Billy Graham - The Key to Personal Peace

THE KEY TO
PERSONAL PEACE

BILLY GRAHAM

THE KEY TO PERSONAL PEACE

Copyright 2003 by Billy Graham

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced in any form without the written permission of
the publisher, except for brief excerpts in newspaper or
magazine reviews.

Published by W Publishing Group, a Division of Thomas
Nelson, Inc., P. O. Box 141000,
Nashville, Tennessee 37214.

Unless otherwise noted, scriptures are from the Holy Bible:
New Century Version, copyright 1987, 1988, 1991 by
W Publishing Group, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.,
Nashville, Tennessee. Used by permission.

Scriptures marked NIV are from The Holy Bible: New
International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984
International Bible Society. Used by permission of
Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Scriptures marked NKJV are from The New King James
Version. Copyright 1980 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission.

ISBN 0-8499-4428-7

Printed in the United States of America

03 04 05 06 07 OPM 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dear Friend,

Nothing in recent history has shaken our world so dramatically as the terrible events of September 11, 2001. We are still reeling from those mindnumbing terrorist attacks, and the future is stillfilled with uncertainty and fear.

Yet the yearning for peace in our world is but a mirror of an even deeper yearninga yearning for peace in our souls. And just as the search for world peace often seems frustrating and hopeless, so our search for personal peace often seems doomed to failure. Perhaps this has been your experience.

Is peace in our hearts and minds possible? Yes and in the pages of this little book I invite you to come with me and discover the key to personal peace for yourself.

In the half-century since I wrote my book Peace with God, many people have shared with me how it helped point them to the path to true peace. My prayer is that this book, based on Peace with God (with excerpts from some of my other writings), will point you to lasting peacepeace with God, peace with others, and peace in your heart.

Billy Graham

CONTENTS

1
THE GREAT QUEST

You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart.

JEREMIAH 29:13 NIV

Y OU STARTED on the Great Quest the moment you were born. It was many years perhaps before you realized it, before it became apparent that you were constantly searchingsearching for something youd never had, searching for something that was more important than anything else in life.

Sometimes you have tried to forget about the quest. Sometimes you have attempted to lose yourself in other things so there could be time and thought for nothing but the business at hand.Sometimes you may even have felt that you were freed from the need to go on searching for thisnameless thing. But always you have been caught up in it again, always you have had to come backto your search.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

At the loneliest moments in your life you have looked at other men and women and wondered if they, too, were searchingsearching for something they couldnt describe but knew they wanted and needed. Looking at them you may have thought, These people are not on the Great Quest. These people have found their way.

Not so! You are not alone. All people are travelingwith you, for everyone is on this same quest.All people are seeking the answer to the confusion,the moral sickness, the spiritual emptinessthat oppresses the world. We are all crying out forguidance, for comfort, for happiness, for peace.

We are told that we live in the age ofanxiety. Seldom in history have people faced somuch fear and uncertainty. All the familiar propsseem to have been knocked out from under us.We talk of peace but are confronted by war andterrorism at every turn. We devise elaborate schemes for security but have not found it. Wegrasp at every passing straw, and even as weclutch, it disappears.

For generations we have been running like frightened children, up first one blind alley and then another. Each time we have told ourselves, This path is the right one; this one will take us where we want to go. But each time we have been wrong.

THE HAPPINESS ILLUSION

We all recognize that the world has changed radically in the last one hundred years. We are aware of its increasing tempo, of the spirit of revolution that is sweeping away established landmarks and traditions, of the speed with which language, fashions, customs, housing, and our ways of living and thinking are being altered.

Our materialistic world rushes on with its eternal quest for happiness. Yet the more knowledge we acquire, the less wisdom we seem to have. The more economic security we gain, the more bored and insecure we become. The more everyday pleasure we enjoy, the less satisfied and contented we are with life. We are like a restless sea, rushing in waves toward a little peace here and little pleasure there but finding nowhere tostay thats permanent and satisfying.

Yet inside us a little voice keeps saying, We were not meant to be this way; we were meant for better things. We have a feeling that there must be a fountain somewhere that contains the happiness that makes life worthwhile. Sometimes we feel we have obtained itonly to find it elusive, leaving us disillusioned, bewildered, unhappy, and still searching.

There are two kinds of happiness. One comes to us when our circumstances are pleasant and we are relatively free from troubles. The problem is that this kind of happiness is fleeting and superficial. When circumstances changeas they inevitably dothis kind of happiness evaporates like the early morning fog in the heat of the midday sun.

But there is another kind of happinessthe kind for which we all long and search. This second kind of happiness is a lasting inner joy and peace that survive any circumstance. Its a happiness that endures, no matter what comes our way. Oddly, it may even grow stronger in adversity.

The happiness for which our hearts ache is one undisturbed by success or failure, one which dwells deep within us and gives inward peace andcontentment, no matter what the surface problemsmay be. Its the kind of happiness that standsin need of no outward stimulus.

This is the kind of happiness we need. This is the happiness for which our souls cry out and search relentlessly.

Is there any hope for this kind of happiness? Is there any way out of our dilemma? Can we really find personal peace?

Yes! But only if we look in the right place.

2
OUR DILEMMA

See, O LORD, how distressed I am!
I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed.

LAMENTATIONS 1:20 NIV

M Y WIFE, RUTH, and I once visited an island in the Caribbean. One of the wealthiest men in the world asked us to come to his lavish home for lunch. He was seventy-five years old, and throughout the entire meal he seemed close to tears.

I am the most miserable man in the world, he said. Out there is my yacht. I can go anywhere I want to go. I have my private plane, my helicopters. I have everything I want to make me happy. And yet, Im miserable.

We talked with him and had prayer with him, trying to point him to Christ, who alone giveslasting meaning to life.

Then we went down the hill to the small cottage where we were staying. That afternoon the pastor of the local church came to call on us. He was an Englishman, and he, too, was seventy-five. A widower, he spent most of his free time taking care of his two invalid sisters. He reminded me of a cricketalways jumping up and down, full of enthusiasm and love for God and others.