An Exercise to Regain or Keep Your Peace and Joy

Here are the words on the audio if you want to follow along:

Be Still and Know that I Am God

Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. My child, I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

I sit enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. I stretch out the heavens like a canopy, and spread them out like a tent to live in. I bring princes to naught and reduce the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, that I blow on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

To whom will you compare Me? Or who is My equal? There is no one like Me. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: who created all these? I am the One who brings out the stars one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of My great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O child, and complain, O dear one, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? I, the LORD, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, do not grow tired or weary, and My understanding no one can fathom.

I give strength to the weary and increase the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who wait upon Me, will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

Be still and know that I am God.

I know everything about you.

I know when you sit and when you rise; I perceive your thoughts from afar. I discern your going out and your lying down; I am familiar with all your ways. Before a word is on your tongue I know it completely.

Where can you go from My Spirit? Where can you flee from My presence?
If you go up to the heavens, I am there; If you make your bed in the depths, I am there;
If you rise on the wings of the dawn, if you settle on the far side of the sea, even there My hand will guide you, My right hand will hold you fast.

For I created your inmost being; I knitted you together in your mother’s womb. All the days ordained for you were written in My book before one of them came to be.

How many are My thoughts toward you. How vast is the sum of them! Were you to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.

Be still and know that I am God.

I am He who forgives all your sins who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

I, the LORD, am compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
I do not treat you as your sins deserve, but as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is My love for those who fear Me. As far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your transgressions from you. As a father has compassion on his children, so have I compassion on those who revere Me.

Be still and know that I am God.

Do not let your heart be troubled; trust in Me. I, Myself, will go before you and will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

I am the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. I, even I, am He who comforts you. I am close to the brokenhearted; to those crushed in spirit. Come to Me when you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Come when you are thirsty, come to the waters—the Living Water.

Why labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare! Give ear and come to Me; hear Me, that your soul may live. Oh taste and see that I am good; be blessed as you take refuge in Me.

Be still and know that I am God.

Understand that My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. My word will accomplish what I desire.

For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. Seek Me with all of your heart, and I will be found by you.

Be still and know that I am God.

I am the God of hope. I will fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Me, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of My Holy Spirit.

One day I will dwell with men—with you—in a new heaven and a new earth. You will be My people, you will be My sons and daughters. I Myself will be with you forever. I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. I have told you these things so that you may be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow![i]

5. Ask the Lord to help you completely receive and absorb these truths into your soul.

For a pdf version of this exercise click here.

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[i] Adapted from the following verses:

Ps 46:10, Jer 31:3, Is 40:21-31

Ps 139

Ps 103

Jn 14:1, Deut 31:8, 2 Cor 1:3, Is 51:12, Ps 34:18

Mat 11:28, Is 55, Jn 7:37-39, Ps 34:8, Is 55, Jer 29:11-14

Rom 15:13, Rev 21:2-4, Jn 15:11

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*Voice on audio recording: Jake Schneider