Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
- John 14:27
The peace Jesus has given us is different from what the world calls peace. The world defines peace as the absence of problems. However, Gods peace is not dependent on circumstances; it is dependent on God Himself, who is the same yesterday, today and forever(Heb 13:8) A Christian can have great peace even in the midst of terrible problems because his faith is in God. Faith is complete dependence on God, not what we can do. Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. (Isa 26:3) The responsibility of not letting our hearts be troubled is ours, Jesus has given us His peace, but we have to receive it by faith, to keep our hearts from being troubled. We are the ones who have control of our hearts, other people and circumstances cannot trouble us, unless we allow them to divert our attention from the Lord and His Word. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.(Prov 3:5,6) Faith is a choice. We can either choose to have faith in God’s Word or fear.
Many people identify fear in certain situations and think it only normal. However God has not given us a spirit of fear,(2 Tim 1:7) and Jesus command shows that we have the power to reject fear.
People think that if you live by faith, you won’t have any problems at all. Jesus had perfect faith. He was persecuted, criticized and plotted against. He was tempted with every sin mankind has ever known, yet He resisted it all. It’s very difficult not to let the pressure of sin, lack or grief or sickness dominate us. But if we do not yield to the circumstances and stand firm refusing to receive grief or sickness on our bodies knowing that we have been set free from the curse by the blood of Jesus, we can live victorious by faith in Him. Jesus underwent the pressure such a stand of faith can bring in the garden of Gethsemane before He went to the cross. The pressure of the temptation He faced there put such a strain on His physical body that drops of blood poured through His skin like perspiration. But even then, sin could not conquer Him. None of us will ever face that much trouble. We will never have to stand against that much pressure, yet we have the same power and peace that took Him not just through the pressure of Gethsemane, but through the whipping,the mocking,the crucifixion and through to the Resurrection.
‘Peace I leave with you’, He said, ‘My peace I give unto you –Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid’. He told us how to stand in faith when frightening things are happening all around us. ‘If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7) The Word of God purges or cleanses us from all sin. God’s Word was given to us for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works. That is Gods way of pruning us: through His Word and through the conviction of the Holy Spirit in us. He does not bring tragedy into our lives to make us more fruitful, it is the devil that does that and when we resist they will flee from us (James 4:7)
As we abide in the Word of God, in praise and in prayer consistently, not only during hard times, we can experience the peace of the Lord that passeth all understanding.Rejoice in the Lord always (Phil 4:4-9) and give thanks to God for everything.It is easy to credit the branch with the fruit because the fruit is borne on the branch, when it is the vine that draws the life from the earth and channels it through the branch. Likewise since we are the branch through which the life of God flows, we sometimes think that it is our holiness that produces that fruit. The moment we think that way, we are no longer abiding (trusting in, clinging to) in the vine and we will become fruitless if we stay in that mindset. Our responsibility is to respond to Jesus ability. In the same way we have not seen a branch travailing to bring forth fruit, so all that we have to do is labor to rest (trust and depend) completely on Jesus as our source.(Heb 4:11) If we abide in Him fruit is natural. When we are abiding in Jesus and His words are abiding in us, our selfish desires change and we receive whatever we ask , that lines up to the Word of God. It glorifies God when we receive what we have asked God in Faith (John 14:13). It is God’s Will for us to have the fruit that God's Word promises.
