Peace within creates a presence you carry. When we are in a constant struggle within our mind and heart, our presence carries with it a countenance of sadness, depression, or anger.

The struggles that are causing a disruption in your peace, making your mind race and your belly hurt, are an indication that there is an enemy at work. The enemy is often your own thoughts. You wonder why you’ve been hurt. Why God allows pain. Or why our dreams have been shattered. And the list goes on.

Thinking and dwelling on these types of thoughts will only keep us focused on the outward enemies.

But there is a very real battle going on in our minds that we must pay attention to. We become our own worst critic and we feel like we can never measure up to our own expectations. In our chaos, we blame everyone around us. We point the finger in an attempt to soothe our aching souls but the truth is to overcome adverse circumstance, we must overcome ourselves. Otherwise, we will continue to hurt others. As the saying goes, “Hurting people hurt people.”

Peace within comes about when we stop blaming others and begin taking responsibility for our own actions and thoughts.

The enemy within will never be silenced until we conquer the blame game. For years, I blamed others for hurting me and it left me powerless to change. I wanted peace within but I was too busy blaming others and could not see my own actions. When I stopped blaming others and began to focus on my ability to overcome, the journey of peace began. I began to understand that I was my own worst enemy and, if I could conquer myself, I would have the power to conquer the forces on the outside.

Jesus said, “I have come to give you peace.”
He faced the ultimate test. And, because He had peace within, He could withstand anything that came against Him. He never blamed anyone from the cross but, instead, He forgave everyone that hurt Him.

When we have peace within, nothing that we face will be too difficult to go through.