How to Keep Your Peace
by Drenda Keesee
What does peace look like for you?
There was a children’s book that came out years ago about Mrs. Large, an elephant mom, who just wants “five minutes’ peace” from her energetic elephant children.
For Mrs. Large, “peace” meant escaping ALONE to a warm bath with a newspaper, a cup of tea, some cake, and no interruptions.
In the end, she only managed to eek out three minutes and 45 seconds of the “peace” she was seeking.
Everyone’s definition of “peace” is different.
People look for…
…getaways and vacations, reaching certain points financially, traveling less for a job, traveling more for a job, living closer to family, living farther from family…the list is endless!
The world is hungry for peace.
But spending money and time searching for peace is useless.
Because peace doesn’t come from anything we can buy, or find, or achieve on the outside. Peace is a product of the inside.
Peace in the Hebrew, or “shalom” means wholeness, completeness, harmony, prosperity, welfare, security, and tranquility. It’s nothing missing and nothing broken. It’s freedom from the distresses that are experienced as a result of sin. Peace covers all of that.
Jesus came to give us true peace.
In John 14:27, He tells the disciples that He’s leaving, but He’s leaving His peace with them.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Can you imagine what the disciples were thinking?
He can’t leave! He calmed the storm when we were on the boat!
But He always knows how to calm our fears!
He helped us understand priorities and what life was about!
Every time we were afraid, He gave us courage!
He healed so many and raised them from the dead! We can’t be confident without Him around!
Do you remember when He told us how to pay our taxes? What are we going to do?
You and I would probably have reacted the same. After all, if you had one person to go to who had all of the answers for every situation you were in, who could calm your fears, and who could calm the storms in your life with just one word, how do you think you’d react if he said he was leaving you?
That’s why Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”Because the disciples WERE troubled and afraid!
Jesus was their peace. They didn’t know how to function without Him, or at least they thought they didn’t. But Jesus was trying to tell them that it wasn’t about Him. He was the Prince of Peace, but He had peace because of what He had on the inside—the Holy Spirit. And, He was saying, “My peace (Holy Spirit) I give you.”
The Holy Spirit is the One who counseled Jesus. Jesus walked by the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 10 tells us that Jesus was anointed by God. He was one with the Father and could hear His voice.
And, He was passing that on.
In John 14:26, He says,
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
God is the God of Peace because He’s the God of answers. He knows exactly how to handle every situation. The Bible calls Him a “Comforter.” To comfort doesn’t mean to pet, hug, and love on. What comforts you when you’re sick? Healing. What comforts you when you need money? Money. What comforts you when you need answers? Answers.
Now, I know life can be hard. It’s easy to lose sight of peace. That’s why the Bible tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus. The Holy Spirit will remind you of who you are, of your authority, that what the devil is trying to do shall not prosper, that your story isn’t finished yet, and that you’re going to end up winning in life.
When you believe Him, joy and peace will spring up in you.
The battle is already over. You DO have someone to go to who has every answer for every situation in your life, One who will calm your fears, calm the storms in your life with just one word, and who says He will never leave you or forsake you.
~Drenda
ps…Are you looking for a good church? Be sure and listen on Saturday evening or catch the 3 services on Sunday for Faith Life Church!
Drenda Keesee’s contagious zeal and humorous personal experiences help make her ministry of spiritual, emotional, and relational wholeness one that will bless your life and spark a new fire in your spirit.
A wife of over 30 years and a mother of five children, Drenda has ministered at churches, seminars, and conferences, and through the mediums of television and radio, for more than 20 years.
Her books, The New Vintage Family, Better Than You Think, and She Gets It are available wherever books are sold. In these heartfelt books, Drenda shares her personal journey and the life lessons that have brought her to where she is today, as well as practical answers that all people need to live a joyful life.
Drenda and her husband Gary founded Faith Life Now, a ministry designed to spread the message of freedom in the areas of finances, faith, marriage, and family. Tune in for their weekly messages here. Faith Life Now hosts conferences worldwide and sponsors both Fixing the Money Thing, which Drenda co-hosts with her husband Gary and Drenda.
Through their own life experiences, the Keesee’s have found the principles from God’s Word to be powerful and effective. At one point, Drenda was a young, suicidal feminist with no hope of ever being “good enough” for her own standards of perfection. She never wanted the “inconvenience” of a husband or children, and she was on her own path to success. But the stress of trying to achieve perfection and perform for love left her broken and used. She had success, but it was nothing compared to the pain and loneliness it had also brought.
That’s when God got a hold of her heart. It was there—at her lowest point—that she found the One who accepted and loved her, faults and all. Since that transformation, Drenda has had a passion to reach women who find themselves where she once was.
She married Gary after attending college, and there she found herself in a personal boot camp of sorts. She says, “I cried and told God, ‘I can do anything but be a wife and mother.’” She committed to learning how to do it God’s way. Through the many years of raising their children and struggling to make ends meet, Drenda learned from their mistakes. “I didn’t know how to be a wife and mother, but God saved our marriage, taught us how to parent our children for success, showed us how to have financial success, and then the irony of all ironies, He called us to ministry.” It’s truly because of these life experiences that Drenda can now share so many insightful principles for people who are now going through the same struggles.
