What does the Bible say about inner peace?

The peace of God (Phil. 4:7). This is circumstantial. By that we mean, peace in relation to our circumstances; and, wonderful to relate, it is God’s own peace which is ours in this connection. Peace with God is ours as the result of what Christ has done; the peace of God is ours as the result of what we do; as we read, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts (the seat of your affections) and minds (the seat of your thoughts) through Christ Jesus.” These are the terms for the enjoyment of the peace of God. Full of care for nothing; prayerful and thankful to God in everything. Peace with God is ours through faith, this through prayer and thanksgiving. The first is ours in regard to the putting away of our sins at the cross; the second is ours in regard to all circumstances, as we gratefully leave our cares with Him who gives us His own peace instead. Words cannot express the infinite grace and sweetness of this: it “passes all understanding.”

Not only are the will and the passions to be bridled and silenced, but anxieties also. We are in relationship with God; in all things He is our refuge; and events do not disturb Him. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows everything, He knows it beforehand; events shake neither His throne, nor His heart; they always accomplish His purposes. But to us He is love; we are through grace the objects of His tender care. He listens to us and bows down His ear to hear us. In all things therefore, instead of disquieting ourselves and weighing everything in our own hearts, we ought to present our requests to God with prayer, with supplication, with a heart that makes itself known (for we are human beings) but with the knowledge of the heart of God (for He loves us perfectly); so that, even while making our petition to Him, we can already give thanks, because we are sure of the answer of His grace, be it what it may; and it is our requests that we are to present to Him. Nor is it a cold commandment to find out His will and then come: we are to go with our requests. Hence it does not say, you will have what you ask; but God's peace will keep your hearts. This is trust; and His peace, the peace of God Himself, shall keep our hearts. It does not say that our hearts shall keep the peace of God; but, having cast our burden on Him whose peace nothing can disturb, His peace keeps our hearts. Our trouble is before Him, and the constant peace of the God of love, who takes charge of everything and knows all beforehand, quiets our disburdened hearts, and imparts to us the peace which is in Himself and which is above all understanding (or at least keeps our hearts by it), even as He Himself is above all the circumstances that can disquiet us, and above the poor human heart that is troubled by them. Oh, what grace! that even our anxieties are a means of our being filled with this marvellous peace, if we know how to bring them to God, and true He is. May we learn indeed how to maintain this intercourse with God and its reality, in order that we may converse with Him and understand His ways with believers!

But along with this we are given a seventh admonition: "with thanksgiving." Here is a most important preservative for our prayers. Even supplication is not to be demanding, but the expression of earnest desire for the will of God. A spirit of thanks. giving will keep us from the doubts and reasonings that are too often present when we are seeking something from God. Has He not met our real needs in the past? And are we not profoundly thankful for this? Thus quiet confidence as to the future is produced in the soul: "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Blessed result of true, lowly communion with God.

This is a very practical and experimental peace. "Peace with God" (Romans 5:1) is manifestly to be distinguished from this, for all the children of God, on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ, have peace with God by faith: it is their eternal possession immediately upon conversion. "The peace of God" rather is that tranquillity of soul that rests in the will of God: it is the same blessed peace seen in its perfection in all the path of the Lord Jesus. And such is a very real guard for the heart and mind, as the passage has been rightly translated, "shall garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Yet this infinitely strong protection and comfort can be enjoyed by the believer only as he acts truly upon the instruction of verse 6: this alone will give the calm, tranquil peace of a mind and heart resting in the blessed will of God. There is no real reason that this should not be the common experience of all saints: alas, that it is not more constantly so!

Verse 7. "The peace of God … shall keep your hearts." The peace of God is that peace in which God Himself is. We read, not that our hearts keep that peace, but that it keeps our hearts.

Not only are you to take everything to God in prayer, but before you leave your knees you are to thank God you have such an One as Himself to leave all with, and in the place of your cares is given to you His peace to keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus.

The simile brings a picture of peace to the vision, a wonderful and blessed peace; it speaks of restfulness of heart in a secure retreat. But it does not follow that this quietness of soul springs from external circumstances — these may be most adverse to our natural inclination and contrary to our every purpose. Yet in the midst of them the heart may be unruffled, as another scripture says: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee."

We have no word to say against natural fortitude, it is an admirable quality, but more is needed, even the knowledge of the Almighty God and confidence in Him. Those who know Him best will trust Him most and it is written, "Thou wilt keep him in PERFECT PEACE whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusted in Thee" (Isa. 26:3). This is true — "I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me." It has been the blessed experience of the servants of God in the storms of the past; it is being surely proved by many of them in the present distress, and it will still be proved until days of strife on earth end in universal peace under the righteous sceptre of Him whose right it is to rule.

Peace of mind (Rom. 8:6). This is spiritual, and results from the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. The mind of the Spirit is life and peace, but the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. If a true believer minds the things of the flesh, he has an experience which is the very opposite to what is called “life and peace.” The Holy Spirit dwells in us to lead us into the things of God, to fill our thoughts with the glories of our Lord Jesus Christ; and as the mind is occupied with and furnished by these things, peace of mind is ours. We prove in our spiritual experience the truth of that word, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee” (Isa. 26:3). To have the mind guided in the right direction is all-important in this connection.

Peace. — But yet another proof would He furnish, as He spake next of something which He would leave with them, and of something which He would give to them. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you: not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come to you. If ye loved Me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I" (27-28). We follow the Revised Version in the translation of verse 28. "Peace," He says, and then with emphasis, "My peace." Are these the same? We think not. Peace He could leave with them as the fruit of His atoning sacrifice, having made propitiation by His blood, which, when believed, and the individual justified by faith, gives peace with God, the whole question of acceptance on the ground of that sacrifice being acknowledged as settled, and settled for ever. But Christ's peace is a different matter. He never needed peace of conscience, based on the Divine acceptance of an atoning sacrifice. His peace is that which He enjoyed on earth as subject to His Father's will. This He gives His people to enjoy. He knew the value of it; He would have them prove it. So in Col. 3:15, when rightly read, we have the wish of the Apostle, as indeed we may say of the Spirit of God, thus expressed: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." Now that peace — peace in circumstances — is given to us to prove and to enjoy. It is ours. We have not to ask for it, and then wait for the answer. It is ours, a gift from Christ, to be known at the moment that it is needed. We see in Matt. 11:25-26, how perfectly satisfied the Lord could be, that His Father should work as He pleased. In proportion as we enter into that spirit shall we enjoy this gift. The peace of Christ! What can equal this? The world may offer much, and hold out a promise of peace. But in vain. Christ gives what is real and what is abiding. Pointed, then, is the exhortation, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (27).

There is a "counsel of peace" which belongs to us — an assured peace; peace indeed in the midst of present trouble, but still God's peace. If it were not God's peace, it would be good for nothing. I may, it is true, have my spirit much disturbed and know trial of heart, but still I have a title to perfect peace amidst it all, not only peace with God, but "the peace of God" to rule my heart in every trial. (Phil. 4:6, 7.)