Peace

John 14: 23 - 27, Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. NKJV

In today's scripture, we can see that Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure because the time for Him to suffer and die was drawing near. Can you imagine for a moment how unsettling this news must have been for the disciples? As long as they were with Jesus, they really didn't have to worry about anything or anyone. He took care of their every need and protected them from destruction.

However, the time had come for Jesus' earthly ministry to end and for the disciples' ministries to begin. After sharing His plans to leave, He let them know that, even though He wouldn't be with them in the physical, His Spirit would be with them. The "sign" that His Spirit and presence were with them after Jesus' departure would be peace in their hearts.

Jesus gave them His peace to "compensate" for His physical absence. Nevertheless, at this point in their walk with the Lord, their faith was about to be put to the test. No longer could they depend upon the fact that Jesus was physically with them during times of trouble. It was time for them to grow up and live by the faith that Jesus had built in their hearts while He was with them.

Even though Jesus gave the disciples His peace, which was their assurance that He was still with them in the realm of the Spirit, they had to possess the faith to both receive His peace and to walk in it. If you're a child of God, then you have been given the "peace of God" as well. Like the disciples, it is your responsibility to hold onto and walk in God's peace. Remember, peace is the assurance that Jesus is with you now, just as He was with the disciples during His earthly ministry.

The key to "keeping" our peace is to guard our hearts when trouble does find its way into our lives. Satan wants us to believe that when trouble hits us, it is a sign that God has "forsaken us." We can easily cast that lie down from entering our hearts because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling there through faith. Trouble is just a sign that Satan is attempting to rob us of our peace, joy, and strength.

Are you facing a terrible trial today? If you are, then guard your heart against the lies of the enemy; he wants you to believe that your trouble indicates that God is mad at you, or that He has forsaken you. Whatever you do, don't give Satan your peace. The moment you and I lose or forfeit our peace because of troubles, we will become tormented. Fear produces torment, but faith produces peace. Let the peace of God rule over your heart today and be free from spiritual torment. Jesus tells us not to allow our hearts to be troubled by trouble; and we're not to allow fear to cause us to be afraid. It's a choice; and Jesus gives us the power to choose peace over fear. He's got this, and you can do it!

Holding Onto Peace,
Pastor Asa Dockery