It feels like my whole life long I’ve been learning how to have peace of mind. It is a constant battle as anxiety, fear, pride, jealousy, and other sinful things crowd into my thoughts.
But over the years, I’ve learned 3 tricks to fight for the peace of mind I long for. I will share them with you today as I am reviewing them myself.
Why Learn How To Have Peace of Mind?
In this season of my life, I am broken. I just lost my mom to an unforeseen battle with cancer. For months we fought together, praying for a miracle. For months I poured out everything I had to love and honor her.
The battle, the day in and day out of caring for her… the reality of unmet needs, the grief in myself, my kids, and my husband… It feels like it all piled up and is crushing me.
My thoughts are… sad and morbid and irritable and selfish and hurting…
I need to be reminded how to have peace of mind in the midst of trials as much as anyone else.
Related Post: How To Deal With Stress In Your Christian Marriage & Fight For It!
Trials Use Up Grace
“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” (Proberbs 14:1 NIV)
In the midst of the struggle, the fight for mom’s life, God came in and covered me with His grace. Friends from church came around my family to help feed my kids while I fed my mom. My husband picked up a bit of the slack with housework. There was grace.
I lived on little sleep keeping up with my kids, our homeschool, my own health concerns, and my mom. Stress oozed out of me… but God’s grace covered me.
It is now, in the aftermath of all the trials and stress of those months that my thoughts are catching up to me. And it is not pretty.
In the trials, we don’t work at growing in faith and discipline. Rather, the trials are where we see how we have grown and matured in the season leading up to them.
Related Post: Spiritual Fasting for Breakthrough: The Key to Awakening
After the Trials
Now, I see that I left my thoughts unchecked too often. Fear crept in. Criticism crept in. Frustration sneaked through. The devil found some footholds.
Now, in the grief, in the feeling broken, I see where I left off some pieces of my armor. And now I see that I have to go back to the basics.
Peace of mind is important… Without it there is conflict. Without it, my sinful, prideful, selfish words… my words add more stress than we already have. Unnecessary stress!
I don’t want to be the cause of more stress in my life. Do you? So let’s learn how to fight against tearing our own houses down, shall we?!?!?!
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While learning how to have peace of mind in life we have to learn to walk that line. Discern when it is important to speak out versus when we need to pray more. Click To Tweet
What is Peace of Mind?
Before I share my tricks, my three steps of how to have peace of mind, let’s define peace of mind.
Please note that, as with every Christian idea, the enemy has created a counterfeit.
Merriam-Webster defines peace of mind as a feeling of being safe or protected.
You could also think of it as a mental state of calmness, or being free from worry, fear, and anxiety.
Biblical Peace of Mind
If the culture sees peace of mind as becoming free from worry mentally, what does the Bible say? Surprisingly, the Bible does NOT mention peace of mind.
Instead, Scripture talks a lot about the peace of God. A LOT!
Here is a perfect how to have peace of mind Bible verse to help us answer the question.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7 NASB)
What is the Peace of God?
We, as Believers, often search for a stress-free mindset. What we should be searching for is the peace of God. But what is that?
God’s Peace is about having a tranquil soul, a stillness of the soul. This doesn’t have to do with our circumstances, but with our faith.
When we place our faith in God – when we trust Him – it doesn’t matter what is happening in life all around us, we are at peace. That is how to have peace of mind Christian style!
The peace of God is a beautiful thing, but it requires a bit of work to live out consistently.
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A Balance
So there is this balance we have to walk as we become people who pursue peace. Why a balance? Because we are flawed sinful humans. Well, I’m a flawed sinful human, I won’t speak for you…
When stressful situations come into my life I react badly. Badly!
The worry inside wells up and I feel a desperate need to get my thoughts and feelings out there. I have to get things off my chest. And therein lies a choice.
A Piece of My Mind or Peace of Mind
I could choose to give people a piece of my or walk in peace of mind – the peace of God. What is the difference?
- A piece of my mind.
- This would keep stirring this pot of hate/division soup -solving nothing – not even really making me feel any better in the end.
- Claim the power God gives for peace of mind.
- Figuring out how to rest in Jesus’ “Peace that passes understanding” in the midst of the storm can help bring calm to everyone around in time.
While learning how to have peace of mind in life we have to learn to walk that line. Discern when it is important to speak out versus when we need to pray more.
