God Will ALLOW what you ALLOW

God will ALLOW whatever you ALLOW

(John 14:27 AMP) Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

All last week we dealt with taking control of your thought life. A few weeks ago we started off this series by teaching on 'the peace of God'. What Jesus said in John chapter 14 allows us to connect the two. In chapter 13 Jesus is fully aware that His death is extremely close. With that in mind He starts to prepare the disciples for His departure. Jesus said, "My children, I will be with you for a little while longer. Then you will look for me, but you won't find me. I tell you just as I told the people, "You cannot go where I am going."

Ok so It is easy to see how this could disturb the disciples. This is a group of men who walked away from their careers to follow Jesus and they had been following Him for over three years. For three years all they had known was Jesus, His teachings, His ministry, and His actions. His life was their lives, their lives were His life. So it's easy to see how Jesus' seemingly sudden departure could cause consternation.

Simon Peter, the one disciple who was never shy and never short on words, asked, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus had tried to explain this before, but the possibility of Jesus' death and a subsequent resurrection was hard to fathom. Instead of attempting to explain the process Jesus simply answered, "You can't go with me now, but later on you will." Peter was not the type of guy who would accept an answer like that easily. Peter questioned back: "Lord, why can't I go with you now? I would die for you!" The thought of being disconnected from Jesus was obviously causing Peter distressing anxiety. Peter did not want to hear about the possibility of some future reunion; Peter wanted to continue the fellowship he was having with Jesus and I believe it is safe to say that the other disciples felt the same way. I don't fault them for getting upset, for allowing their hearts to be filled with fear, fret, and doubt. This was a BIG DEAL for them and if they sat around thinking about it they would surely 'stress-out.'

Jesus perceived what Peter was feeling and I am sure He sensed the same thing in the hearts of the other disciples. So what would Jesus, the King of Glory, say in a situation like this? What answer could the Lord of Lords provide to the stress their were experiencing? Jesus simply said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me" (John 14:1). That's it! No laying on of hands, no miraculous power-of-God demonstration, no voice from Heaven, nothing like that.

Jesus knew that they had ALLOWED their hearts to be troubled and He simply told them NOT to do it and to simply trust God and Him. The Greek word used for "troubled" in this verse is a word that means: to cause one inward commotion; to take away calmness of mind; to disquiet; to make restless; to render anxious or distressed; to perplex the mind of one by suggesting doubts. Tomorrow we will pick it up from here and take it to the 27th verse.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. Just like you can ALLOW your heart to be troubled, you have the power to refuse it.
2. Faith is a choice, just like fear is a choice.
3. You cannot trust and worry at the same time, and you get to CHOOSE which one YOU will do.
4. God will allow whatever you allow; He will not override YOUR choice!

Father, I thank You for this revelation. I have given the enemy more credit than he deserves. I have the power to allow myself to be troubled, to be stressed out, and to accept the negative suggestions that lead to fear, doubt, and unbelief. But I also have the power to resist, refuse, and stand against those suggestions. I declare, by faith, that in 2011 I will allow my mind to be reprogrammed, through Your Word, so that I can get to the point where thoughts of fear, failure, doubt, and distress will have a hard time getting in. Instead of ALLOWING the enemy's suggestions to run roughshod through my mind, I will ALLOW Your Word to be the foundation for my life and living! I choose trust and not trouble today! In Jesus' name. Amen!