Peace • Devotion 1

Peace and The Holy Spirit
Elijah Edwards

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27

To be honest, peace may be the hardest thing for me personally to have in my heart. My mind can be riddled with the worries of the world from time to time, or heavily focused on my own shortcomings as a sinful man. Peace continuously escapes not only me, but many of you as well. We are constantly on the move worrying and stressing about what is next in our life. Even in times when we should be at peace, we still find a way to disrupt it. On our own, none of us truly know what true peace looks like. That is why Jesus says in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
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The first question has to be, “What is peace?” To most of us, the definition of peace is “anything that is without conflict.” For example, it is making peace with an enemy instead of conflict. However, as we look at this passage, Jesus is not promising that His peace will bring no conflict. Jesus told His followers in John chapter 15 that they will be hated by the world because the world hated Him first. The peace that Jesus is explaining here is a peace that we can have even in the midst of extreme turmoil. No matter what we are facing or what may lay in front of us, we can have peace in Christ Jesus knowing that His will and plan will be done and that He will never forsake us. Jesus is explaining that our hearts do not need to be troubled and our minds do not need to be afraid, because the Holy Spirit is with us. Even in the face of death, we have nothing to fear because of the sacrifice made by Christ and the promise He has set for all of His followers.

The context as to when and where Jesus is telling His disciples this is at the end of the Last Supper and right before Jesus is about to be taken to be crucified. The disciples are about to witness their Messiah be tortured and killed on a cross, feeling that there is no hope or peace in that scenario. He is telling the disciples that even though you will witness my death, have peace knowing Who I am about to leave with you. The Holy Spirit is coming. Therefore, Jesus had made a way that even in death, there is peace.

So I ask today, what conflict and trouble is going on in your heart? Are you truly letting the peace that Jesus left us fill your spirit and clear your mind? Let the Lord’s peace He has left for us come into your life and know whatever you are facing that He has conquered it and knowing that will bring you peace.
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