The peace of Jesus is not only available to you supernaturally, but naturally through your body and mind
Jesus tells us to receive His peace and not be afraid. Yet we struggle to understand how. This world is hard and it cripples us with fear. How do we find His peace when living through the hardships?
Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. A supernatural state that comes from God. The Greek word for peace used in this passage is eirēnēn, meaning tranquility or unity.
While the supernatural state of peace can only come from God, I believe we can find physical peace naturally.
God designed us in His image. He’s a triune God – Father, Son, Spirit. In our unique human way, we are triune humans – Body, Mind, Soul. While alive on this earth, we cannot live without one of these parts of us. The 3 are constantly working in tandem to keep us alive and thriving. In order for our triune selves to be at peace, all 3 parts need to be tranquil and unified.
This means our brains, bodies and souls need to feel safe, seen, heard and loved. That’s a hard ask in this cursed world. We see, feel and experience so much suffering, how do begin to achieve all of these needs in all 3 parts of ourselves?
We lean into the God who provides, and the science of how He made us.
God designed our brains to constantly be scanning the world around us. This helps them determine if we are safe or not.
When they perceive the world around us as safe, we are in the state of Rest and Digest (calm). When they perceive the world around us as dangerous, we are in the state of Fight or Flight (panic). You can read more about that here.
If we force our brains to focus on good things, like Jesus and all His glory, that’s what they’ll see. Good things. Safety. From there, they will shift our nervous systems into the state of Rest and Digest. Physiological peace.
If we stare directly at the storm, we sink. Our brains see bad, dangerous things. They shift our nervous systems into survival mode and we live in the state of Fight or Flight. Panic.
When Jesus tells us to receive His peace, He’s not just talking about supernatural peace.
Yes, that is part of it.
And, He’s teaching us about how he created our brains and bodies.
He’s informing us, that when we focus on Him, we will truly be at rest. He is the God who provides, protects, sees, hears, knows and loves us. When we know that, just thinking of Him brings that goodness, and safety, to our brains. That in turn, shifts our nervous systems into the state of Rest and Digest. Peace.
Jesus modeled this throughout His life. He took time alone to be with His Father in Heaven. He was constantly connecting to the Father to strengthen Him for the suffering ahead.
Yes, some of this was supernatural.
Some of this was also natural. He was human.
Jesus knew how His mind and body worked. He knew that if He focused on the One in charge, He could find peace naturally. With all the times He refused to use His supernatural powers, is this not another one of them?
We see Him working with the body He created, to overcome some of the evils of this earth.
We’re called to model ourselves after Him.
Let’s work with our bodies and brains like He did, overcoming the evil with our thoughts and emotions. Let’s use the science of mental health – how God designed us – to bring natural peace into our lives. And let’s do it all in the name of Jesus.
If you’re ready, you can find mental health techniques that will help you do that here.
Here’s to coming back to the state of peace and rest, the peace of Jesus and the woman God designed you to be.
You deserve that ♥
– L aura
