God's Word on Peace

Psalm 4:8:

⁸ I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 29:11:

¹¹ The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.

Psalm 37:4:

⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:11:

¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy great peace.

Proverbs 3:24:

²⁴ when you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Proverbs 17:1:

¹ Better a dry crust with peace and quiet
than a house full of feasting, ^[a] with strife.

Proverbs 17:14:

¹⁴ Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

Proverbs 20:3:

³ It is to a man's honor to avoid strife,
but every fool is quick to quarrel.

Ecclesiastes 4:6:

⁶ Better one handful with tranquillity
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.

Isaiah 9:6:

⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, ^[a] Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 26:3:

³ You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.

Isaiah 26:12:

¹² LORD, you establish peace for us;
all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

Isaiah 32:17-18:

¹⁷ The fruit of righteousness will be peace;
the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

¹⁸ My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.

Matthew 5:9:

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.

John 14:27:

²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 16:33:

³³"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Romans 14:19:

¹⁹Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

1 Corinthians 14:33:

³³For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

Galatians 5:22:

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Philippians 4:7

⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:15:

¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

1 Thessalonians 5:13:

¹³Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.

James 3:17-18:

¹⁷But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Living as if You Were Dead

Romans 6:11 -In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

What are the things that arouse the strongest emotions in you? Perhaps it is a rude motorist who cuts you off in traffic. Perhaps it is the anger you feel when you are wrongfully accused. Perhaps it is frustration that results from not having enough money to meet perceived needs. When do emotions turn into sin?

Whenever our peace is upset over events and circumstances in life, we have moved past emotions into sin. Sin says that circumstances of life now dictate anxiety, worry, fear, or anger. Consider the attributes of a dead man. He does not get angry when slandered. He does not worry about the future. He does not fear what can be done to him. Why? Because he is dead. Nothing can harm a dead man.

Christ said we are to live as if we are dead -- dead to the temptation of responding to stimuli in our life that are designed to stir up the sinful nature that resides in each of us. We do not have to respond to that nature; we can consider it dead. Christ said He is enough. When He is our all in all, nothing can move us. If we are moved, then Christ is not our all in all.

Making God's Priority Your Priority

Bayless Conley

It has been said that it is a wise man or woman who lives life by “majoring on the majors” instead of “majoring on the minors.” But to do that, you and I must be able to figure out what things in life are major, what things are truly important, and what things are trivial or nonessential.

One way to discover what is “major” is to find out what is important to God, to determine what it is that He attaches special significance to. And in Scripture, He does give us a clue.

There is a phrase that comes up over and over again in the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, that lets us know when God is saying, “Hey, what’s coming up is especially important.”

It is the phrase take heed.

Whenever we find this phrase, we’ve come upon something that God considers especially vital. For example, in Hebrews 2:1 it says:

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”

The word heed in the verse above is the same Greek word translated “take heed” elsewhere in the Bible. What the writer of Hebrews is telling us is that you and I need to give our undivided attention to the things that we have heard “lest we drift away.”

And what are the “things we have heard”? God’s Word! God wants you and I to realize how incredibly important it is for us to stay focused on what we have learned from the Scriptures!

But the verse above is actually stronger than that. The word earnest literally means “superabundant, excessive, and frequent.” You and I need to give superabundant, excessive, and frequent heed to the Word of God which we have heard. Why? Lest we drift away!

There are many good men and women who have run their lives aground on the rocks of sin by not giving attention to God’s Word. And it wasn’t because they overtly turned away from God, but because they began to drift.

That’s why the writer of Hebrews emphasizes how vital it is for you and me to pay attention to what God says in His Word. He says to give superabundant, excessive, and frequent heed “to the things we have heard.”

The obvious question you need to ask yourself is this: Am I taking God’s Word for granted, or am I taking it seriously and giving heed to it?

Many of God’s people don’t realize the treasure they have in God’s powerful Word. They get washed in the blood of the Lamb, they know they’re going to heaven, but they begin to allow dust to collect on the cover of their Bible.

And then they wonder why their life isn’t what it should be and why their Christian walk is empty. My friend, the Bible tells you who you are in Christ, it tells you what you have in Christ, it tells you what you can do, and it tells you what God has done for you.

The Word of God is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified. It is bread for your spirit and water for your soul! So it’s my prayer that you will make God’s Word the priority God desires for it to be in your life???starting today!

Answers with Bayless Conley broadcasts practical teachings of the Bible to its viewers in a non-religious way. For years, Bayless Conley struggled with drugs and alcohol while searching for answers. It was not until he was more than 20 years of age that a 12-year-old boy showed him the powerful reality of a relationship with Christ. Since 1979, the Lord has opened the television airwaves to the Answers program, which currently airs each week in more than 100 nations around the world.