Peace

Today, I felt led to take a passage out of the Gospel of John, Chapter 14:27. This is Jesus speaking to believers.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid".

When we hear the word "peace", our human nature sees in a worldly view - free of war, people getting along, etc. It's more of an idea than a reality. We don't "feel" it, and we surely don't see it.

The peace that Jesus is speaking of can ONLY come from him - it is the absolute assurance that He is in control. One can only have that assurance as a believer - to have a one on one relationship with him. He sends us His Holy Spirit, The Comforter, and He makes his presence known to us be enveloping us completely with this peace He speaks about.

I recently found out that my son is enlisted in the Army National Guard, and my natural reaction would be that of fear and the "what ifs", but as my son spoke to me and told me the reasons behind his decision, I was overcome by the peace I am referring to today.

Yesterday in church, we were singing a song called, "Mighty is Our God", and I looked over and saw a young man in his twenties, standing next to his mother - he had a shaved head and was dressed in Army Dress Greens. I leaned over to Bill and asked him if that was the uniform I'd see Dude in at his graduation from boot camp, and he said it was. I felt tears welling up, and for a moment, I felt anxiety and fear try to rise up within me, and the Lord reminded me that He is in control, and to not be afraid, and the words of that song brought in the presence and peace of the Lord Jesus once again to me. After leaving church, my cell phone rang, and it was my beautiful son calling me to tell me Happy Mother's Day. Just hearing his voice, and him telling me how much he loves me and is proud to be my son, just reinforced the Spirit of Peace within me yet again.

God can and does use many things to speak to us and make himself known to us. Sometimes it's the little things that might go unnoticed, but if we keep ourselves in the attitude of putting Jesus first, and keeping our eyes and ears open to hear him, we can rest in the knowledge that He is God, He is on the Throne, and He will be with us in every situation that tries to trip us up and put us in bondage to fear.

May your day be filled with the Peace of Jesus -

Janelle