In this episode, we’re going to look at the secret to experiencing true peace and success in our lives. You know how tough life as a believer can be in our world today. We each have our difficult circumstances and tough challenges to face daily. God has some powerful words of wisdom for us that can provide the answers we need to achieve peace and success.
In scripture, I could point to many who discovered God’s secret to peace and success; just read Hebrews 11. But for what we’ll discuss here, please think of Joseph and Hannah. Though they lived centuries apart, they had similar experiences with God. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob. To his father, he was the favorite, but to his brothers, he was despised. And Hannah was the wife of a wealthy man named Elkanah. She was shamed by those close to her because she couldn’t give her husband a son or any children at all.
Like Joseph and Hannah, we face our haters and competitors in life. God’s secret to peace and success remains unchanged despite fear, doubt, financial struggles, addiction, or broken relationships. We’re going to reveal *four steps to God’s secret to peace and success in our lives from Proverbs 3:5-6 and 1 Peter 5:6-7. Then at the end, I’ll show you the outcome of Joseph and Hannah applying these four steps to their lives.
Let’s read Proverbs 3:5-6 and 1 Peter 5:6-7;
*Trust in the Lord – Lean Not on Your Understanding; One of the most fundamental secrets to finding peace and success is trust – trust in the Lord! Sometimes we try to figure things out on our own, but that’s not how it’s supposed to be. God wants us to lean on Him, not just our understanding. Imagine you’re lost in a dense forest. Who would you trust to find your way back to civilization, a skilled guide or your limited camping skills? That’s what God is to us; a skilled guide.
Why do we trust in ourselves and our understanding more than God? Because we want to be in control. We believe we can handle it. We want to make our own decisions. Eve is a great example of this kind of thinking, and how did that turn out for the rest of us?
Why does God want us to trust Him and lean on Him for understanding? A lot of reasons, but mostly to learn about Him and grow in our relationship with Him. The more we trust and go to him to seek understanding, the more we learn about who he is and how much he cares for us. We learn we can depend on him to always be there for us, which helps us trust him for more things. When we surrender control to God, we acknowledge His sovereignty and open ourselves to His blessings because we align with His plan. Trusting God isn’t about our weakness; it’s about recognizing our need for His strength and guidance in a world that, at times, can be very overwhelming. Trusting God and seeking understanding from Him is the first step in God’s secret to peace and success in our life.
The second step in God’s secret to peace and success is Casting Your Worries on Him; anxiety and fear can easily overwhelm us. But God doesn’t want us to be overwhelmed and burdened with stress. He wants us not just to remove that burden from our backs and place it on the ground but to give it to Him; Cast Your Worries on Him. If you try to walk away from your anxiety and fears, you’ll always know they’re lurking behind you, and you’ll continue to look over your shoulder. But by giving your worries to God, you’ll know He will relieve those fears.
Why do we receive relief when we give God our worries? Because the first thing you experience when you do this is the weight lifted from you. You can breathe again and feel the stress lift from your shoulders. By giving your worries to God, you surrender control to Him and recognize your limitations. You’re acknowledging your faith and trust in His love for you. You become relieved of the burden draining you of all your energy and happiness. The worries and anxieties have affected your decisions and clouded your judgments causing even more stress. By giving your burdens to God, you can now focus on the present and let the past and future care for themselves, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:34.
Casting our worries on God is a transformative act that leads to our peace and success. As we surrender control, recognize our limitations, and embrace faith and trust, we find relief and can focus on the present. God loves us and wants our relationship with him to grow, but he knows that a relationship can’t grow if you’re anxious and worried about what’s happening in your life. Giving Him your burdens is the second step to God’s secret to peace and success.
The third step to God’s secret of peace and success is Embracing Humility Under God’s Mighty Hand; Again, we’re encouraged to recognize God’s in control and that His power is at work in our lives. Embracing humility is powerful because it recognizes God’s divine nature and His purpose in all things. Humility acknowledges our limitations and, at the same time, lays aside our pride and ego.
