"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you." (John 14:27)
According to Bible commentator Oswald Chambers, "Reflected peace is the proof that you are right with God because you are at liberty to turn your mind to Him. If you are not right with God you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself."
Why do you suppose that is?
Jesus brought a sense of peace that is overwhelming. Not controlling but all consuming peace that lends itself to healing our spirits from the woundings of life. Our function in this process of this is to surrender those painful areas to Him.
Will it hurt? Probably. But after all that's what Christ was speaking of when He promised to leave his peace with us. He brings peace to us to heal us true enough. But He doesn't just walk away from us after a "Holy Spirit Visitation Campaign" like some visiting evangelist coming to our town. Jesus, by the Holy Spirit stays with us.
Many times I've been asked, "Why doesn't this peace last?" It does last. The issue isn't that the peace fades or dies out, the issue is that most of us have more than one wound to deal with. Or, more often than not, the particular wound the Lord is caring for is deep, inflamed painful and already infected from years and years of not being tended to or being "treated" badly or completely wrong.
The point is that faith in Christ is the key to receiving the peace spoken of in John 14. Is faith something hard to accomplish? Faith is first a gift from heaven to each of us. Next, faith is a conscious choice; a willful act on our part, to follow Jesus Christ and the life He has exemplified for us.
Will we ever be like Jesus? Of course not. Our goal is to be Christlike, not be Christ. One of the tools to accomplish that is the peace we're speaking of. If you desire this peace, won't you contact us at either, www.cedarvalleypointman.org or frank@cedarvalleypointman.org? Leave your contact information such as phone number and times to contact you or we can communicate via e-mails.
Blessings, Frank
