31 Ways To Know True & Lasting Peace

Perfect Peace | Hand Lettered Scripture Hope Ink

DAILY PEACE

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Isaiah 26:3

Everyone wants peace. Everyone hates anxiety.

Replacing anxiety with lasting peace is a wonderful and worthy goal.

However, it is important to realize that merely having more peace should not be the goal. Rather, our primary goal should be to change, grow, and conform more and more to God, His Word, and His ways. By doing these things, we will also have more peace, we will increasingly know true love, and we will be equipped to be more loving to those around us. However, if we get this backward, then we will become increasingly frustrated, if not hopeless, because of our lack of peace.

Unwanted, painful feelings are often God’s life-saving warnings to us. For example, they can alert us when something is wrong, as well as inform us when we are not living in God’s ways (e.g., the New Covenant). How we respond to these God-designed indicators and motivators determines much, if not most of our life experience—and our responses also help shape and sanctify our hearts.

Nevertheless, our tendency is to believe that what determines most of our life are the feelings themselves, our circumstances, and that which we do not control. As a result, we tend to not give the appropriate attention and value to our responses.

This failure, by itself, robs us of true hope, as well as the right solutions. This can also give us false hope, which eventually turns into hopelessness (e.g., depression), while keeping us entangled in anxiety. Ultimately, it keeps us from the good fruit we desire (peace, joy, love, freedom, security, salvation, blessings, growth, etc.).

As we know, God’s way of handling undesired feelings is to get rid of the cause of these feelings. This, at times, requires pulling down and destroying strongholds in our heart, and replacing this with grace and truth (2 Cor 10:3-5). Yet the overall solution often involves seeking, resting in, and growing in our dependency on God and His Word, His love, His grace, His power, and His promises (cp 2 Cor 1:8-9; 4:16-18; 12:7-10; Jn 15:1ff; 1 Pet 1:6-9; Jas 1:2-4; Rom 5:3-5; 1 Jn 4:16).

God, out of His perfect wisdom and love for us, has blessed us with many things that not only give us true peace, but also lessen or eliminate anxiety and depression. His solutions, however, are not quick fixes. They are not coping techniques, they are ways of life, and the way to abundant life. These are not merely things we do, they require deep changes in us—in our hearts, our thinking, how we believe, and how we live out God’s truths by faith in Him. All of these divine remedies are doable. None of them are “have to’s.” Instead, all of them are “get to’s”!

The goal is not to merely change our unwanted feelings. It is for us to change. The goal should be for us to become more and more as God intended us to be in our hearts and in our relationship with Him, all according to His grace, love, and Word of truth. The more this happens, the more love, peace, joy, and security we will know.

Keep your heart with all diligence,
for out of it spring the issues of life.
Proverbs 4:23

A simple way to cultivate true and lasting peace in your own heart is to focus on one of the following 31 Ways To Know True & Lasting Peace each day, corresponding to the day of the month you are in. For example, if today is the 22nd, dedicate your focus to 22: Cultivate Gratitude. Read and meditate (think long and deeply) on the corresponding Scriptures. The next day, concentrate on 23: Gain Eternal Perspective, and so on. When the calendar turns to the next month, you can start over with 1: Trust In God, and then focus on 2: Live In The New Covenant the next day, and so on. You can repeat month after month, enabling deep growth and lasting peace.

31 WAYS TO KNOW TRUE & LASTING PEACE (+ 1 Extra)

1 | TRUST IN GOD
Trusting God results in profound peace, joy, and security. Trust in God is the biggest factor in knowing true peace, and the struggle to trust God is likely the biggest factor in fear and anxiety.

Scripture: Psalms 18:28-33; 28:7-8; 32:10; 37:1-11; 56:3-4; 62:8; Proverbs 3:5-6; Isaiah 12:1-3; 26:3; Jeremiah 17:7-8; Matthew 6:25-34; Ephesians 1:12-13; Romans 15:13

2 | LIVE IN THE NEW COVENANT
Living by the New Covenant brings peace, while living in the Old Covenant produces the polar opposite. God’s way for us to relate to Him is not by being good enough—or by guilt, shame, condemnation, or fear—but through faith and by God’s power, grace, and love.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:5ff; Galatians 3ff; Romans 3ff; Hebrews 7ff

3 | DELIGHT AND BELIEVE IN GOD’S WORD
Delighting in, highly valuing, and truly trusting God’s written Word brings “great peace.” This also produces many other wonderful blessings, like hope, joy, strength, and security.

Scripture: Psalms 1:1-3; 18:30; 19:7-11; 119:47, 52, 97, 111, 165; Proverbs 4:20-23; Isaiah 48:18; Luke 6:46-49; Romans 15:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:3-4

4 | OBEY GOD’S WORD
Giving heed to and obeying God’s Word brings peace.

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:29; 6:24; 10:13; 28:1-2; Psalms 119:1-3; Proverbs 3:1-2; Isaiah 48:18; Jeremiah 7:23; John 14:15-27; 1 John 2:3-6; 3:21-24; 5:3-5

5 | ENTRUST CONCERNS
Truly entrusting specific concerns to God brings peace. We can have great joy, peace, and security when we gladly give our concerns to Him, and ourselves to Him, because we truly believe Him and His Word, and we want His way, His outcome, in His time, not ours.

Scripture: Psalms 37:5; 55:22; 1 Peter 5:6-7; 2 Timothy 1:12; 1 Peter 4:19

6 | CORRECT FOCUS
Focusing on the right things brings peace, while focusing on the wrong things produces worry, fear, regret, and hopelessness.

Scripture: Isaiah 26:3; Lamentations 3:19-21ff; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:1ff; Mark 4:19; Romans 8:5-6; Hebrews 12:1-3

7 | TAKE ACCURATE RESPONSIBILITY
Accurate personal responsibility brings peace, while taking on too much, or too little produces anxiety, guilt, “death,” and many other destructive things.

Scripture: Proverbs 28:13; Acts 15:8; Galatians 6:5; Luke 10:41; Romans 8:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:5ff; Galatians 3-5

8 | LOVE THE TRUTH
A love of the truth leads to true and profound peace (yet this may lead to discord with those in error, as we all are from time to time).

Scripture: Zechariah 8:19; Psalms 85:10; 119:45-58, 165; Malachi 2:6; Acts 17:11; 1 Corinthians 13:6; 2 John 1:4; 3 John 1:4; cp 2 Thessalonians 2:9-13

9 | WALK WITH GOD
Walking with and living according to the Spirit—and not the sinful nature—brings peace, as well as joy, love, and security.

Scripture: Romans 8:1-6; Galatians 5:16ff; Psalms 16:7-11; 23:4; 27:4-6; 63:5-8; 84:10; 94:19

10 | BELIEVE IN GOD’S SUFFICIENCY
Truly believing and trusting in the sufficiency in God—that we truly have all we need in God and His love—brings security, contentment, and peace. When we struggle here, we tend to develop harmful dependencies on the creation (the fear of man; addictions), rather than the Creator.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:5-6; 9:8; 12:9-10; Philippians 4:4-13, 19; 2 Peter 1:3-4; Psalms 23:1ff; cp Romans 1:25; Jeremiah 2:13; 17:5-8

11 | SEEK GOD IN PRAYER
Prayer and presenting our concerns and desires to God, while ultimately entrusting these to Him, brings peace.

Scripture: Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6-7; Colossians 4:2; 1 Peter 4:7; 5:7

12 | KNOW JESUS CHRIST
The true Jesus brings true peace. God Himself is our peace.

Scripture: John 14:26-28; 15:1ff; 16:33; Psalms 29:11; 62:5-8; 94:19; Ephesians 2:14-15; Philippians 3:7-9; Colossians 1:20; 3:15-16; 2 Thessalonians 3:16

13 | RELY ON THE RIGHT SOURCE
Relying on the right source for our “counsel,” wisdom, and truth brings peace; while also avoiding the wrong/worldly sources—which, in contrast, often produce false hope and pseudo-peace.

Scripture: Psalms 1:1-3; 18:30; 19:7-11; 25:4-5; Colossians 2:8; James 3:16-18; Jeremiah 2:13; 1 Corinthians 1:17ff; Galatians 5:22; 2 Timothy 3:15-4:5; 2 Peter 1:3-4

14 | SEEK RIGHTEOUSNESS
Righteousness brings peace. Getting right and being right with God—according to truth and grace—in multiple areas of life produces the fruit God intended. (Greek dikaiosynē: in a broad sense, the state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God).

Scripture: Isaiah 32:17; Psalms 37:37; 85:10; Hebrews 12:10-15; Romans 1:16-17; 14:17; James 3:18

15 | RESPOND RIGHTLY
Rightly responding to trials, uncertainties, difficulties and correction brings peace [e.g., responding well to unwanted painful feelings and experiences produces many desired things.]

Scripture: Hebrews 12:5-15; Romans 5:1-5; 2 Kings 22:19-20; Psalms 119:67, 71; 131; Proverbs 6:23; 10:17; 12:1; 13:8; 15:5, 10, 12, 31-32; 2 Corinthians 1:5-9; 4:16-18; 7:8-11; 12:7-10; 1 Peter 1:6-9; 2:23; Lamentations 3:17-24

16 | HOPE IN GOD
When we stop putting too much hope in those things that frequently fail and cannot satisfy us (i.e., the “creation;” immediate gratification; idols) and, instead, put our hope in that which always satisfies, strengthens, and blesses us, God, and others (i.e., God and His Word).

Scripture: Jeremiah 2:13; 17:5-9; Psalms 1:1-3; 19:7-11; 20:7; 119; Romans 1:25; 15:4, 13

17 | CONFESS SIN
Confessing sin brings peace. Of course, it must be a full, accurate, and contrite confession.

Scripture: Psalms 51; Psalms 32; Proverbs 28:13; Mark 1:4-5; Acts 19:18-20; James 5:16; 1 John 1:5-2:2

18 | GRANT FORGIVENESS
Truly forgiving the sin of others brings true peace and healing.

Scripture: Colossians 3:12-15; Ephesians 4:31-32; Luke 6:36; cp Matthew 6:14-15; 18:32-35; 1 Pet 3:8-11

19 | RECEIVE FORGIVENESS
Receiving God’s full forgiveness of our sin brings peace, hope, blessings, and salvation.

Scripture: Psalms 32:1ff; Proverbs 28:13; Luke 7:36-50; Acts 3:19; 26:18; Ephesians 1:6-8; 1 John 1:9

20 | PRACTICE REPENTANCE
Turning from sin—through godly sorrow—ultimately brings peace, as well as many other blessings, while worldly sorrow brings false hope, which ultimately produces hopelessness and “death.”

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 7:8-11; Acts 3:26; 14:15; 26:18; James 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:11; 1 Peter 3:11; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Is 55:6-7

21 | SEEK RECONCILIATION
Reconciling damaged or broken relationships brings peace. This must be done with grace and truth—including confession, forgiveness, and repentance.

Scripture: Matthew 5:23-24; 18:15-17; Colossians 3:12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

22 | CULTIVATE GRATITUDE
Gratitude brings peace. True peace comes from being genuinely thankful, not just about circumstances, but for God and all that transcends our circumstances.

Scripture: Psalms 100:1-5; 103:1-5; 106:1; Isaiah 55:12; Colossians 3:15-16; 4:2; Philippians 4:4, 6-7; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; cp Romans 1:21ff

23 | GAIN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
Maintaining an eternal perspective brings peace: focusing on and keeping God’s eternal ways and goals in mind. Remembering that this world is not our own, and our sufferings now are not comparable to our blessings we will experience for all eternity.

Scripture: Psalms 73:23-26; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:21; Colossians 3:1-4; Lamentations 3:21ff; Romans 8:18; 1 Peter 1:6-9; Hebrews 11

24 | LIVE IN GRACE
Living in God’s grace always gives us peace. Relationships founded on grace and truth also produces peace, as well as joy, love, and security.

Scripture: Galatians 3-5; Romans 1:7; 3-8; 5:20-21; 2 Corinthians 3-7; 9:8; 12:9-10; Colossians 1:3-6; 3:13-14; Titus 3:4-7; Hebrews 4:16

25 | PRACTICE DISCERNMENT
Not only does good and right judgment (discernment) brings peace and maturity, much of our life depends on our discernment. Discernment is not merely given to us, it is an essential blessing we must lovingly and faithfully practice (accurately distinguishing truth from error, true love from counterfeit love, hope from false hope, all according to Scripture, and living accordingly).

