John 14

Jesus talks to his disciples about his leaving. But he is basically explaining to them that there is no need to worry. Actually that’s the fist thing he tells them. He says “Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me.” He tells them that he is preparing a place for them and when everything is ready, he will come and get them. He spends a lot of time here reassuring them. “No, I will not abandon you as an orphan – I will come to you. In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will too.” It almost sounds like he is talking to children. And basically we are His children. He is basically saying Shhh, it’s ok, don’t worry, I’ll be back, and I will come to get you. But the verse that really sticks out to me is verse 27.

Key verse. I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

If you look at the world today, a lot of people are really stressed out. So in order to deal with their stress, they go to see a doctor who gives them medication to help with their stress. You could say that this is a chemical peace, but is it truly peace?The peace of Christ is a much deeper peace. There is no need to worry about the stresses of the present or the future. That no matter what is going on in your life, God is there, and so is His peace. We just have to trust and love him to hand it all over to Him. I have found this to be absolutely true within my own experience. I was prescribed chemical peace a while back when my life was in complete chaos and I was totally stressed out. But after about a week into my “chemical peace”, I realized that I was so stressed out because I was trying to handle it all on my own. It was only when I stopped, and cried out to God for His help and His peace that I truly stopped being under a lot of stress. It was amazing.

My prayer: Lord I know that in the past I have had moments of severe stress, that I was able to get through it because you were there in my life helping me. I pray that when I am faced with more stress in the future, and You and I know that I will, that with your help and guiding hand we can get through it. And that i can help others to see the same lesson here that I have learned.