How To Have Peace of Mind
So how do we do this for real? We want to learn how to find peace of mind and happiness no matter what is happening all around us. Right?
There are three things that help me walk daily in the peace of God – things I need to be reminded of often. That is peace of mind in a sentence – to walk daily in the peace of God!
- Recognize the red flags.
- Our words reveal our heart which is tied to our thoughts.
- Take control.
- You have control over your thoughts. Take them captive to obey God.
- Replace the wrong thoughts.
- Swap out your ungodly thoughts with Philippians 4:8 thoughts.
1.) Recognize the Red Flags
I don’t know about you, but I used to just think I was an anxious person. That’s just who I was, how I was born and there was no way to change it.
When I realized there were actually warning signs that stress was coming from within me I was blown away. Check out this piece of truth that hit me right between the eyes.
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth (my words) come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matthew 15:18-19 NASB).
My words come from my thoughts… and more than half the stressful situations that steal my peace of mind come from sin I couldn’t figure out how to stop.
My words are red flags that can help me give up stress and walk in peace!
2.) Take Control
My words, your words, mean something. They come from the heart even if you thought they were just flippant. And somehow our heart is tied to our thoughts.
So… if we can deal with our thoughts we can flip the script of what’s in our hearts. If our heart is clean and pure our words won’t cause added stress!
Pst: Want to know how to have peace of mind in a relationship? Godly thoughts lead to better communication which brings peace to any relationship!
We have to take control of our words and thoughts. But how?
Related Resource: 10 Simple Marriage Communication Exercises to Help You Reconnect Now
Examine Your Thoughts
So we know that our words begin in our thoughts. And we can see that stress often comes when our words are angry or overly emotional. We have to fix this and break the cycle.
First, let me say, we don’t just want to search out how to find peace of mind and happiness quotes! No. We need real, Biblically tools to walk in the peace of God daily. And God does not disappoint!
Take Every Thought Captive
There are real tools to help us get control of our minds. The Bible tells us to take every single thought captive. This isn’t some new age idea, it is Scriptural. I know this is a chunk of text, but it is powerful!
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NASB (emphasis mine))
Did you notice how powerful these promises are?
In this life, we will have stress and hardship. Count on it. If you are looking for a mental state free of stress… it would be devoid of reality.
But, in Christ and under the authority of the Holy Spirit, we have powerful weapons to fight back. You CAN, in HIS power take every thought captive which CAN bring in the peace of God. That is how to have peace of mind always – no matter what!
How To Take Control Over My Thoughts
Can I be super dorky with you? I am a visual person. Where 2 Corinthians 10 talks about destroying fortresses I literally imagine a fortress.
Well, maybe it’s more like a castle. There are lots of rooms in my mind castle because I think about lots of different kinds of things. Some of the rooms would be for:
- Homeschool ideas
- Negative things people have said to me
- Housework I need to do
- The Gilmore Girls
- Meal planning
- The Divergent books
- Budgeting
- The beach
- Romantic things I would love to do
- Writing ideas
- Bible study ideas
When a thought leads me down an angry path or a shameful path I imagine taking it out of that room in handcuffs. (Why does it have hands? IDK)
I push it down a chute in the wall that drops it into the dungeon… where I imagine it is punished or eaten by hungry hippos (maybe from the game and they got tired of marbles).
Stop Now And Make A Plan
Okay, listen, I am not being theoretical or hypothetical here. You have to make a plan to take every thought captive. At least for a while and in certain seasons. Feel free to copy my plan or make your own but do it today.
Why do you need a dorky plan?
The enemy is real. He watches you and every unchecked thought is an opportunity for him to get a foothold into your thoughts. Every foothold he gets into your thoughts can lead to more stress. More stress, unnecessary stress, robs you of the peace of God.
The Plan Starts and Ends With God
But let me be very honest with you. I can’t do this by myself. In fact, I wouldn’t even have the desire to do this on my own. Nope, this can only be done through Christ alone.
I fail every time in my flesh! Every time.
I start strong, not allowing anything negative or angering or sinful to stay in my thoughts. Then I remember what my friend said… it wasn’t meant to hurt me but it did. I analyze it. I let it play out and review every lie I’ve heard in the past that was like it. Then I am a mess…
Anybody else?
