My Peace I Give to You
Scripture Passage: John 14:25-31 (NASB)
25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26 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 that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. 28 You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. 30 I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; 31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.
SUMMARY
In this passage, Jesus continues to speak to His disciples about the Holy Sprit, the Helper whom the Father will send in His name. He promises His disciples that the Holy Spirit will teach them everything and bring to remembrance all that He had taught them. He also urges them once again to “not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (v. 27). He assures that He will give them “peace” through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
Judas Iscariot already left the scene to turn Jesus in to the hands of the authorities. At this point, Jesus knew that the most agonizing time of His life had just begun. Yet, knowing how He would be gruesomely executed in the hands of His enemy and how much fear and terror it would bring to His disciples, Jesus tells His disciples about the “peace” He was going to leave with them.
So, what is peace? To me, peace is having a sense of security and safety. It is the state of harmony that I want to create in my surroundings and in my relationships. There has to be order, and a lack of conflict is a great thing to maintain my peace of mind.
And yes, I thought I had peace only to realize now that this peace was disguised by temporary comforts that I received from the world and not from Jesus. I was at peace because my little world was well under my control and operating as I liked it to be. I was playing god in my life and when I couldn’t play that part any longer, I no longer had peace.
God clearly showed that sin in me through today’s QT passage and also through last week’s QT reflections.
It was shameful and painful to admit and show that ugly part of my heart to Him, but He bent down and washed it with His holy hands saying, “You are clean” (John 13:10).
APPLICATION
This passage teaches me that peace that I seek shouldn’t be conditional. This peace isn’t an absence of conflict, crisis, and chaos, but rather it is rising above all of those things through the help and power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, it’s hard to have peace when you suffer and when you see your loved ones suffer. As soon as you have your guard down, negative thoughts try to rule in your heart. But, I will choose to remember what Jesus said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me,” (John 14:1) and receive the peace that only Jesus can give.
PRAYER
Romans 15:13 (NIV) says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Lord, I recite this verse over myself. When it becomes hard to be joyful and at peace, please help me to put my total trust in You through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
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