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Transcript:
Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today we explore the topic “Finding God’s Peace in the Chaos” as the next installment of our series, “Faith in the Grind.”.
No one seeks to have chaos in their life, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. We have deadlines at work. We have exams to study for in our schools. We have long commutes. We have noisy and busy households. When you add all these together, the ingredients are in place to create chaotic situations. While we don’t always have control over these elements in our lives, the good news is that we always have access to God’s peace. There is no amount of busyness or stress or chaos that can keep us separated from God. Often, we have difficulty remembering this in the midst of a challenging situation. The simple truth is that God is always with us, and God is always available to provide us with peace amidst the chaos.
Today, let’s explore ways that we can turn to peace that is like no other peace. God’s peace. Let’s learn ways that we can keep our mind, body and spirit and balance by making sure that we make time for God each day and make time to seek out and embrace the peace that only He can provide.
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Welcome back. Let’s continue in our discussion of ways to find God’s peace amidst the chaos in our lives.
Prayer
First and foremost, let us understand the importance of and power of prayer. One of the amazing things about prayer is that God hears every word of or prayer. We do not need to be in a particular place to pray. We can be doing just about anything and still pray, knowing God hears us. For example, we can ask God for patience if we are in the midst of a stressful situation at work. We can ask for calm when we feel our anger or temper brewing with our kids. I have been in a situation in the workplace where my manager was raising his voice to me in ways that were completely inappropriate and unprofessional. I recall very clearly that what I wanted to do was to yell back. Instead, I asked God to give me calm and peace, and He did.
You can call on God for calm as you deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic. You can call on God as you attend to the chorus of a crying infant, a ringing phone, and the doorbell all at once. My point is, we can call on God in prayer in any situation at any time, knowing that He will not only will hear our words, but He will also know exactly what to do to help us to find peace in the chaos of that moment.
Music
Another way we can find God’s peace is through music. Do you have favorite music that always brings you calm? What about worship music? We all have different interests and artistic preferences, but today I am focusing on worship music, because the very nature of this music is to bring you closer to God.
There are so many types of worship music. For me, I find instrumental worship music the most capable of bringing me closer to God’s peace. There are certain worship music tracks that I have listened to hundreds of times, and it always has the same impact on me: calming my spirit.
Do you have worship music that gives you peace and calm? I would recommend keeping that music on hand – be it on your smartphone phone or in your car. Have music that helps you feel closer to God accessible at all times. When you are feeling stress or angst, bathe your mind in the sounds that help you to remember your heavenly Father is with you.
Nature
God has created the earth and all of nature and the living things within it. Nature reveals God’s perfected design. It is all around us. For many, being immersed in nature is a surefire way to disconnect us from any stress or chaos in our lives.
I don’t know about you, but when I am in nature, I can’t help but find myself in awe of God’s creation. I have witnessed things in nature that I simply cannot comprehend the level of beauty and splendor.
Being in God’s creation, surrounded by nature, is another way of connecting with God and finding peace. I can recall being on a trail covered by trees and hearing the whisper of wind crossing the dozens of trees in a canopy overhead. The sounds of nature, be it wind across the trees or a rippling sound on the shore of a lake or the crash of the ocean waves, can have a profoundly calming effect on our body and mind.
When you are dealing with chaos in your world, I highly recommend finding time to get out of your world and spend some time in nature. God’s creation can have an amazing effect on peace and calm in your mind and your spirit.
Wrap Up
In today’s message, we explored ways to disrupt the chaos in our life with the peace that only God can provide. We learned that prayer is a direct line to God. Prayer is something we can do at any time and any place and should be at the top of our minds at all times – even when things are calm in our life. God is with us at all times and hears every word of our prayers, so let us remember that when we are dealing with strife, confusion or chaos, we can turn to God and ask Him to provide us with peace, calm, and whatever we need to navigate through the situation. We discussed the impact of music on finding God’s peace. Music, in particular worship music, is designed by nature to bring us closer to God. There are a multitude of forms of worship music, but the idea is the same with all – to help our mind go to a place where we feel closer to and connected with God. Knowing this, we should keep our favorite worship music tracks nearby. Lastly, we explored the idea of the power of nature. God’s creation is perfect. It is not only functional, but is full of wonder and splendor. In fact, nature is all around us–wherever – wherever we are in the world. When we find ourselves dealing with stress and chaos, a walk through nature may be just the thing needed to help us find calm and peace – God’s peace.
While we cannot always control the events occurring in our lives that cause stress and chaos, we can play a role in how we react to these situations. God’s peace is a type of peace that is beyond understanding. If your life has elements of chaos, be sure to consider what we have discussed today as tangible ways to make God’s peace part of your life each day.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: Find God’s Peace in the Chaos
