Just as He was about to get
taken and put in prison then tortured and hung on the cross Jesus spoke to His
followers about peace. He forewarned them that there would be all kinds of
crazy stuff gong on in the future and that they were not to worry about that
because He had already taken care of it.
He told them to have peace,
not as the world gives but peace that passes all understanding to the point of
understanding the unbelievable and believable.
He did not just tell them to
have peace but Jesus gave it and left it with them. He left it with a
stipulation; that we obey His commands, or His teaching. We need to obey God to
have peace. And that’s nor really such a big deal, obedience is easy when it is
someone you love.
If you love me keep my
commandments. John 14:15
It is no different today if
we want to have a peaceful life we have to be sure we are keeping God’s Word in
our heart and obeying His Word as well. It proves that we love Him and I
believe it also makes God want to bless us in the same way we want to bless our
children when they obey us.
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he
will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him
and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does
not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but
the Father’s who sent Me “I have told you all these
things while I am with you. But the Helper will
teach you everything and will cause you to remember all that I told you. This
Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name. Peace I leave with you,
My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have
heard Me say to you, ‘I am going
away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would
rejoice because I said, ‘I am
going to the Father,’ for My
Father is greater than I. John 14:23-27
I
love this chapter of John because it gives us so much to think on each day.
Jesus was winding down his time on earth and about to be captured and hung on
the cross for us; He gave us such meat and such dessert!
The
meat is the ‘get your heart and mind right with God through His Word’; the
dessert is the peace, joy, and love going on in our lives! We receive the
blessing of dessert when we have completed our meals as children, so why not as
children of God? It all makes such sense!
Looking
back at verse fifteen we can see that God wants to be part of our lives
forever, but again we must keep the peace between us with the obedience in His
Word.
“If
you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide
with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.“A little while longer
and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in
My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps
them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father,
and I will love him and manifest Myself to him" John 14:15-20
Another
cool thing in this chapter that stands out to me is that we are one; one with
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are one church, throughout the world, full
of many denominations but one through Christ!
It
is funny cause so many people want to see God, as a child my sister an I got
part of that concept a little off as we would try to figure God out. We had
heard that God was with us, and in us. So we found that funny, we would say
something and say hey if God is in us then God just talked! We had no clue then
but we know the difference now. We were not so far off because the Holy Spirit
within us is whom we are representing when we speak. So when we talk, God is
sharing with our words. Let the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
be accepted in Your sight oh Lord. For
when I speak, the words I speak are to be filtered through Christ. I fall short
sometimes; I confess when I am frustrated I am not always tempered with peace;
I forget that I have joy within me with just a simple prayer and I sometimes
say words I wish I had never heard from anyone come out of my mouth. Don’t let your imagination run wild; know
that the rotten stinky words I have used are not too bad compared to others,
but I know they are not acceptable in His sight I am ashamed to say.
So
what do we do when a word comes out that we may have
heard someone say in the world, what do we do then?
We pray and ask God to forgive us and whoever
was in our midst as we muttered those words.
I
want only good to come out of me, but occasionally that which we hear is what
will come out. So lets make it a pack to not use words that produce bad
feelings but only good; lets decide to dig in the Word more so that we can be
one with Christ always and not speak out
in words of anger, but that our utterances will be full of prayer for peace,
hope, love, and joy.
I
know my God is with me wherever I go, and that means that even if a word or a
thought slips out I am bringing it to Him, because we are one with Jesus via
the Holy Spirit. I cannot deny Christ just because I am walking around in an
unholy world. We need to live by bigger standards than the people who do not
know Christ.
He did not come just to
bring us peace, but He does give us peace. If we work to keep our hearts and
minds clean before the Lord then our mind will be stayed on Him, and He will
keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him! Isaiah 26:3 paraphrased.
Dear Heavenly Father,
forgive us for not keeping our minds clean before you. Help us to remember that
we are one with You and that all it takes is a moment of remembering to clear
out the unacceptable thoughts and words, help us to remain in You from start to
finish of each day as we think in Your Word. In Jesus name, amen.
Suggested Reading: John
14:1-31, John 15:1-25, Isaiah 26:1-21, John 16:1-24