(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.]
We have been dealing with this passage for a couple of days now and I think we can all identify with the distressing anxiety the disciples were facing at the thought of being separated from Jesus. Jesus' answer to their stress was simple, He said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me" (John 14:1).
In other words, "You are allowing yourselves to be overcome with grief and just like you have the power to allow the grief to come in, you also have the power to resist it and push it out." God is a tripartite being (Father, Son, and Spirit) and so are we (Spirit, Soul, and Body). You and I are spirits (that's who we really are), we possess a soul (our mind, emotions, and will), and we live in a body. Since your spirit is who you really are, then your spirit can actually tell your soul (where your emotions reside) how to feel. We have learned thus far that we can either allow our emotions to rule over us or we can rule over them. Believe me, I have tried both and the latter is much better. That is basically what Jesus was teaching.
Yesterday we covered the fact that Jesus reassured them by promising to provide another comforter, the Holy Spirit Himself, to reside IN them. While Jesus was in the earth God Himself was WITH them, but after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection the Holy Spirit would be given and they could then have God Himself IN them. This promise of an indwelling of God's presence seemed to do little to calm their angst. So in verse 27 Jesus basically repeats what He said in verse 1, but this time with a promise of giving them His peace.
Notice that Jesus differentiates this peace from the peace we can receive from the world. The world defines peace as: freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, or anxiety; a state of tranquility or serenity. But as a believer we can have peace even in the midst of these things. We can have complete peace in the midst of annoyances; we can be settled in the peace of God even with distractions all around us. Why? Because for us, peace is not about the absence of conflict, but rather about the presence of God.
Instead of taking away the distressing anxiety, instead of laying hands on them and commanding the stress to leave, Jesus took another route and opted to give them His peace. This is significant because what most people want is for God to take away all the things that are causing them stress, and Jesus shows us here that God sometimes gives us what we need to deal with, and conquer the situations, instead of being delivering from them.
So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. God is not always going to deliver you FROM challenges, but He will give you what you need to conquer them-delivering you IN it, rather than FROM it. Remember, you cannot be an overcomer if you never have anything to come over!
2. The peace of God is not about the absence of conflict, but rather about the presence of God.
3. Don't let your feelings tell you how to feel.
4. You can have peace internally, even when everything externally seems to be going haywire.
Father, I thank You for this teaching and I thank You for Your peace! Your peace comes as a result of Your presence. I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Your Spirit lives in me every second of every day. Your presence in me gives me what I need to face whatever challenges arise in my life. I will not allow external challenges to disturb my internal peace. When situations arise that I have to come over, I declare, by faith, that I will overcome them. I am a believer and not a doubter. I walk by faith and not by fear. I am the victor and not the victim. You are IN me, ON me, WITH me, and FOR me, who can be against me? Not only do I win the external fight, but I win the internal one as well. Negative stress has no power over me! In Jesus' name. Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment