Peace I Leave With You
Peace to Guard the Heart and Mind of the Missional Enterprise Leader
The business leader wakes up earlier than needed for rest, yet later than feels sufficient for all the demands pressing in. As a missional enterprise leader, he prioritizes time in prayer and scripture reading, but even then, he struggles to focus. It’s not that he lacks vision, passion, and even at times, joy. But there’s one word that would rarely describe his soul.
Peace.
Can you identify? Why is peace so illusive? How can we experience more of what God identifies as his own character – the “Lord of peace” (2 Thessalonians 3:16)?
In our ongoing series on the Fruit of the Spirit in missional enterprise, today we address the one remaining aspect of spirit-fruit: Peace.
Peace Taking Root
Our embrace of God’s peace begins with the realization and conviction that peace is not only desirable, but defnitely possible, because of the God we follow. We also realize that the redemptive work of the “Prince of Peace” in our own lives is a prerequisite for redemption to take root in our organizations and our communities. In The Redemptive Business: A Playbook for Leaders, the team at Praxis Labs puts it this way:
Before the redemptive pattern of creative restoration through sacrifice can take shape in the organization, it must take root in the leader’s life. With us, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.
Leaders of redemptive ventures can experience greater abundance and peace as we trust in God—not ourselves, not in markets, not in technological advances or social progress—as the supreme actor in our business.
A Shift in Focus
In a Gospel Coalition article, Dorothy Griffin, co-owner of a home health business in Wilmington, North Carolina, describes how focusing on the nature of God in her moments of anxiety, especially in her positions of leadership, has led to a new level of peace, even in the middle of anxiety-producing stresses:
In the past, when I turned to prayer in times of anxiety, my focus largely remained on the cause of my anxiety and my desire for his peace. It remained on me, my circumstances, my desires. In fact, praying in this way often increased my anxiety.
What I needed was to shift my focus. God is so much bigger than me and anything that could make me anxious. But that wasn’t a shift I could force in the moment, even through prayer.
One missional enterprise leader has found that following a simple progression in focus during prayer to be helpful, especially when thinking about situations that tend to bring anxiety:
- Father, you say … (State a promise or truth from Scripture)
- Father, you are … (Reflect on God’s character revealed in that truth)
- Father, you have … (Thank Him for His past faithfulness)
- Father, will you … ? (Bring your request with renewed trust)
Peace as a Leadership Practice
For leaders in missional enterprises, cultivating peace isn’t just about managing stress. It’s about learning to live and lead from a deeper place—a place where our confidence rests not in outcomes, but in the presence of God with us.
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27). That’s a gift, not something we earn. But learning to live from that gift takes time. It often means returning to Him again and again—especially in the moments when peace feels far off.
And as we do, may we find that peace not only settles our own hearts, but begins to shape the culture of the teams, businesses, and communities we lead.
Verse of the Week:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27 (NIV)
May God empower us to receive more fully the gift of his peace this week, and may that peace bless the enterprises we lead and the communities where we live.