“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ“

and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Each Christian has peace with God, but not all Christians have the peace of God. We churn inside because we do not see God’s sovereign hand upon our lives. We are so anxious and exercised about life that you would think God committed suicide. We do not say, “I am full of anxiety” because we know that that does not sound spiritual. We say, “I am exercised about this….” That sounds more spiritual, but it bypasses acceptance of God’s sovereign protection of our life.

To gain peace biblically, we must soak our minds with the Word of God and prayer. Biblical peace is the ability to sit down on the inside.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

“Be anxious 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 surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

We can tell God about our problems and thus have peace that He will handle them for our good.

The Holy Spirit produces peace in our lives when we allow Him to control our lives.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Principle:

Peace is the consequence of appropriating grace in our life.

Application:

Peace is the consequence of appropriating grace in our life. We cannot reverse this order. If we bypass grace, we cannot possibly have peace in our life.

We can have neither grace nor peace without accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we have a personal relationship with Him, we have His grace and thus His peace.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (1 Thessalonians 5:28).

Both the Father and Son are the source of grace. Christians must live their life based on grace. We cannot live the supernatural Christian life on our own resources. If we draw upon God’s resources, we will possess His peace. Grace and peace are a couplet. We cannot have one without the other.

Before anyone can become a Christian, they must believe in an irreducible minimum of the gospel. No unbeliever can have true peace without accepting Jesus as his Savior.

“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. ‘There is no peace,’ Says my God, ‘for the wicked’” (Isaiah 57:20-21)