This year is drawing to a close and many of us are thinking about our desires and goals for the New Year. By the time you read this, we may have already turned the calendar. With all the turmoil and instability in our nation and the world, most want more peace, joy, and confidence in the future. Is that even possible? If so, what can we do that can help us experience more of those things?

Peace or Turmoil?

We have probably all known people who seem to have a calmness about them even during tests, trials, and difficulties while others seem to experience turmoil even with minor upsets.

Certainly, some of us are more relaxed by nature and others of us are more excitable and given to extremes in our emotions. But no one is immune to struggles in this area. Yet, as Christians, neither our circumstances nor our temperaments should determine whether or not we have peace and joy.

So, what makes the difference?

All Kinds of Goals and Habits

All kinds of goals and habits can impact our state of mind.

For example, we should be good stewards of our physical bodies. Healthy eating and exercise habits are valuable.

There are, also, career and educational goals that cause us to make more time to study or update our skills. Doing so can help us have more job security and therefore more peace about the future.

We may have cleaning and organizing goals. Living in a well-organized home and work environment can help us have more peace and keep us from feeling overwhelmed. A well-kept home can also motivate us to show hospitality, an important biblical value.

But are there other goals and habits that may be even more directly related to our level of true peace, joy, and confidence?

True Peace, Joy & Confidence

What do I mean by true peace, joy, and confidence?

It’s not necessarily confidence in a strong economy. It’s the confidence that God will take care of those who belong to Him. He may not give us all we want but He promises to give us what we need (Phil. 4.19).

It’s not joy that’s based on our circumstances. It’s joy in our relationship with God and our willingness to trust and obey him because of it. The Apostle John said:

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (Jn. 14.15).

If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full (Jn. 15.10-11).

It’s not peace that we will always be treated well, that the right political group will be in power, or that the dangers in this world will be gone. It’s the peace that we can come to God with our hurts, needs, and worries and that He will be faithful to give us all the grace and strength we need to walk through our circumstances in a Christlike way (2 Cor. 10.13; Heb. 4.14-16).

Jesus said:

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt. 11.28-30).

That’s real peace and confidence. It’s rest for our souls. It comes from taking His yoke, His way of doing things. But notice His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Carrying around fear and worry, looking to the world or the government to fix things, that’s a heavy yoke.

So, let’s look at a few of those habits the Bible points us to as part of His yoke.

10 Habits that Can Lead to Peace, Joy & Confidence:

• Get Up Earlier

This can be challenging since many of us burn the candle at both ends. But we see this principle lived out in the life of Jesus. After a late night of ministering, Mark 1 tells us:

³⁵ And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Instead of hitting the snooze and staying in bed as long as we can (or the kids let us), getting up earlier than necessary can make all the difference in how the rest of the day goes.

Have a quiet cup of coffee, read a chapter in the Bible, and talk to God about your day.

• Read Your Bible

This is connected to the first, but worth emphasizing because the world is bombarding us with bad news, gloomy predictions, and wrong solutions … terribly wrong solutions. It’s no wonder there is such an increase in worry, anxiety, and suicide.

The only way to counteract those lies is with the truth. It’s hard to have peace and trust in someone you don’t know well. Get to know God better through His Word (Jn. 1.1, 14).

If you have never read the Bible regularly and even if you have, find a plan and follow it. You can follow me here or find another Bible reading plan. But have a plan. It won’t just happen.

• Go Deeper

Study the Bible. Read it in context. Look up keywords. Purchase a good Bible study and work through it alone, with a friend, or in a group setting. We should all read and study the Bible systematically. It can be limiting, even misleading, to only read isolated verses that seem to speak to our situation.

If you need a place to start, I did a study on Colossians a year or so ago. It’s free and you can access it at your own pace. If you’re interested, you can start here: Introduction to Colossians.

• Talk to God Daily

Talk to Him about your worries and concerns, thank Him for His blessings, and praise Him for His character. Don’t let this be something you merely talk about.

• Confess Your Sins

Don’t allow your heart and mind to be weighed down with guilt, fear, and anxiety because of unconfessed sin (1 Jn. 1.9). Confess them to God and when necessary to others (Matt. 5.23-24).

• Put Off Your Old Way of Responding & Put On God’s Principles

Follow confession with a decision to go God’s way from that day forward. There is a beautiful and practical principle in the Bible that teaches us to put off responding in certain ways and put on Biblical responses. In counseling, we call it God’s methodology for change. You can learn more about it here: Winning the Battle over Anxiety – Prayer, Put-Offs & Put-Ons.

You will fail at times. It may even feel as if you’re confessing and repenting and trying to go God’s way over and over but if you do it with the right heart attitude, change will come.

• Be Part of a Solid Bible-Believing Church

Biological families are important but even more important is being part of a spiritual family (Heb. 10.24-25). If you are not an active member of a good bible-believing and practicing church, you are hindering your walk with God and your spiritual growth. And you’re disobeying God (Heb. 10.24-24). It’s that simple and that important.

If you don’t believe me, meditate on the “one another” passages in the Bible. Here are just a few (Rom. 5.14; Gal. 5.13, 6.2; Eph. 5.19, 21; Col. 3.16; 1 Thess. 3.12; Heb. 3.13, 10.24-25; Jas. 5.16).

• Be a Disciple & a Discipler

No matter where you are in your walk with God, there is someone who can benefit from what you have learned. And each of us needs someone farther down the road of spiritual growth to help challenge us and hold us accountable (2 Tim. 2.1-2).

• Preach the Gospel to Yourself Regularly

Meditate on the gospel and all that it means. It’s more than a one-time thing. The gospel should impact us every day of our Christian life.

The more we come to know Him, the more we practice confession and repentance, and the more we understand who we are in Christ and His love for us, the more we can rest in His sovereign control of our lives.

• Fear the Right One

Knowing things are right between us and God leads to peace even when life is hard. But the reverse is also true, when we are not right with God, it’s impossible to have real peace and trust in Him.

Much of our fear and worry is the fear of man. What will people think? How will they respond? What should we do to get them to do what we want or not do what we dread?

Proverbs 29.25 says, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.”

And Jesus said, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” (Lk. 12.4-5)!

The fear of God is not a cowering fear. It’s reverential respect. If we have come to know Him as Lord and Savior, we no longer need to fear being cast into hell but we still need to remember that He is God and we are not.

So, let’s be like the Apostle Paul who said his goal was to please God in all things (2 Cor. 5.9).

Your Goals & Priorities

So, what habits do you want to cultivate in the coming year? Are your priorities God’s priorities? Why not take some time in prayer to commit to any of these habits that have been lacking in your life?

Get Ready for the Coming Year

The new year is upon us. By the time you read this, we may have already turned the calendar. What will you do to make Bible reading an ongoing habit in the coming year? And what will you read that can help you grow and change? I want to encourage you to set a goal to read through the Bible again or for the first time.

If you join me here, I’ll take you through a plan that covers both the Old and New Testaments in about 15 minutes a day. Sign up here for my daily email. It can serve as a gentle reminder to stay on track and I believe you’ll benefit from the additional background and application comments that I share. Why not start today?

You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. Just click on the social media icons. But nothing replaces having the daily devotion pop up in your inbox each day. It, usually (once in a while life gets in the way), goes out at 6 a.m. MST.

Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥

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