Faith Filled Family Magazine August 2016 | Page 99

Peace
That Surpasses All
Understanding
By Remaliah Evans

I

n Isaiah 9:6 we see that
Jesus is the Prince of
Peace. The word peace
here encompasses completeness, soundness, welfare,
safety, prosperity, contentment,
and peace from war. Philippians
4:7 talks about the peace that
surpasses all understanding. In
this verse the word for peace is
defined as a state of tranquility, exception from the rage and
havoc from war, peace between
individuals, safety, prosperity,
and security.
We need peace in times of suffering, loss, and struggle and
when are prone to anxiety, worry,
and fear. Operating in fear leads
to fear-based decisions; these
decisions are illogical and lack
faith. Because fear is the focus,
we quickly lose faith and our
hearing becomes dull to God’s
word and His promises. The
more we rehearse the thoughts
of anxiety and worry, the louder
those thoughts become, and we
may even anticipate the worst

outcome.
Fear often leads to us trying to
fix the problem ourselves by borrowing money we cannot afford,
forming alliances with those we
know we should not be connected to, and embracing the
first quick fix to our problem
even though we know that the
quick fix is but a Band-Aid® that
ultimately worsens the situation.
Fear leads to restlessness and
self-medicating. We may exces-

sively exercise, abuse prescription drugs, overeat, use illegal
drugs, drink, work excessively,
or lose ourselves in endless
hours of Netflix® or videogames.
Therefore we must pray for
peace because peace is God’s
plan for us. He has not given us a
spirit of fear, but of power and of
love and of a sound mind. Peace
guards our hearts and our minds
from panic, stress, paranoia,
and striving. The peace of God