Peace with God

by Annie Yorty ©2022

In the Bible, Isaiah prophesies about Jesus, calling Him “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). The Jews looked for a Messiah who would bring peace to their nation. But Jesus came for a more eternal purpose than earthly peace. Through Him, we can receive peace with God.

Our Struggle

Sitting outside on my porch with a cup of tea, I watched in amusement as my neighbor’s son struggled to drag a heavy suitcase up the steep driveway into their house. They were unloading after their summer vacation. “Here, let me give you a hand,” his father offered. Steve, who dwarfed ten-year-old Bryson, could easily have carried the load.

“No, I can do this myself,” Bryson insisted. With a mighty heave, he lurched forward, only to stumble back a few steps under the shifting weight. After a long series of steps forward and backward, he finally muscled his load to the front door. I shook my head at the stubborn pride of a little boy wanting to prove his strength to his father.

This scenario reminds me of my own pigheaded response to sin for too many years of my life. I wrestled with my sin problem in self-reliance rather than depending on God. What did I hope to prove?

Do you long for peace with God?

Maybe you, too, are employing my useless solution and have grown weary. Will you admit you’re not up to the task? Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NKJV).

If you are depending on yourself to overcome your sins, the Bible says you’re an enemy of God (Romans 5:10). Your sin constantly battles against His holy perfection.

God provides a way out of this hopeless war. Below are three simple steps to peace with God. Each person makes a personal decision to either accept or reject this free gift of peace with God offered through His Son, Jesus.

You need not recite or pray any special words if you wish to lay down your burden of sin and receive peace with God. God searches and knows your heart. Nevertheless, I have added a sample prayer you may use to communicate your heart’s desire to receive Christ as your Savior.

Steps to Peace with God

Admit Your Sins

Every person inherits a sin nature from the first man, Adam. Even one sin condemns us to death and eternal punishment, so we are doomed. Prone to pride, we think we can fix our own problems, but God tells us we are helpless to save ourselves from sin. We need to humbly admit that, like a small child, we have sinned and are completely needy. We need a Savior.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23 NKJV).

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23 NKJV).

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9 NKJV).

Dear God, I have sinned against You and others. I am helpless to save myself from condemnation that I deserve. I need You to save me.

Believe in Jesus

God personally loves you because He created you. He sent His perfect Son, Jesus, to shed His blood and die on a cross as punishment for all the sins of every person who ever lived or will live. On the third day after His death, God raised Jesus from the dead. Because of His power over sin, He offers the grace of undeserved forgiveness to all who will believe that Jesus is God’s Son, depending on Him alone to save.

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31 NKJV).

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17 NKJV).

Dear God, by faith I believe that only your Son, Jesus, can save me from the curse and punishment of sin. I choose to turn away from my sin and trust in Jesus as my Savior for forgiveness that removes all guilt.

Confess Jesus as Your Lord

God does not save us from sin so we can continue living in its muck according to our own ways. With Jesus as our Lord, or authority, we surrender control to Him and choose to live according to His ways written in the Bible. We must publicly confess, or declare, our dependence and loyalty to Christ above all.

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9-10 NKJV).

Dear God, I declare Jesus is my Lord and Savior. With Your help, I will imitate His ways and unashamedly share my faith with others.

Next Steps

If you turned your heart away from sin and toward God through our Lord Jesus, you now have peace with God. You are no longer His enemy.

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God (Romans 5:11 NLT).

Even more incredibly, God adopts you into His spiritual family as a son or daughter.

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5 NKJV).

I rejoice that you’re now an eternal member of God’s family. Today, you came into the family as a baby, but God will help you to grow up spiritually. You can read more about activities to help you mature at Growing with God.

My Prayer for You

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might (Ephesians 1:18-20 NASB).

Join the conversation:

If you laid down your burden of sin today, please let me know in the comments or by using the contact form so I can pray for you.

If you confess Jesus as your Savior, how do you express your gratitude for peace with God?

I welcome your comments.

Congratulations to Timothy A. Pack for his book, Skacky–Adventures in Imagination.

The story of Skacky, the well-loved toy of a child with autism, reminds us that we all thrive in an atmosphere of love and belonging. Tim’s charmingly detailed illustrations capture the attention of children and adults alike. This book is a classic that you’ll want to pass down from generation to generation.