We’re open to receiving God’s guidance and direction when we embrace humility. Humility allows us to listen to God’s voice as he leads us to peace and success in trusting His plan for our lives. In our pride, we think we know everything, but embracing humility before God, enables us to be taught by Him and be receptive to His corrections. Humility opens us to learning what the Spirit of God and others can contribute to our spiritual growth and relationship with Him.
In addition, when we embrace humility, it helps us see others through the eyes of compassion and empathy. With humility, we are better able to recognize we’re all flawed and in need of God’s grace, forgiveness, and mercy. This also helps us to overcome our pride and self-centeredness. Humility liberates us from the pursuit of self-glory and worldly achievements, which causes us to trust in ourselves and be anxious. In humility, we can find peace and success because our value isn’t based on achievements but on being a child loved by God through Christ. And as a child of God, humility helps us to nurture our unity and love for other believers. It helps us selflessly serve one another and build a supportive community of brothers and sisters. Embracing humility is the third step to God’s secret of peace and success.
The fourth step to God’s secret of peace and success is Seeking God’s Guidance and Direction; When we actively involve God in our decisions and plans, we position ourselves to receive his direction in His will for us. Why is this so crucial to God’s secret to peace and success in our life? Because as we’ve discussed in other episodes, God’s way isn’t our way, and God’s knowledge isn’t our knowledge. Our knowledge and wisdom are foolishness to God. By seeking guidance and direction from him, we can avoid many of the mistakes we make in our spiritual growth and relationship with Him.
Seeking God’s guidance and direction is God’s fourth secret to peace and success because it brings us clarity in our spiritual journey with Him. Despite our natural tendencies toward self-reliance, God wants us to come to Him for guidance because it shows we trust Him and lean on Him. It shows we are able to give Him our burdens and fears. And it shows our humility and recognition of His sovereignty and power over all things.
Proverbs 3:5-6 and 1 Peter 5:6-7 reveal the Four Steps of God’s secret to peace and success: Trusting in the Lord with all your heart, Casting your worries on Him, Embracing humility, and Seeking His guidance and direction.
Hannah and Joseph both had lives filled with ups and downs. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt. Hannah was ridiculed because she was barren and couldn’t give her husband a son. But despite their hardships, they trusted God with all their hearts and didn’t rely on their ingenuity to solve their problems but leaned on God.
When Joseph was falsely accused by a scorned woman and thrown into an Egyptian prison, and Hannah was demeaned for being an embarrassment to the community as an alcoholic, they both could have been crushed by the worry and stress, but they weren’t. They didn’t allow bitterness and despair to consume them. Instead, they cast their worries on God and remained faithful, trusting God had a plan for their lives.
Joseph went from slavery and a convicted criminal to second in command in Egypt. Hannah went from being a childless community spectacle to the mother of probably the greatest priest and seer of the Hebrew nation, second only maybe to Moses. But in their rises to prominence, they both were testaments to humility as they recognized God’s mighty hand, which changed their fortunes.
Joseph and Hannah sought God’s guidance and direction throughout their lives. They prayed to God to seek his will with every opportunity to rectify their situations.
Regardless of all their challenges and trials, Joseph and Hannah remained faithful and experienced God’s secret to peace and success in their lives. They show us that we can see the same outcome in our lives by consistently applying these four steps to God’s secret for peace and success. If we maintain unwavering faith in God’s plan, even during times of adversity, we can experience that surpassed human understanding and success beyond our imagination.
As I close this episode, I’d like us to remember these four steps in our daily lives. Whenever we face challenges, let’s trust Him more, cast our worries on Him, humble ourselves under His mighty hand, and eagerly seek His direction. May God’s secret to peace and success unfold in your life and mine and draw us closer to Him. Always remember, God’s got you; by His grace, he’ll never let you go.
If you have any questions or comments about this episode or anything else, you can email me at jim@sondaylife.com or comment on the notes for this episode on the website at https://sondaylife.com.
So until our next episode, may God bless you with His grace, guidance, and understanding always. Amen.
