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.
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Why Learn How To Have Peace of Mind Before You Need Peace?
Have you ever noticed that the when you need peace is not the moment you learn how to cultivate peace of mind? You need to have learned how to access the peace of God well before life hits you with hardship.
In this season of my life, I am broken. It feels like everything around that could go wrong has gone wrong. In the last four years, both of my parents have passed away and my husband left our family.
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: 7 Simple Steps to Prepare For Spiritual Warfare
Trials Require Grace & Peace
“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 struggles, God came in and covered me with His grace. Friends from church came around my family to help fill in the pieces that I just don’t have the strength left to cover. There was grace, but there was also peace.
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.
Well before the trials come we must be working out the spiritual muscles needed to develop a habit of peace. We will learn them today.
Related Post: Spiritual Fasting for Breakthrough: The Key to Awakening
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. Share on X
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.
Related Post: 40 Day Fast To Be Still and Know God More
A Battle for Peace
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 at first!
My thoughts spiral, leading to days of stress and anxiety that I can’t get under control. At one point in my life it was debilitating.
What’s worse, often my thoughts feed into my words which are far from peaceful. Those stress filled words hurt others or annoyed others, driving away friends when I needed them most.
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 Of A Lack of Peace of Mind
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).
Do you see that? My words come from my thoughts… many of the stressful situations that steal my peace of mind come from my thoughts and words.
Our words are red flags that can help us recognize thought patterns that are stealing our peace and creating unnecessary drama.
2.) Take Control of Your Thoughts To Learn Peace of Mind
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 and thought patterns, 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 and Take Every Thought Captive
There are real tools to help us get control of our thoughts. 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))
These are powerful promises!
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 you need.
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 castled fortress.
Put on your glorified imagination with me for a moment. There are hundreds of rooms in my mental castle because I think about so many different kinds of things. Picture lables on each door. Some of the rooms would be for:
- Homeschooling ideas
- Negative things people have said to me
- Bible study ideas
- Housework I need to do
- Praise music
- The Gilmore Girls
- Meal planning
- Disney soundtracks
- The Divergent books
- Budgeting
- The beach
- Romantic things I would love to do
- Writing 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
That is my plan and as silly as it sounds, it has worked for me for years. You have to make a plan to take every thought captive. At least for a while, in certain seasons, or it will be all theory and no results. 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 and in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in you.
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… of anxiety and insecurity, completely ineffective for the Kingdom of God!
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?
Great question!
God gives us the power to take captive any thoughts that do not obey Christ. Many 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:
Learn How To Have Peace of Mind To Prepare For The Trials?
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.
At the end of the study, you will have learned the skills needed to access the peace of God even in the midst of trials. These are the skills that are helping me through this current family crisis.
You can learn to train your minds for peace too.
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.
Follow the devotional series:
- True Thoughts
- Honorable Thoughts
- Just Thoughts
- Pure Thoughts
- Lovely Thoughts
- Thoughts of good repute
- Excellent Thoughts
- Thoughts worthy of praise
- Dwell on these things
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!