How to live in God’s Peace, Hope, and Promises
We live in such a complicated world that I love it when I discover simple truths and practices that change my life. The Bible encompasses God-breathed truths, but it is also over 1200 pages because it addresses every major part of life.
As a pastor and student of the Bible for over 4 decades, I’m always working to find the simple pillar principles and truths that God has built the rest of His commandments and instructions on.
God has set things up that most of His most fundamental truths are woven through Scripture using a variety of stories and concepts. It takes some effort to identify them, but it is well worth it.
They can literally change your life.
The most obvious is “The Great Commandment” to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. These two commandments form the foundation for all the other commandments. (Romans 14–15)
But there are other groupings of instruction that are easy to remember once we see them. And when they are easy to remember, they are much easier to practice.
Here is my understanding of the top three practices for all of us to live according to God’s plans and receive His peace, hope, and promises. These are three He emphasizes and wants us to learn that empower everything else in our walk with Him.
One of the most asked questions I get is this: “How to live in God’s Peace, Hope, and Promises”.
If you’re wondering how, the next few minutes will help you uncover some truth.
Make it stand out
1. Know Him.
It hit me one day that those Bible characters who most changed the world all had knowing God as their top priority.
Abraham was called “the friend of God.”
Moses, who saw the most spectacular miracles in the Bible, said his greatest desire was to know God. (Exodus 34)
King David said the greatest desire of his heart was to know God. (Psalm 27:4)
The Apostle Paul said that knowing God was his greatest longing. (Philippians 3).
According to Jesus, eternal life and knowing God are inseparable. Knowing God is eternal life.(John 17:3)
From the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) to the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven”, the Bible shouts to us that having a love-based relationship with God is the #1 key to everything in God’s kingdom.
As I think about that right now, it still overwhelms me that the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe wants to have a personal relationship with me. Wow, wow, wow!
That is one of the core messages of the Bible, especially the New Testament. God wants to be our Heavenly Father.
2. Receive From God.
This may sound selfish at first. But the truth is we have nothing to share with those around us unless we first receive it.
I can’t give love to someone if I don’t have love.
I can’t feed a hungry person if I don’t have food.
I can only help others if I’ve got something to give them.
God did not create us to be self-sustaining units. We need air to breathe. We need food and water to live.
And to live the way God designed us to live; we need to learn how to receive from Him consistently. God wants us to experience levels of life that can only happen through a living relationship with Him.
Jesus so often said things like, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He said, “I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the resurrection and the life.”
He said, He is the vine and we are the branches. Only when we stay in a living, abiding relationship with Him can we bear real fruit.
Jesus tied the way, truth, life, bread, light, and resurrection to Himself. Yes, the Bible teaches truths on how to experience those realities, but they are ALWAYS tied to the person of Jesus.
Learning to receive from God is the 2nd fundamental practice God wants us to learn and keep learning.
3. Give what we receive.
One of God’s most fundamental life laws is this, “Give and it will be given to you.” (Luke 6:38) If we give to others what God gives to us, then we will keep receiving more from God.
If we take what we receive from God and share it with others, that keeps the lifeline from God open. If we get selfish and keep what He shares with us, we shut down the flow.
We get fat spiritually, our spiritual arteries get clogged, and we have spiritual, mental, and emotional heart disease.
It’s been rightly said that if you are feeling depressed, one of the best things to do is to help someone else. So often, as we do that, we start feeling happier and energized.
As I write this, I’m battling a slight stomach bug. I don’t feel great physically. But as I’m writing these words, I am literally feeling better emotionally and physically.
This really is a “life-cycle.” We receive from God, share what He gives us with others, then God releases more to us.
Prioritize These 3
When I keep these 3 practices my priority and use them as a guide for my life, it’s amazing the sense of peace I feel and the levels of hope and joy that fill my soul.
Especially when life starts feeling overwhelming or your journey with God starts feeling heavy or confusing, I encourage you to step back and focus on just these three things.
Are you keeping your relationship with God, knowing Him, letting Him love you, and you loving Him back as your #1 priority?
Are you learning to receive God’s promises and blessings?
Are you sharing what He’s giving you with others?
Focusing on these three things has helped me and I trust they will help you as well.
My goal is to help busy believers experience God more deeply, grow consistently—both spiritually and personally—and confidently live out their unique purpose.