PT-3 The Presence of Peace (John 14:27a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/27/2016 9:34 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 The Presence of Peace

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 14:27a

            Message of the verses:  “"Peace I leave with you;”

            A little review before we look further at this subject of the presence of peace.  John MacArthur writes “Objectively, peace in the New Testament has to do with a person’s standing before God; subjectively, with the believer’s resulting experience of peace in everyday living.”  With that said I can say that I truly believe that I have peace with God and that peace with God comes from the blood of the cross as Paul wrote to the Colossian believers.  Now the subjectively part is probably the harder one to count to be true even though I know it is true for there seems to be plenty of times when I don’t seem to have this peace in my everyday life.  MacArthur goes on to say that “Thus, objective peace is a necessary prerequisite for subjective peace, neither of which are possible for the unsaved person to enjoy.”  I have to say that I am reviewing this because I have had a hard time understanding it and thought that others may be too.

            Paul writes the following in Romans 14:17 to show us that experiential peace is an essential part of the Christians life “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  Paul writes the following in a benediction in Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  2 Thessalonians 3:16 is another benediction given by Paul “Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!”  He wrote to the Galatians that peace was a part of the fruit of the Spirit “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.”  MacArthur concludes this section by writing “Such peace not only manifests itself in private tranquility, but also in harmony with other believers (Mark 9:50; Rom. 14:19; 2 Cor. 13:11; Eph. 4:3; 1 Thess. 5:13; 1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 3:2).”

            I suppose that the presence of peace is a difficult thing to understand perhaps because I have a different ideal of what it is that what the Bible tells me it is all about.  I realize that when I was born that I was an enemy of God, I did not have peace with God, and peace with God was a gift given to me through what Christ did for me on the cross.  The Bible teaches that I still have an old nature or the flesh which is still a part of me and so when I go through difficult times it is not easy for me to understand this presence of peace that we are talking about.  I also understand that when Jesus told His disciples about this peace, peace was not what they were experiencing because of what He told them about going to the cross and dying.  I also realize that they probably did not truly understand the fullness of this peace until the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to them.

            Paul writes to the Philippians in 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Paul says here that if you are anxious that you are to pray and then goes on to say that God will then give you peace, now that does not mean that He will take your circumstances away from you, but will give you peace to go through it.  I have said in an earlier that I believe that the fulfillment of these verse are seen when Jesus was in the Garden praying before He went to the cross, and God did not take away what He asked to be taken away but gave Him peace to go through what He went through on the cross.  Paul then says the following in verse eight “8  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”  Perhaps if we all dwelt on these things that peace would be easier to be seen in our lives.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Red Sea” (1 Kings 9:26).

Today’s Bible question:  “Whose face looked like the face of an angel when the council looked at him?”

Answer in our next SD.

11/27/2016 10:03 PM