It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in me that I can intentionally guard my thoughts. That is how to have peace of mind with God – let the Holy Spirit empower you!
What Thoughts Should Be Taken Captive?
Okay, so God gives us the power to take captive any thoughts that do not obey Christ. Thoughts cause us stress. When the thoughts are left unchecked they come out of our mouths which causes more stress.
But what thoughts are to blame? Are we only allowed to think about the Bible and church things?
Scriptures give us a clear test for our thoughts. This one verse is literally how to win the battle for your mind!
“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8-9 NASB).
Take every thought to this list to see if it should stay or if it is robbing you of the peace of God in your life.
Any thought that does not line up with Philippians 4 needs to be taken captive and replaced with something that does line up.
3.) Replace Your Old Stressful Thoughts
After you take every negative thought captive and chuck them into the dungeon for hippo torture, you must replace them.
Why do you need to replace them? Because your mind will want to go rescue the thought from the hippos and think about it some more no matter what… Frustrating I know!
How Do You Replace The Old Thoughts?
Now, the how-to of replacing the stressful thoughts is not going to fit in this article. In fact, it will require at least 8 additional pieces – one for each whatever word! We are told what to think about…
Think about whatever is:
Other Questions About How to Have Peace of Mind
Before we wrap up this first piece on how to have peace of mind and heart I want to take a moment and answer some common questions.
- How can I get peace of mind?
- What is the key to peace of mind?
- What is peace of mind in daily life?
- How can I get mental peace at home?
How Can I Get Peace of Mind?
I know we talked about how peace of mind is a mental state where there is no stress in your thoughts, but we still want it. Even though we know stress is real and it surrounds us most days, we want stress-free life.
Some people go on vacation to find peace of mind. Others leave the city and live in the country.
Stress is everywhere you go, however, so we must shift. We must stop chasing mental peace in the way that means denying real life, and instead pursue the peace of God that passes understanding.
What is the Key to Peace of Mind?
The key to that kind of peace of mind, the kind that is allowing God’s peace to flood your heart and mind is simple. Trust God with all the things and keep your eyes fixed on Him instead of focusing on how big the problem is.
- Remember that God fights giants!
- Remember that God has never failed you.
- Tell your problem how big your God is.
What is Peace of Mind in Daily Life?
Peace of mind in daily life is about getting your thoughts right. Not just working through Philippians 4:8, but keeping your thoughts on God throughout the day.
“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.” (Isaiah 26:3 NASB)
I used to focus my time to find peace of mind quotes that kept me calm, but when I found Isaiah 26 I stopped. Peace of mind does not come from a quote, It comes from Jesus! Focus on Him!!!
How Can I Get Mental Peace at Home?
I almost feel like this question is worded wrong. Really, people are asking, “Can I get peace? Is peace possible for me, in my situation, with my past?”
Yes! The peace of God is possible for every single person who puts their trust in Jesus.
If you are searching for how to have peace of mind and heart, go back over the steps.
- Recognize the red flags.
- Take control of your thoughts.
- Replace the wrong thoughts.
Will You Keep Working Through How To Have Peace of Mind Today?
That’s a funny question huh? But, Ya’ll, walking daily in the peace of God is a process. Surprised? Everything in our faith walk is a process.
Learning how to have peace of mind – or the peace of God – is gonna take time and practice. You will have to be intentional.
Will you keep working through it? I challenge you to set aside the next 30 days to take every thought captive and see if peace doesn’t follow.
Join me to dig into the 8 words describing the way we should think.
Learn to train your minds for peace by examining your thoughts… before they come out of your mouth and add unnecessary stress which robs you of peace.
in HIS love,
Tiffany of Hope Joy in Christ inspires Christian Women to grow in faith, live out Biblical Marriage Principles and raise Godly Children. Join the Wives Only Facebook Group here or keep up with her through Pinterest.
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Hi this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted
to get guidance from someone with experience.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
honestly, I am the wrong person to ask. I am just learning. I use BlueHost and WordPress and they are super easy for a newbie like me.
I have battled anxiety, fear, and panic. I am a Christian, but the mind is a battlefield! Love reading your post. You definitely have a calling to this! Bless you!
Thanks Raquel. I am really enjoying the process of writing. Hope to connect with you soon!