Pure heart – Hope for Complete Healing

Ten Ways to Live in Peace to Maintain Mental Health

Are there people who make you miserable? Do you have a hard time living in peace with family members, co-workers, or even church members? Are you triggered when someone challenges you or disrespects you?

Peace is a hallmark of someone who does not let people and situations affect them emotionally. How can someone do that? I admire those who stay calm and can be rational with those who are angry and dysfunctional. I have always reacted negatively to those who were mean to me, which is human nature. I often become anxious when situations are outside my control. In this post, you will learn the ten ways to stay above chaotic people and situations that affect your mental health.

I grew up in a very angry home, where fights were the norm every day. I never had peace or joy in my life, even when I lived alone, because my mental health was affected by the chaos of my past. Then I married an abusive man, who antagonized me with constant threats and put-downs. The fights were horrendous because my old tapes replayed in my mind. I desperately wanted to feel valued and loved. Have you ever noticed that where there is love in the home, there is also peace and joy? Where there is respect, there is peace and cooperation.

First, Deal With Your Own Peace Issues.

You can’t live in peace with others if your mind and heart are filled with conflicting emotions from past trauma and painful memories. When I worked through my peace issues, I became emotionally stable. I am a completely different person today, and as I continue to work through peace issues, I can now separate myself from the emotions of another person and not let them bother me. For example, a woman who is contentious came up to me on several occasions and spoke in an unkind way. I was able to smile and listen to her and not react out of my past insecurity tapes. That is when I knew I had victory and could live in peace with anyone. The other way you know you are living in peace is if you don’t repeat the matter and gossip. Not being triggered by other people’s weaknesses is the victory we are to strive for.

Peace is as big an issue as love is to God. Matthew 5:9 states, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Peacemakers are not people pleasers, but they make peace with those who are controversial. And Hebrews 12:14 states, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Striving means to work hard for. People who make an effort to live in peace with those around them are also holy. Holiness is having a pure heart and living in perfect, harmonious union with God and people. Holiness is a huge topic that I will not cover in this post. Please read my posts about why and how to purify your heart and soul. WHY HEAL YOUR HEART AND PURIFY YOUR SOUL? and Five Steps to Heal Your Heart and Purify Your Soul.

Second, Give the Circumstances to God and be Thankful.

It is hard to have peace when the world around you is falling apart, or your health is falling apart, or your family is falling apart. God wants you to cast your cares and anxieties on Him because He cares for you (1Peter 5:7). The devil is looking for a chance to steal your peace and joy, through chaos. Overcome the devil by keeping your faith and eyes on Jesus (1Peter 5:8-9). In John 16:33, Jesus says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Being thankful is another way to keep peace in your heart despite your circumstances (Phil. 4:6-7 and 1Thes. 5:16-18). For example, you get a flat tire and you are late for an appointment. Before you get upset, thank God for his protection and for giving you a sound mind to know what to do. Ask God to help you and keep your mind on God’s perfect will being accomplished in the situation. It is amazing how being thankful helps you maintain a sound mind.

How to Respond to Those in Opposition.

I came across Second Timothy 2:22-26, which offers insight into how to live in peace with difficult people. In today’s politically divided world, we have ample opportunity to practice living in peace. Romans 12:18 states, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

22) So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. When we were young, we would take everything personally. If someone didn’t do what we wanted, we would get angry. If they snubbed us, we would get angry, and so on. Now we are to put away our youthful passions and childish thinking and love others (1Cor. 13:4-11). We must now pursue (strive for) righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

23) Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. We are all familiar with foolish, ignorant controversies, so I won’t describe them here. If you know an issue is controversial, do not become emotionally engaged with it. As I said earlier, when you are at peace in your own mind, then you will be at peace with others. No one ever wins a quarrel, which is why Satan baits us to quarrel with each other. The definition of quarrel is a cause of dispute, complaint, or hostile feeling (dictionary.com 2025). Quarreling destroys relationships.

24-26) And the Lord’s servant must

A. not be quarrelsome

B. (be) kind to everyone,

C. able to teach,

D. patiently enduring evil (trouble, Rom 12:12),

E. correcting his (or her) opponents with gentleness.

God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Conclusion

The ten ways to live in peace are:

Deal with your peace issues to eliminate the triggers that cause emotional upset from other people’s rude unkindness.
Pray and give all your troubles and concerns to God.
Be thankful in every circumstance, even those that are stressful.
Strive for and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.
Do not quarrel.
Show kindness.
Teach the truth.
Be patient.
Gently correct those in opposition.
Set your mind on the things of God and purify your heart.

1Thessalonians 5:23 states, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

**********

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of promises that are relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-Changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, the 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.

365 Days of Worship–Week 6 – Reverence

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. – Hebrews 12:28-29

This verse is packed full of instructions. First, be grateful you have the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. Romans 14:17 states, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” In the last post, I explained the Holy Spirit’s role in our worship. With the Holy Spirit comes the kingdom. Hard to wrap your mind around, I know.

The next command is to “offer God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.” According to Dictionary.com (2024), reverence is a feeling or attitude of deep respect, and awe is an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, or extremely powerful. The following describes the awesome God we worship. Psalm 89:5-9 tells us, “Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! ⁶For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? ⁸O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you? ⁹You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” And this God is our Father if we believe and receive Him (John 1:12).

Does your worship service at your church lead you to worship with reverence and awe? I have been to several churches where the worship service is more like rock concerts. This is a show and apostate worship. Hebrews 12:29 says, “for our God is a consuming fire.” A consuming fire completely destroys. We need to have a healthy fear of disobeying God’s commands. Deuteronomy 9:3 states, “Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.” God is to be worshiped with reverence and awe, and he is to be feared in a healthy way as one would fear the power of fire and respect it.

Take time each day to reverently worship the awesome God who loved and saved us, and we have the privilege to serve.

WEEK 6 – February 5-11

Day 36-Feb. 5—Worship God’s perfection and being our shield.

This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. –Psalm 18:30

Day 37-Feb. 6—Worship God’s salvation, support, and gentleness.

You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. –Psalm 18:35

Day 38-Feb. 7—Worship God’s glory in His handiwork.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. –Psalm 19:1

Day 39-Feb. 8—Worship God for His laws, testimony, precepts, commandments, and rules.

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; ⁸the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; ⁹the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. –Psalm 19:7-9

Day 40-Feb. 9—Worship God’s power.

Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. –Psalm 21:13

Day 41-Feb. 10—Worship God’s kingship.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. ²⁸For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. –Psalm 22:27

Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! –Psalm 24:10

Day 42-Feb. 11—Worship God’s Holy place and blessing.

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. ⁵He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. –Psalm 24:3-5

All verses are from the English Standard Bible. To review the previous weeks, go to the 365 Days of Worship Page. This post is copyright protected.

8—God Promises to Give You Strength

Do you sometimes think you don’t have the strength to go on? So many things sap our strength, such as illnesses, hardships, depression, stress, disappointments, too many tasks, etc. The solution for enduring troubling issues is easy, but doing it is hard. It is human nature to try to overcome and solve besetting issues in our power, which saps our strength. The solution is to submit to God everything that troubles you. Submitting your troubles to God involves admitting you need God’s help and strength, then letting God take care of your issues, which is hard to do. Psalm 68:35 states, “Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!”

Find Strength in God

Ephesians 6:10 tells us, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” God’s might gives us strength to endure and stand firm against our enemy, who causes most of our troubles. According to 1Chronicals 16:11, you find power when you are in the presence of God through continually praying, praising, and pondering His promises.“Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!” Also, claim Habakkuk 3:19, which says, “GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Have you lost hope? Find your strength and hope to scale the mountains in your life through God’s might, not your useless attempts to be strong. Do you find yourself depressed? Pray and seek God to give you hope and strength to endure the issue sapping your energy.

Strength in Waiting

Sometimes we must wait and seek God for the strength to endure the issues we are facing. When you seek Him, the key to receiving power is to give God an offering of thanksgiving and praise, knowing He keeps His promises. Isaiah 40:31 proclaims, “but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” When you feel weak, especially as you follow, honor, and serve God, trust His promises to strengthen the weak and faint. The hard part is waiting to receive God’s promise. It is equally hard to give thanks in all circumstances, which is God’s will (1Thes 5:18).

Know that you are God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10), and He is shaping you through tough times to reflect His image (Rom. 8:28-29). Also, adversity causes your faith to become stronger so you can have the strength to endure troubles and temptations. God also has a good work planned for each of us, and we all need to go through hardships to strengthen our faith and character. Claim God’s promise in Psalm 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ²Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, ³though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” God is our refuge and strength when we face grief and difficulties. Though it is hard to endure hardship patiently, we know we are being perfected when we patiently persevere (James 1:3-4).

Trust God to Give You Strength

Trust is hard for us because we need to rely on God to keep His promises. Many of us have painful memories of disappointments when we relied on someone to do something, and they let us down. These painful memories often prevent us from trusting God. Read my short book on my website to learn how to heal painful memories. 2Corinthians 1:20 tells us, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” We can trust God to keep His promises. By faith, we can speak into existence Psalm 28:7, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” If you need strength and have none, you can call it into existence by believing and claiming God’s promises. Ponder the following Scriptures: “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak” (2Corinthians 4:13). Also, “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare [proclaim]; before they spring forth, I tell you of them” (Isaiah 42:9).

Strength for the Grieving

We lose our strength when grieving a loss or disappointment. Nehemiah 8:10b encourages us to “not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Not only do we find strength in God’s presence, but we also will have joy. Psalm 16:11 explains, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 73:26 states, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” What a wonderful promise.