Scripture: Zechariah 8:16; Philippians 1:9-11; 1 Kings 3:9; Proverbs 3:13-18; Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22; Isaiah 59:8; Hebrews 5:12-14; John 7:24

26 | PURSUE THE GOOD
Pursuing the right things brings peace (1 Tim 6:11; Rom 2:10; 14:17, 19), as does being with the right people (2 Tim 2:22; Prov 13:20; cp Prov 22:24-25), learning how to handle difficult people (2 Tim 2:23-26; Matt 18:15-17; Prov 9:6-9), and knowing when and how to lessen or end relationships with harmful people (Prov 22:3, 10; Ti 3:10-11; Matt 7:6).

Scripture: See Above

27 | YIELD
Humbling ourselves and yielding to God and His Word (whatever is right and truly loving) ultimately brings peace. Stubbornness (not yielding) and resisting, neglecting, and living apart from God and God’s Word destroys peace and, ultimately, destroys us.

Scripture: 2 Kings 23:3; 2 Chronicles 30:8; 31:20-21; 36:13-16; Psalms 31:5; 32; 78:8; Colossians 3:15-16; Hebrews 12:9; James 4:6-7, 10; 1 Peter 5:6-7; cp Romans 10:2-4; Jeremiah 7:22-28

28 | FEAR THE LORD
Peace, wisdom, and other blessings come from the fear of the Lord (reverential trust in God; healthy hatred of evil, falsehood, of all that grieves God and hurts people).

Scripture: Psalms 25:12-13; 33:18-22; 34:8-9; 128:1; 147:11; Proverbs 9:10; 14:26-27; 19:23; Deuteronomy 6:24; cp. Psalms 36:1-4

29 | SEEK GOD’S WAYS
Desiring, trusting, and therefore living according to God’s ways, not in our ways, brings peace, protection, direction, and many blessings.

Scripture: Isaiah 55:8-9; Exodus 33:13; Psalms 18:30; 19:7-11; 25:4-5; 86:11-13; 119:1-3; 128:1; Deuteronomy 6:24-25; 30:15-20; cp Ecclesiastes 7:29; 6:16-19

30 | LIVE IN THE LIGHT
Living in the light brings life and peace. Remaining in darkness brings death (anxiety, false hope, and hopelessness).

Scripture: Luke 1:79; Proverbs 4:18-27; 6:23; Psalms 18:28; 19:8; 43:3-4; 119:105; Ephesians 5:6-13; 2 Peter 2:19; 1 John 1:5-2:2, 10; cp John 3:19-21

31 | PURSUE WISDOM
Having godly wisdom and living wisely gives joy and peace to us, and to others as well. On the other hand, foolishness brings stress, heartache, deception, destruction, and death.

Scripture: Proverbs 2:1-11; 3:13-18; 4:4-13; 8:21; 9:1-6, 10-12; 24:3-4; 1 Kings 5:12; James 3:17-18

AN EXTRA REFLECTION FOR EACH DAY
Being saved and reconciled with God is the single greatest thing that can happen to us. It is a reality and blessing that transcends everything else. In addition, this particular way to peace is worth frequently remembering and dwelling on.

+1 | WALK IN SALVATION THROUGH FAITH
We have salvation, peace, and peace with God—not by being good enough, or by living according to what we deserve—but through faith, by God’s abundant grace, and in Christ (what Jesus did for us on the cross). Reminding ourselves of this also brings peace.

Scripture: Luke 7:50; Acts 10:36; Romans 1:16-17; 3:21ff; 5:1; 6:23; 10:4; John 3:16; Psalms 51:12; Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 1:8-9

Having less anxiety and more peace is a goal. But the goal is growing closer to God and truly knowing and resting in His abundant love. By doing this, we change. Our hearts change. We get rid of what is hindering us, and we become more like He intended us to be. As a result, not only will we have less anxiety, depression, and insecurity, we will have more and more peace, joy, and security as we walk daily with Him in grace and in truth.

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT

When it comes to anxiety and hopelessness, and other unwanted things in life, is your tendency to seek quick fixes, or to dig down deep and change your inner being (Lk 6:46-49)? How will you now approach this differently?

Do you see the previous as a list of “have to’s,” or as things you “get to” do in order to grow and be blessed, and to potentially get rid of several unwanted things in your life (e.g., anxiety)? Why?