Peace—or lack of it—colors our whole experience. The presence of peace can strengthen you through the most horrific and harrowing circumstances. A lack of peace can turn your best day to misery. We all want to know where to find peace, how to get it, and how to keep it. Peace may be important to everyone but hear us when we say that we understand that you too long for peace, maybe especially so.
Did you know that the Bible speaks authoritatively about the subject of peace? In the Bible we discover where peace comes from, how to get peace, how to stay at peace, and how to become increasingly peaceful people.
May we introduce you to some Bible verses about peace? If you peruse some famous Bible verses on peace, you will soon experience the power of God’s Word as you come to see the tremendous gift God offers you—the peace you seek that only he can give.
We want you to have peace and to be increasingly ruled by peace. We want this precious gift for you. And would you believe it? God offers it to you.
Where to Find Peace
Now, we have said that we want to show you Bible verses about peace. You might think,
Well, sure maybe the Bible is one way to find peace. But can’t peace come through sleep, mindfulness, breathing techniques, yoga, financial security, getting married, experiencing nature, therapy, and drugs?
No. No, it can’t.
Why?
All the above-mentioned things are part of this world, and they don’t last. True peace is supernatural. Super-natural. Peace is something beyond what’s natural. And no, that’s not an overstatement. Peace is not something that you can find in this world.
How do we know this? By experience, yes. But more importantly, we know this from God’s Word. Hear these two Bible verses about peace:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)
Then Jesus says in John’s Gospel:
Peace 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 14:27 NIV)
In the first verse, we learn that peace is something that God’s Spirit produces in us. It is the fruit of God’s Spirit—the outcome or effect of his presence working in us.
In the second verse, we learn that peace comes from Jesus himself, God’s Son: It is his gift to us. He also mentions that his peace is categorically different from the “peace” the world offers us.
Beyond these verses, we find several places in the Bible that refer to God as “the God of peace” (Romans 15:33; Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 14:33; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:9).
Peace, the Bible tells us, is supernatural. Its source is God. Peace is not the stuff of earth. It’s heavenly. We cannot find true peace in this world, for it is something that God must give to us.
Peace, the Bible tells us, is supernatural. Its source is God. Peace is not the stuff of earth. It’s heavenly. We cannot find true peace in this world, for it is something that God must give to us.
So how do we get this peace?
How to Receive God’s Peace
Peace costs us nothing but faith. God himself paid the high price for your peace; thus, peace is a gift to be received from him.
Have you ever wondered why we are all on the hunt for peace? Why don’t we have peace naturally? Why are we so afraid? Why are we so unsettled?
Our lack of peace is a symptom of our broken relationship with God. Deep down, every one of us knows that we are God’s enemies. We feel it in our spirit.
This is how the Bible describes us: “alienated from God” and “enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior” (Colossians 1:21 NIV). We think, act, live, and speak in ways that God declares evil, and we think poorly of God, hate him, ignore him, refuse to thank him, blaspheme him, and, in a host of other ways, make him our enemy in our minds (Romans 1:21). Thus, we are alienated from our Creator and live in the subconscious discomfort of “a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God” (Hebrews 10:27 NIV).
Friend, you will never have peace on earth if you don’t make peace with God, your Creator. God has pursued peace with you; the question is, how will you respond? Your peace with God is something he has totally provided for, not just because he wants your peace, but because he cherishes you as his creation. He loves you and wants a restored relationship with you.
How do we have peace with God, then?
We receive God’s peace when we receive salvation from God through Jesus. Jesus lived the perfect life we could not live, died the death we deserve for our sins, and rose again from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:2-5). He suffered and died for our sins that we might no longer live under God’s just condemnation for our sin (Romans 8:1). He died to give us peace with God (1 Peter 3:18)!
And all we have to do is trust Jesus—trust that he has done everything necessary to reconcile us to God, trust that his death and resurrection fully paid the penalty for our sins, trust in his love for us (John 3:16).
This is how the Bible assures us we can have peace with God:
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. (Romans 5:1 NLT)
Any experience of peace begins with peace with God, which is a gift from God that he freely offers to you. Have you received the peace with God offered to you in Jesus Christ? Receive it today!
Indestructible Peace
If we want peace, the first question we must ask is “Am I at peace with God?” Even if you don’t feel at peace with God, if you have trusted in Jesus, then you have peace with God. And it can never be taken away from you. This is God’s promise to you:
“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:10 NIV)
The peace we have with God is an objective peace, not a subjective peace; it’s a status change not a “sense” (John Knox, Life in Christ Jesus). If you have trusted in the Lord Jesus to forgive you of your sins and bring you to God, then you are now at peace with God for all eternity. You are no longer legally his enemy but his friend. You are no longer under his condemnation but his love. You need not be anxious over the ways you have failed him; he has fully atoned for your wrongdoing.
Whether you sense this or not, it is what’s true of you! You have an invincible peace with God through Jesus. God’s love for you will never cease. You are held by a love that is indestructible—in a relationship of peace that can never be annulled.
