Jesus' Peace

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you;

not as the world gives do I give to you.

Do not let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

John 14:27 NASB

I have a confession to make.  The peace I have recently been seeking is that of a worldy view.  As I have been battling anxiety for the past few months the only thing I can focus on somedays is wanting to feel better.  I desire to feel "normal" again.  My body is tired of the rollercoaster.  My mind is a mess from feeling great one moment to having an overwhelming irrational fear over something I can't even put my finger on.  I just want to be my old self again, and just when I get a glimpse of healing I am reminded that I still have so far to go.  I don't know why God has me in this place right now but I am sure that there is something for me to learn and grow from.  I am confident that something good will come from my suffering because that is His promise to me.  Even so, I struggle to feel peace during this time.  Unfortunately, I am not proud to admit, I have been looking in the wrong place.  

After repeating this scripture over and over in my mind I realized the other day that the thought of being healthy and feeling good, is worldly peace.  God's peace isn't necessarily giving me healing but it is giving me the ability to carry on when I am down and ill.  The world wants me to think that if I am sad, sick, poor, weak, lonely, or depressed that I will only have peace when I feel better.  When I can hide the hurt or take away the feelings by replacing them with things, money, people, or put all of my energy into treating my illness, then the world says I will have peace.  So I think on my problems daily, tring to figure them out and find ways to feel better, or excuses for why I don't feel good, all the while trying to encourage myself that things will be better with time.  I am seeking answers from a world view instead of letting God's peace rule in my heart.  I am trying to do this alone.  I am selfishly consumed with my problem trying to fix it telling myself I will feel peace when I do.  Sounds silly but it's reality for so many of us.  We can never reproduce the peace that comes from Jesus Christ ruling in our lives.  The peace we seek only comes from one source.  Micah 5:5 tells us that He will be our peace.  Jesus is my peace and knowing that I have him working on my behalf should give me the strength to carry on even when my body doesn't feel "normal".  In fact, I have experiened this awesome peace that comes straight from God.  The peace that comes when you know looking at your circumstances you should be a puddle on the floor but instead you are standing tall and confident that God is in control.  That, my friends, is Jesus' peace.  The peace that no matter how hard we look, no matter what we pay or who we know, we will never find until we trust in Jesus with every ounce of our being.  And so I repent of my ways of not trusting enough.  I am sorry for seeking worldy peace and making my focus on being well instead of living through the unwell.  

Joseph had many unfortanate events take place in his life and he continued to trust in God.  His peace came from the Almighty I AM and he thrived in a life that many of us would have given up on.  He stayed the course and patiently endured because he knew God was his source of peace in the dark times and his source of joy in the good times.  That, my friends, is what I seek most in life.  I want to live the life that knows joy and peace even when things around me are falling apart.  With each new problem there is a transition phase but I pray that God always brings me back to Him and that Jesus will never be forgotten as my source of peace and authority over the powers of this dark world.  Praying for all my GFF's today!  That you can seek the peace that is free and never ending.  The peace that was given to us as a gift when Jesus took our sins upon His back.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.........And so we pray!