for, and crave peace and pursue (go after) it!” (The Amplified Bible). You can’t just sit back and wish for peace, wish the devil would leave you alone, or wish that people would do what you want. You have to make up your mind to crave peace.
There is a way to immediately increase your peace. For many years, even though I knew it was God’s plan that I have peace, I managed to stay upset all the time. God showed me that Satan sets us up to get upset. If I wanted to live in peace, I was going to have to do it on purpose. Several ways I approached life needed to change. I also received some important advice: Take a serious inventory of what you do, what you’re spending your time on and what you’re committed to do.
God never called us to be busy. He called us to be fruitful.
I encourage you to take an inventory of what you do throughout the day. You might be doing something God’s not asking you to do, or something He was asking you to do but isn’t anymore.
I once heard of a guard who watched over a certain plot of ground at Buckingham Palace in England. For 100 years, 24 hours a day, that plot of land had been guarded.
Finally, someone asked, “What are you guarding?” He didn’t know and simply said it had been under guard for 100 years.
It turned out that the queen had planted some rose bushes there and wanted to make sure they grew. Now, a century later, a guard stood where a rose bush once stood—guarding nothing.
Are there things you’re doing but you don’t know why you’re doing them anymore? Are you doing “stuff” that isn’t bearing fruit? Is busyness stealing your peace?
For God’s Word to bear fruit in our lives, it must be sown in a peaceful heart of someone who works for and makes peace. All believers have a responsibility to maintain a spirit of peace so God can spread His Word in and through them.
Are you looking for a breakthrough in your life but no matter how hard you try, it’s not coming? It’s more than likely because you are not living in peace.
So I urge you—crave peace, seek after it, and go for it with all your might!
Joyce Meyer is the author of more than 80 books, including Battlefield of the Mind and Eat the Cookie ... Buy the Shoes, and hosts the Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs. To read her past columns in Charisma, visit charismamag.com/meyer.
