How to Find Peace with God

Have you ever prayed for peace while your mind continued to race?

You’ve talked to God about the situation. You’ve asked Him to help you stop worrying. You may have even told yourself, I’m giving this to God. But an hour later, you’re thinking about it again. You’re replaying the conversation, wondering what someone meant, imagining what could happen next, or trying to figure out how you can fix something that may not even be within your control. I get it I have been there more times than I want to say. 

Meanwhile, you’re scrolling through social media, listening to other people’s opinions, checking your phone, watching the news, having conversations about the problem, and thinking about it over and over again. Then you wonder, Why can’t I find peace?

Maybe there’s another question we need to ask: Why am I giving this my attention to while I’m asking God for peace?

If we want to experience biblical peace in our everyday lives, we need to understand where peace comes from, what may be disturbing it, and how our quiet time with God can help us continually return our attention to the One who gives it.

When we think about peace, we often imagine the absence of problems. Everything is going well. The bills are paid. The relationship is good. The children are okay. Work isn’t stressful. Nobody is getting on our nerves. There are no unexpected phone calls or difficult decisions waiting for us.

In John 14:27, He tells His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.”

There’s an important distinction in that verse. Jesus says My peace. The peace He gives us is different from the peace the world offers.

The world’s version of peace is often circumstantial. We feel peaceful because nothing is wrong. Jesus offers a peace that can remain even when circumstances are unsettled. He makes that even clearer in John 16:33 when He tells His followers that they will experience trouble in this world, but they can have peace in God.

That changes the question from, How do I get everything in my life under control so I can finally have peace? to How do I remain connected to Jesus when everything around me isn’t peaceful?

We pay attention to what we feed our bodies. We talk about water, protein, vitamins, nutrients, calories, and ingredients. We understand that what we continually consume can affect how our bodies feel.

But how often do we consider what we’re feeding our spirits?

Think about how much information enters your mind during an ordinary day. Before you’ve even gotten out of bed, you may have checked email, read text messages, opened Instagram, watched a TikTok, read a headline, and seen several notifications.

Then the rest of the day begins.

There are conversations with coworkers, family members, friends, television shows, podcasts, music, social media posts, advertisements, news stories, group chats…. and, of course, our own thoughts.

None of those things are automatically bad. But all of them compete for something extremely valuable: our attention.

• What type of content have I been consuming most?
  

• Are the conversations around me constantly filled with fear, negativity, gossip, or comparison?

• Am I consuming more opinions about my situation than Scripture about my situation?

• What thoughts am I repeatedly allowing myself to rehearse?

• Am I spending time with Jesus, or am I only talking to Him once I become overwhelmed?

This isn’t about creating a legalistic list of what Christians can and cannot watch, read, or enjoy. It’s about becoming aware of what is influencing you.

Sometimes protecting our peace begins with paying attention to what we’re feeding our spirit.

Sometimes it isn’t the amount of information coming into our lives that disturbs our peace. It’s the one thing we keep replaying.

Our minds can rehearse a problem so many times that we repeatedly experience the emotional weight of something that only happened once—or something that hasn’t happened at all.

Philippians 4:8 gives us another way to direct our thinking by telling us to think about whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and worthy of praise.

One of the questions we can bring into our quiet time with God is: What is true about God in this situation?

I may not know what’s going to happen, but God is still faithful. I may not be able to control someone else’s decision, but I can decide where I place my trust. I may not have an answer today, but I can still trust the character of the One who does.

That’s also why Scripture memory can be so powerful in our everyday Christian lives.

Scripture memory isn’t just about being able to recite Bible verses. It gives us truth to return to when our thoughts begin moving toward fear. When you’ve spent time reading a Scripture, writing it down, praying through it, and keeping it where you can see it, that truth becomes easier to return to throughout your day.

Sometimes you don’t need ten new Scriptures.

 You need one Scripture you actually remember when life gets hard.

This question isn’t meant to create guilt. It’s meant to create awareness.

We can genuinely desire the peace of Jesus while rarely slowing down long enough to spend intentional time with Him. We can spend thirty minutes scrolling without thinking twice about it and then convince ourselves that we don’t have ten minutes for quiet time. We can ask five people what they think about our situation before opening our Bible. We can spend hours mentally rehearsing the problem and only a few minutes praying about it.

That’s exactly why our quiet time needs to work in our real lives.

You may not have an hour today, but perhaps you have ten minutes. Ten intentional minutes can become a place where you read one passage of Scripture, ask God what He wants you to see, pray honestly about what’s happening in your life, and choose one truth to carry with you.

And if you’re thinking, That sounds good, but I still don’t know where to start, that’s exactly why I created the Free Guide to Knowing Jesus.

The guide helps you begin spending intentional time learning who Jesus is through Scripture, and it includes six free digital Quiet Time Cards to give you a simple, guided way to get started. You don’t have to figure out the perfect Bible study routine first. You can begin with a Scripture, a little guidance, and the time you have available today.

Peace isn’t necessarily something we choose once and never have to revisit.

Sometimes you pray about something at 8:00 in the morning and have to surrender it again at 10:30. Then again after lunch. Then again when somebody sends a text that brings the entire situation back to your mind.

Philippians 4:6–7 tells us not to be anxious about anything but instead to bring our concerns to God through prayer and thanksgiving. The passage goes on to say that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 26:3 gives us another important connection: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

Notice how often peace is connected to where we place our minds and our trust.

When my thoughts wander toward fear, I can return them to what is true. When I begin rehearsing the problem again, I can bring it back to God. When anxiety begins building, I can pray instead of waiting until I’m completely overwhelmed.

A simple quiet-time rhythm for peace can look like this:

1. Read one passage. Slow down enough to notice what it reveals about God.
   

2. Pray honestly. Tell God what you’re actually worried about instead of trying to make the prayer sound good.

3. Choose one truth. Write down one truth from the passage that you want to remember.

4. Keep the Scripture visible. Use a Quiet Time or Scripture card, journal, phone note, or another visual reminder to support Scripture memory throughout your day.

5. Return to it when you need it. When the worry comes back, return to the truth instead of allowing your mind to automatically return to the fear.

We often wait too long.

We wait until we’re completely overwhelmed. We try to fix the problem ourselves. We run the situation through our minds a hundred times. We talk to everybody else. Then, once we’re mentally and emotionally exhausted, we finally say, God, I need You.

But what if we learned to turn to Him sooner?

You also don’t have to wait until you feel peaceful enough to have quiet time. You can come distracted, worried, frustrated, confused, or tired. The point of spending time with Jesus isn’t to get yourself together before you come to Him. The point is to come.

One of the reasons I created the Peace Quiet Time Cards was because I wanted quiet time to extend beyond the few minutes we spend sitting with our Bibles.

The Peace set gives you a guided place to begin with Scripture, reflection, prayer, and application. Instead of sitting down and wondering, “What am I supposed to study today?” You have a starting point that helps you open your Bible and intentionally engage with God.

But an important part of the quiet-time experience is what happens after you get up.

You can keep a Scripture where you’ll see it again during the day. Read it in the morning and return to it at lunch. Pray through it when you begin feeling overwhelmed. Use it for Scripture memory throughout the week. Let that one truth keep redirecting your attention toward God.

The Peace Quiet Time Cards aren’t meant to replace your Bible. They’re designed to help you open it, slow down, reflect on what you’re reading, talk to God about your real life, and take what you’re learning with you.

Because quiet time shouldn’t end when you close your Bible. What you learn in His presence is meant to go with you into your day.

Conclusion

If you’re still learning how to build a consistent quiet time with God, begin with my Free Guide to Knowing Jesus, which includes six free digital Quiet Time Cards to help you get started.

And when you’re ready to spend more focused time studying what Scripture teaches about peace, the Quiet Time Collection can guide you through Scripture, prayer, reflection, and practical application as you learn to continually turn your attention back to Jesus.

Because peace doesn’t begin when every problem disappears.

Peace begins when we learn to continually turn our attention back to the Prince of Peace.