Psalm 119:164-166

Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous ordinances.  Those who love Your law have great peace; nothing makes them stumble. I hope and wait (with complete confidence) for Your salvation, O Lord, and I do your commandments.

When we praise and love the Lord, we show our joy and knowledge of God’s word.  This knowledge will keep us in peace, and we will not stumble. Our confidence comes from the promise we have through salvation as we obey His commandments.

Romans 16:19-20

For the report of your obedience has reached everyone, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.  The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. 

When we are wise in what is good, we gain the knowledge of what it takes to defeat the enemy.  Knowing God and His ways leads to our willing obedience and peace.  We reduce temptations and keep ourselves pure when we are innocent of evil.  Then God will crush Satan under our feet.

Isaiah 26:3

You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast (that is committed and focused on You-in both inclination and character), Because he trusts and takes refuge in You (with hope and confident expectation).

What we focus on and think about affects our state of mind.  When the Bible is at the core of our daily life, we can be guided by God and kept in peace.  If the world is buffeting us with all its temptations and distractions, then they become our focus we will lose our peace.  Let not your heart be troubled but keep God as the focus, and peace will prevail.

Jude 1:20-21

But you, beloved, build yourselves up on (the foundation of) you most holy faith (continually progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher) pray in the Holy Spirit, and keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously and looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.  

We are to build ourselves up with a foundation of faith so that when the pressure comes, we are not affected.  The Holy Spirit can lead us through all troubles when our spirits are submitted and attentive to His guidance.  When we keep ourselves in the love of God and keep the heart pure with the word, pressure is no match for the power of God.

Jude 1:5

Now I want to remind you, although you are fully informed once for all that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe (who refused to trust and obey and rely on Him).

People may ask why a loving God will let people go to hell. The answer can be related to sending a lifeboat to rescue someone, but they refuse to get on.  If the person refuses the offer to be free of sin and accepts salvation, they will not be saved. It isn’t the choice God wants them to make, but their choice.

Jude 1:4

For certain people have crept in unnoticed. The ungodly person whose condemnation was predicted long ago, for they distort the grace of our God into decadence and immoral freedom (viewing it as an opportunity to do whatever they want), and deny and disown our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

As in the time of Jude and now, our faith has been challenged by outside influences.  The devil doesn’t want us to be Christians and believe in Jesus or the Bible. That is why Jude tells people to guard their faith and not be drawn away from what they have been taught. Just as we must keep our guards up and focus intensely and the word in our hearts. 

Jude 1:3

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I was compelled to write you (urgently) appealing that you fight strenuously for (the defense of) the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints (the faith that is the sum of Christian belief that was given verbally to believers).

As Christians, we must fight to keep our faith from being tainted by worldly influences and corruption. It matters what we watch and listen to because of its impact on our thinking.  Where we concentrate our time will have the most influence. Our faith will stay strong if we focus our time on the word.

2 John 1:6

And this is love: that we walk in accordance with His commandments and are guided continually by His precepts.  This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning that you should walk in love.

Love and kindness keep our lives out of strife.  When we follow the commandments given by Jesus and love each other is one of them, peace follows.  When we get caught up in our self-desires over following the direction of love from the bible, we end up feeling like we missed it.  The love path keeps us from wanting what doesn’t satisfy us. 

John 1:4-5

I was greatly delighted to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. Now I ask you, lady, not as if I were writing to you a new commandment but (simply reminding you of) the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love and unselfishly see the best for one another. 

This world needs us to show love and kindness to everyone we meet, whether Christian or not.  Showing love does not mean we approve of bad behavior.  Showing love means remembering that Jesus first loved us and died for our ugly sins.  When we meet people having a bad day, show them, love.

Hebrews 13:7

Remember your leaders (for it was they) who brought you the word of God; and consider the result of their conduct (the outcome of their godly lives), and imitate their faith (their conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider of eternal salvation through Christ, and imitate their reliance on God with absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness).

As Christians, we are surrounded by many examples and leaders in the faith. Our goal is to listen, imitate their faith, and learn from their instruction. God teaches through our pastors and ministers, bringing us closer to maturity and deepening our understanding of the word. We learn to rely on and trust confidently in God by the examples of people God has set to shepherd us.