Power of Peace

  Key Scripture: 

“I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you.  Peace.  I

don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left-feeling abandoned, bereft. So disturbed. Don't be distraught."  John 14:26, The Message       

Power Point:

I love sinking into my nice soft bed at night. I have made every effort to make it as comfortable as possible and it is! I was thinking this week about the “comfortable” things that we have because of Jesus. One of my favorites is that we have the “comfort” of His peace. He is the “Prince of Peace”. That means, that He is the Prince of Shalom. The word “shalom” means “nothing missing, nothing broken”.

In the Hebrew the word “shalom” also means, “to destroy chaos”. So when Jesus says, “I leave you my “peace”, He is saying I leave you the ability to destroy chaos in your life and I am giving you the opportunity to have nothing missing and nothing broken.

In the world’s eyes, peace only comes when everything is calm and there’s no chaos. In Jesus’ world, peace itself destroys the chaos.  When we receive the “Peace” that He left us we experience the same peace He had when He walked the earth. Peace IN chaos. Peace IN the Gethsemane’s of our lives.  Peace IN knowing that He is with us, He will care for us, and He will keep us safe.

Yesterday I was talking to a friend whose life, as I glanced around it, is filled with the potential for chaos. Her father recently died, a dear friend has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and of course, Christmas is coming soon! As I prayed for her I could see Peace “raining” down from heaven and soaking into every part of her.  So I prayed that the “rain” of the Holy Spirit would release Jesus’ peace into her soul and destroy the chaos and heal the wounds.

I believe that as that happens she will “sink in” to the Peace that Jesus died to give us- that His peace will be as restful as a comfortable bed. That as she experiences that peace, she will move into rest and that times of refreshing will come from the Lord-even in the middle of the muddle. It can, you know. He said so.

I pray that for you too, my friends.

Power Thought:

God’s peace is always beyond our understanding but aways within our grasp.