“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”

There’s a pattern to peace. And when it’s disrupted, everything starts to unravel.

Peace begins with God. It moves inward to your heart. And then it flows outward into your relationships. But when that pattern is flipped—when you try to fix what’s around you without addressing what’s in you—you stay stuck in cycles of tension and frustration.

James 4 is brutally honest. He says, the reason you’re fighting on the outside is because something is out of order on the inside. Is that true for you? Because if I’m honest, I’ve tried to restore peace by changing my environment, changing my relationships, changing a lot, just not my soul.

We blame people. We rearrange routines. We try to control outcomes. But all the while, our passions are at war within us. Our desires pull us one way while our spirit pulls another. We’re torn between pride and humility, fear and trust, performance and rest.

And let’s not forget the first fracture in the Bible. Genesis 3: sin breaks peace in three directions—between man and God, within Adam and Eve themselves (shame), and then between each other (blame).

Oh...and with creation itself. That's why we're seeing volcanic activity and massive floods increasing in an unprecedented way. Because the original sin that made creation groan against us is reaching a point.

And so...that same pattern still shows up today. Sin disorients our peace from top to bottom.

If I’m not at peace with God, I won’t have peace within. And if I’m not at peace within, I won’t be able to live at peace with others. But when I let Christ restore the vertical, He begins to heal the internal, and that naturally affects the relational.

You don’t need a new conflict strategy—you need to follow God’s pattern. When peace flows in the right order, healing follows.

Identify one broken area in your relationships and ask this question:
“Is there something in me that God wants to heal before I try to fix what’s around me?”
Let peace begin in the right place.

Father, I admit I’ve tried to fix things on the outside without dealing with the war inside. But today I want to follow Your pattern. Make peace with You my starting point. Heal what’s out of order in my soul. And let that healing flow into every conversation, every relationship, every moment. I want to be whole, not just managed. In Jesus’ name, Amen.