In Me You May Have Peace
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33 NAS)
“In Me you have peace…in the world you will have tribulation (trouble)”. What a contrast! As I read this verse, I heard the Lord speak to me saying: “Stop trying to get peace from the world’s system. There isn’t any peace to be found there, but there’s peace in Me. My kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy" (Rom 14:17). The world promises peace but it can’t deliver. You will never find peace through the world’s methods because Satan is the god of this world (2Co 4:4) and he doesn’t have any peace to give. But Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He comes from a kingdom of peace and wherever He went, He released Kingdom life and Kingdom realities to whoever would receive it (see Mark 4:35-39).
How do we appropriate this peace? How do we live in peace in the midst of the hustle and bustle, the stresses of this life? A key lies in the first part of this verse. Jesus said that the words He spoke would bring peace. His Words contain the very peace of God. The key is for us to take His Words to heart as if He were speaking to each one of us personally. Then as we act on His Words, we release His very peace into our lives.
Many times I have reached a place of stress and anxiety in my life. In the midst of it, I stopped and took a few moments to pray, to worship God, to meditate on what He promised. At first I didn’t feel like doing it. We can get so caught up in the things of this life that it seems that the last thing we can afford to do is to stop and pray, stop and worship, stop and hear His voice. But that is the very thing we need to do. We need to stop and change our focus from this world, which is full of stress, to His kingdom -- where true peace dwells. Try it. The next time you feel stressed, feel anxious, stop and spend just a few minutes with your Lord, the Prince of Peace. If you do, the stress will fade away and His peace will envelope your life.
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." -- John 14:27
Geoff's Journal Volume 01 No. 01
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