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:36-39 NIV)
The peace that Jesus Christ offers you at the price of his own life is indestructible. It can never be taken from you, despite the distress that may assault you in this life. If you receive the salvation Jesus offers you, then your peace with God is an objective reality fixed in heaven: You are no longer an enemy of God but his child because of what Christ has done for you.
How We Experience Peace
We may have peace with God and enjoy a reconciled relationship with him, but what about our everyday experience of peace?
To everyone who has faith in Jesus, God gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit—his own presence to dwell in them forever (John 14:17). The Holy Spirit produces peace in the lives of those who know Jesus.
God encourages us to ask for the Holy Spirit! We read in Luke’s Gospel, “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 NIV).
Once we have put our faith in Jesus, received his Holy Spirit, and now live at peace with God, then God will work in your life to increasingly help you experience his peace as his Spirit of peace lives in you.
Peace is a wonderful thing for you to ask God for, and it’s something God delights to give. Ask God to grow in you the fruit of peace!
Aside from securing our peace with God and then giving us his own Spirit of peace to dwell with us, God also counsels us how to grow in peace—to become increasingly peaceful people. Here are four ways that you can grow in peace.
Four Ways You Can Grow in Peace
1. Share Your Fears With God in Prayer
One way that God counsels us to grow in peace is through sharing all of our anxieties with him through prayer. Here’s how God counsels us in Philippians 4:6-7:
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)
God guards our hearts with his peace when we entrust our anxieties to him. You will grow in the peace of God the more you share your heart with the Lord in prayer.
2. Keep God’s Character in Mind
Another way God’s Word reveals that we will grow in peace is by learning more of who God is. We grow in peace as we remember God’s character.
Consider this promise in Isaiah:
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! (Isaiah 26:3 NLT)
As fearful and anxious thoughts cascade into our hearts, and situations send us into emotional tailspins, we have a place to fix our gaze and keep us steady—the good and gracious character of God. The more we think about the God who loves us—our good Father and our sovereign King—the less shaken we will be by the storms that threaten our peace.
3. Pursue Peace With Others
God desires that our lives would radiate his peace. Peace is not only something we passively receive; it’s also something we pursue!
Ponder how these verses call us to pursue the peace of God:
Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. (Ephesians 4:3 NLT)
Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. (1 Thessalonians 5:13 NIV)
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14 NIV)
Do you see how God is urging us in his Word to invest strength and energy in promoting, pursuing, and maintaining peace with other people? Make every effort to be at peace with the people in your life. This is God’s command, but it’s also his kind counsel to help you live a peaceful life.
4. Make a Habit of Repentance
Sin is what stole our peace to begin with and expelled peace from the human heart (Genesis 3:8-13). Sin still will threaten to breed anxiety in your heart even after you have put your faith in Jesus. For the rest of our lives, we will war with the presence of sin in our hearts.
We choose either to walk in obedience to what God has revealed to us in the Bible, letting God’s Spirit control our lives, or we walk according to our own sinful desires. Romans 8:6 says, “Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace” (NLT).
When we entertain, engage, and persist in sin, anxiety will follow. One of the surest ways to be at peace is to live with a clean conscience before God. This does not mean that you never sin. Rather, it means that when you do sin, you bring it immediately into the light of God’s presence—confessing it (agreeing with God about your wrong) and forsaking it, while asking and trusting God for the forgiveness and cleansing he promises you (1 John 1:8-9).
Psalm 85:8 warns us, “I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—but let them not turn to folly” (NIV). This verse assumes that turning to folly will negatively impact our peace.
And in Psalm 32, we read about the experience of a godly person who was hiding their sin. It caused them such distress that they finally confessed their sin to God. This person begins his reflection with “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven…in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1-2 ESV). To be forgiven and free of a burdened conscience is peace.
Friend if you want peace, settle your accounts with God quickly, always. When the Spirit convicts you of sin, run to God in repentance and faith, asking for his forgiveness and cleansing. Don’t persist in sin. Forsaking sin is a sure way to peace.
In this way, our relationship with God is like any other relationship. If you sin against your friend, that will breed relational tension, discord, and anxiety. Just like you would quickly pursue reconciliation with a friend whom you dearly love to enjoy the peace of your relationship, so we must pursue God when we realize we have sinned against him.
Do You Want Peace?
You want peace. Here’s the wonderful news the Bible announces to you—peace can be yours! First, it comes through faith in Jesus Christ, who gives you the ultimate peace your soul longs for—peace with God. Then, God plants the Peace-giver (the Holy Spirit) in your heart, making his home in you. God’s Spirit is the one who increasingly makes you a person ruled by his own peace instead of the anxieties of the world or your own heart. And finally, in his Word—the Bible—God holds out to you counsel for how to grow in peace for the rest of your days.
If you are not at peace with God, ask him for salvation today.
If you are at peace with God and want his peace to reign in your heart, ask for the Holy Spirit to do that mighty work in you today.
And if you are at peace with God and increasingly growing in his peace, ask God to show you where in your life you need to extend his peace to others.
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16 NIV)