The Peace of God
We need the peace of God right now to live in this world as Christians, as God’s children, His little anointed ones, His little kings, His little lords, His empowered ones. The Holy Spirit has empowered us to live in the peace that Jesus left us. Empowered----what does this word mean? It means to give the power you have to someone else to carry out their duties or assignments. So, the Holy Spirit has given us the power of God to accomplish our God-given mission here on this earth. Yes, every one of us is born with a mission. We have a general mission and a specific mission. Our general mission is to bring salvation to people. Our specific mission is how we carry out that mandate. It is our part in the overall mission of God.
Jesus gave us His peace. We see that in John 14:27, Amplified Bible.
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.]
That was a Messianic blessing that Jesus was pronouncing upon His disciples then and us now. The Greek word is eirene and the Hebrew word is shalom. He was declaring wholeness, with nothing missing or broken from our lives. He was proclaiming that all is well with us. He was saying that He was giving us restoration for our hurts and brokenness. What a proclamation to leave for us.
In John 17:33, Amplified Bible, we have another strong declaration of the peace of God.
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence.
In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration;
but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]!
For I have overcome the world.
[I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]
What an assurance we have here from Jesus. He is telling us that in Him we have peace and confidence. In the world, we have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration all around us. Where are you today? Are you in Him or are you in the world? We as God’s children are here physically in this world, but it does not have to be in us? We are in Jesus Christ. Tribulation, trials, distress, and frustration is all around us. We have to deal with them. BUT, and here is the wonderful other side of the word BUT, be of good cheer, be courageous, be confident, be certain, be fearless and bold. WHY? Then Jesus gives us the assuring state. I have overcome the world (FOR YOU, is the implied sense of this statement), and I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.
What an assurance. Jesus has conquered the world and its tribulation, trials, distress and frustration for us. He has deprived all of it of the power to harm us. He has conquered it for us. That is the reason we can say that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. Yes, we are more than conquerors. He won the battle and handed us the spoils of the battle----health, prosperity, well-being, faith, love, joy, peace, just to mention a few of the spoils or benefits we have been given. The battle is over. The only battle we will ever have to participate in is the battlefield of our minds. Jesus has even taken care of that. We can exercise His mind in us. We have the mind of Christ and hold all His thoughts, feelings, and purposes (1 Corinthians 2:16).
We close with Philippians 4:6,7 in the Amplified Bible.
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God, and God’s peace [shall be yours…], that peace which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
In every one of these scriptures, we see that the action is on our part. Jesus has already done all that He is going to do. The rest is up to us. It is a choice we make moment by moment and day by day. Oh, yes, pressure is applied by satan to keep us from making the right choices, but we must apply the pressure of the Word of God to him. He is not greater than the power of the Word of God. God is greater. Choice----we hear a lot about freedom of choice these days. But we as God’s people know about the real choices in life. Our will is one of the strongest elements in our person. God gave us a will to choose. May we choose in line with His Word, regardless of the pressure or disappointment or disillusionment or discouragement that satan attempts to apply to us to keep us from making the right choice.
Jesus gave us His peace. We see that in John 14:27, Amplified Bible.
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.]
That was a Messianic blessing that Jesus was pronouncing upon His disciples then and us now. The Greek word is eirene and the Hebrew word is shalom. He was declaring wholeness, with nothing missing or broken from our lives. He was proclaiming that all is well with us. He was saying that He was giving us restoration for our hurts and brokenness. What a proclamation to leave for us.
In John 17:33, Amplified Bible, we have another strong declaration of the peace of God.
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence.
In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration;
but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]!
For I have overcome the world.
[I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]
What an assurance we have here from Jesus. He is telling us that in Him we have peace and confidence. In the world, we have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration all around us. Where are you today? Are you in Him or are you in the world? We as God’s children are here physically in this world, but it does not have to be in us? We are in Jesus Christ. Tribulation, trials, distress, and frustration is all around us. We have to deal with them. BUT, and here is the wonderful other side of the word BUT, be of good cheer, be courageous, be confident, be certain, be fearless and bold. WHY? Then Jesus gives us the assuring state. I have overcome the world (FOR YOU, is the implied sense of this statement), and I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.
What an assurance. Jesus has conquered the world and its tribulation, trials, distress and frustration for us. He has deprived all of it of the power to harm us. He has conquered it for us. That is the reason we can say that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. Yes, we are more than conquerors. He won the battle and handed us the spoils of the battle----health, prosperity, well-being, faith, love, joy, peace, just to mention a few of the spoils or benefits we have been given. The battle is over. The only battle we will ever have to participate in is the battlefield of our minds. Jesus has even taken care of that. We can exercise His mind in us. We have the mind of Christ and hold all His thoughts, feelings, and purposes (1 Corinthians 2:16).
We close with Philippians 4:6,7 in the Amplified Bible.
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God, and God’s peace [shall be yours…], that peace which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
In every one of these scriptures, we see that the action is on our part. Jesus has already done all that He is going to do. The rest is up to us. It is a choice we make moment by moment and day by day. Oh, yes, pressure is applied by satan to keep us from making the right choices, but we must apply the pressure of the Word of God to him. He is not greater than the power of the Word of God. God is greater. Choice----we hear a lot about freedom of choice these days. But we as God’s people know about the real choices in life. Our will is one of the strongest elements in our person. God gave us a will to choose. May we choose in line with His Word, regardless of the pressure or disappointment or disillusionment or discouragement that satan attempts to apply to us to keep us from making the right choice.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 8:34 AM
<< Home