It is not true, I found out! Because there was one thing I was missing with my degree and my job and my BMW. I was missing the peace of God. I got tired of being dependent on the world for peace.
When you're in the world system, you have to do what you don't want to do. You have to say what you don't want to say and go where you don't want to go. You have to act in ways you don't want to act and dress the way you don't want to dress.
Your entire happiness is dependent on doing things the way the world's system says they should be done, whether that makes you happy or not. And you find you can't trust people in the world, even when you try to play the political games they think you ought to play.
Unfortunately, unsaved people are capable of any evil. It doesn't matter how nice they seem to be, if they are unsaved, they are susceptible to being used by the devil.
A heart that has not been born-again is a heart that is still susceptible to wickedness. And I finally got tired of living with people like that. I got tired of "world" peace. I wanted the real peace, which comes only from the Word.
Word peace is not based on anything in the world or on any world system. Word peace is based on God and on what He said. Jesus said: "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" (John 14:27).
The force of peace is what I use to keep my heart from being troubled. The security in the midst of the storm is what I use to let not my heart be troubled. And besides that, I use peace to not be afraid.
"Word" peace will produce two benefits I can never get from "world" peace: a trouble-free heart and freedom from fear. If "Word" peace can produce for us hearts that are not troubled and hearts that aren't filled with fear, we certainly need to know how to get this kind of peace.
I know this peace has been made available to me because Jesus said He gave it to me. But how do I take hold of it? Isaiah 26:3 gives us a clue: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."
The key word here is stay. The one who is kept in peace is not one whose mind just visits once in a while but one whose mind stays. Stays on what? On the Word of God. God and His Word are the same (John 1:1). If I am going to be stayed on God, I must be stayed on His Word. You cannot separate God from His Word. So my mind has to be stayed, or fixed, on God's Word.
That sounds like meditation on God's Word, doesn't it? It sounds like a lifestyle of paying attention to God's Word. Do you see what your responsibility is in the process of acquiring peace? Peace comes from God's Word.
Therefore, in order to get peace, you have to get God's Word. No Word, no peace. No Word of God, no peace of God.
He'll keep you in perfect peace when your mind is stayed on the Word because he trusteth in thee.
If you're having trouble trusting God, the solution to your problem is to get established in His Word. When you get your mind stayed on the Word, you get your mind in a position where the Word of God is giving you peace and security. And when you have peace and security, you are in a position to overcome trouble.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers