Since this is our very first weekly devotional together, and we’ve only just launched thebiblejoy.com, I spent some time thinking about where we should begin.

Many of you found us through the launch post on X and received the 7-day devotional Peace in His Promises when you subscribed. If you started it around launch day and have been reading one reflection a day, you might still be right in the middle of it, or just nearing the end.

Those seven days have walked through peace promises: Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 46:1, Matthew 11:28, Phil. 4:6–7, Psalm 23:1–2, Jeremiah 29:11, and Lam. 3:22–23. Whether you’ve finished every day or are slowly making your way through, that theme is still fresh: God’s steady heart in the middle of our unsteady days.

So for our very first weekly devotional, I'd love for us to gently stay there a little longer, resting again in the same theme: peace in Christ. Not a vague sense of calm, but the steady, gifted peace that comes from Him Himself.

---

The peace that doesn’t depend on your feelings

Weekly Devotional • Peace in Christ

Some weeks feel steady and calm.
Others feel like our emotions are on a rollercoaster... one moment hopeful, the next overwhelmed or anxious.

In all of that inner up-and-down, Jesus offers something our hearts can’t manufacture on their own: His peace.

The world’s version of peace is usually tied to circumstances:

• When everything is going smoothly at home or at work
• When the news feels less heavy
• When our own hearts feel “together”

But Jesus speaks this promise to His disciples when their world is about to feel anything but peaceful. He does not say, “I’ll fix every circumstance right away.” Instead, He says, “My peace I give to you.”

His peace is:

• Given, not earned:
  It doesn’t depend on how strong or spiritual you feel today
• Deeper than emotion:
  It can sit quietly underneath waves of worry or sadness
• Anchored in Him:
  It flows from who Jesus is, not from how steady life feels

You might still feel the pull of anxiety, but underneath that, there is a deeper reality: you belong to Christ, and His peace is already yours in Him.

And by the way, Jesus spoke these words on the night before the cross, as He prepared His disciples for His departure and the trouble that was coming. As their hearts were facing fear and confusion, He did not promise an immediate change of circumstances, but instead left us a steadier gift: “My peace I give to you.”

---

A gentle step for this week

Here are two simple ways to lean into His peace throughout the week:

• Carry this verse with you.
  Write John 14:27 on a card or in your notes app. When your heart feels unsettled, pause and read it slowly, word by word.


• Turn your swirl of thoughts into a short prayer.
  When your mind is racing, you could pray:
  
  “Lord Jesus, my heart feels troubled. Thank You that Your peace is not fragile like my feelings. Help me rest in You right now....”
  
  And then continue your prayer, bring your specific thoughts to Him, pour them out before God, and ask for His peace that surpasses all understanding.

---

Today’s closing prayer