“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (John 14:27)

Peace…Do not let your hearts be troubled…Do not let your hearts be afraid…

Yes, yes, yes! I want that. I desperately want all of that!

So how do I make this peace a reality? The kind of peace where our hearts are not troubled and our hearts are not afraid? How do we experience that?

Jesus tells us in the preceding verse. In order to have this peace, we need the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). Notice the role of the Holy Spirit – to teach us everything that God has said and promised in his word.

So, to have peace, we need the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything God has said and promised in his word. Why?

Jesus tells us in the preceding verse. “Those who love me will keep my word…Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (John 14:23-24).

Why does the Holy Spirit teach and remind us everything God has said and promised in his word? So that we might obey and keep his word.

Want to know why? It’s in living life according to God’s word that we experience the peace that Jesus describes in John 14:27.

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

There is peace in obedience. There is peace in God’s promises.

“Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

So here’s the thing about verses like this. We want this to be true. We want to believe it. But if it’s true, then why am I so fearful and so anxious? What are we supposed to be about the disconnect between the promise and our reality?

These are great questions!

Have you ever tried snuggling with a two or three year old boy? Infants are awesome for snuggling. They aren’t going anywhere and they love being held. Two or three year old boys? Not so much.

The thing is God is always with us. Always. God’s presence, help, strength, and victory is always with us. We just have to stay in his hand. And that’s the thing. We keep wiggling our way out. We want our freedom and independence. We want to play. The last thing we independent selves want is to be held in the loving hands of God.

And then we wonder why when bad things and hard things happen we’re so afraid and anxious.

It’s not that God’s presence and help is not true, it’s that we’ve left God’s presence.

So what can we do? Return.

Return to the loving arms of God and practice being in his presence. That’s where the strength is. That’s where you’ll discover peace.

 

“I will pour our my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit” (Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:17-18)

These words were first uttered in the Old Testament through the prophet Joel.

The context of Joel is a pandemic. Sound familiar?

The pandemic faced by Joel and his contemporaries was an unending waves of locusts that devastated the land. There was nothing left after the waves of locusts. This led to a massive famine. And then to make matters worse for the survivors of the initial famine, the carcass of the millions of dead locusts led to disease and death. It is in the midst of this pandemic that God declares he is about to do a new thing.

These words were the sermon Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2 is the recording of what happened as these promises became a new reality. It was the fulfillment of this promise at Pentecost that birthed the church of Jesus Christ. This was the launching point of the movement of Jesus.

Friends, I know these days may look dark and gloomy. But know that God is not done working in and through us. Although the days make look dark, Pentecost is coming. The Spirit of the Lord is still at work to draw the nations and the peoples to himself.

Isn’t it about time for God to do a new thing in our world? Wouldn’t you agree?

Come Lord Holy Spirit!