Fulfilled Promises Bring Him Glory

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans 4:20-21 the following, “No unbelief made him [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” The Apostle Peter teaches his readers in 1Peter 4:11, “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

Conclusion

We can only attain God’s strength when we seek His help and submit our troubles to Him. You also find strength when you remain in God’s presence through praying, praising, and pondering scriptures. Lastly, God promises to give you strength for His glory. I will end with one of my favorite scripture promises: 2Chronicals 16:9a, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” To achieve a blameless heart, read my post called WHY HEAL YOUR HEART AND PURIFY YOUR SOUL? and Five Steps to Heal Your Heart and Purify Your Soul

RELATED POSTS

Know Your Purpose

Pt. 1: Forsaken? Betrayed? How to Trust Again.

Pt. 2: Why You Can and Cannot Trust God?

How to Diminish the Distrust Belief to Enlarge Trust

Being Thankful During Hardships

Yet Another Layoff—How to Rise Above Worry, Anger, Insecurity, and Grief

HOPE: How it Motivates and Inspires BUT God’s Sovereignty…

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book is Unlocking God’s Promises, which explains 18 categories of promises that are relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.

How to Pursue and Achieve Godly Character

Have you admired people who were excellent at what they did and do? How can we achieve excellence of character? The first discipline is to train to be excellent, and the second discipline is to pursue your goals. I have been writing a series of posts on how to achieve the goal of godliness. Why should we pursue the goal of being godly and holy? 2Peter 3:10-11 explains, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness.”

The first post in this series covered what being godly was. The second post explained how to train to be godly. The third post described how contentment with godliness increases independence, time, and wealth. The fourth post admonishes us not to seek riches and how being rich distracts us from pursuing the character of God. In this post, you will learn what and how to achieve godliness; God’s divine nature.

Why Should I Pursue Godly Attributes?

To accomplish the objective of being godly, we need to pursue God’s virtues by striving for or seeking to acquire moral excellence, which is right thinking and acting. I want to finish where I started in the last post. 1Timothy 6:10-11 states, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Through this craving, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs [griefs]. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.” And In 2Timothy 2:21–22,the Apostle Paul explains, “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the Master, ready for every good work. So, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” To be a vessel of honor and have a pure heart, you first must pray to put off (repent of) dishonoring lustful passions that contaminate your heart and then pursue and put on righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

You pursue righteousness by putting your faith in Jesus Christ’s ability to help you do what is right because He is your righteousness (Rom. 1:17; 3:22).
Pursue faith by reading God’s Word and memorizing Scripture (Rom. 10:17; Heb. 13:7).
Pursue love by putting off pride and forgiving those who sin against you (Mat. 6:12–14; 1Cor. 13:4–7).
Pursue peace by giving all your problems to God, trusting Him, and forgiving. If possible, you are to also live peaceably with everyone (Rom. 12:18; Heb. 12:14).

How To Pursue and Achieve the Virtues of God

The Apostle Peter’s instructions in the following passage give us hope for achieving godliness, excellence, and holiness. Read 2Peter 1:3–11 slowly and meditate on each prepositional phrase.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire [lusts].

For this very reason, make every effort [diligently pursue] to supplement [add to]your faith with

virtue [moral excellence; goodness], and virtue with

knowledge [of God and His truth], and knowledge with

self-control [self-rule or self-discipline], and self-control with

steadfastness [perseverance, patience, and endurance], and steadfastness with

godliness [be like God], and godliness with

brotherly affection [kindness], and brotherly affection with love.

8) For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.

For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A promise is an assurance we can claim as ours. This passage promises we will never fall if we diligently pursue and practice faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, kindness, and love. Verse 8 guarantees that if we possess these qualities, we will not be ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Peter tells us to be diligent, which means to apply ourselves to accomplish something. 2Peter1:3–11 is full of many incredible truths. I encourage you to read a conservative commentary of this passage for a better understanding. Memorize these verses, so you don’t forget to do them because they are vital to being victorious over the unseen battles for your mind. Remember, God has given you His divine power through Jesus Christ, and you can partake of His divine nature through the promises found in the Bible. How fantastic is that!

Conclusion

To be excellent at anything, you need to train yourself to improve and then pursue your goals. Also, pursuing godliness makes us a vessel for honorable use. Thankfully, we have God’s divine power to help us achieve the virtues of God and His divine nature. Achieving godly character and excellence should be our number one priority because one day, we will stand before God and what will He find in you? Will you be ashamed?

RELATED POSTS:

End of Time POSTS

All verses are from the English Standard Bible unless otherwise indicated. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share the links with your friends and family, hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. No part of the posts or my book may be reproduced without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of eight prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, salvation for non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. Please leave your name so I know you are a person making the request.