“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 14:27
Lord, grant me Your promised peace like a river,
Serenely flowing down from Your throne.
Troubles are looming and only You can deliver,
Hush the turmoil, churning in my soul.
Jesus, You possess what this world cannot impart,
In You abides that joyous hope the world knows not of.
Command these discouraging fears to depart,
Overcome, overwhelm my soul with courageous love.
Oh, how this world has trials in abundance,
Which threaten our blood-bought promise of rest.
Prince of Life, bestow that glorious inheritance,
Guard and surround my heart, O most Blessed.
chorus:
God of all grace, descend and fill to overflowing,
Your eternal reign is the realm of perfect peace;
Set my soul at rest, secure and boldly singing.
Exalted Sovereign over all, with majesty arrayed,
Create a song on my lips that proclaims Your peace,
Beautiful as a garden in the cool of the day;
How I long for that repose of mind and heartsease.
God of All Peace
C.A. TAYLOR
Let us distinguish between “Peace” and “My Peace.” There is a distinction between these two. The former refers to the result of His work for us on the cross: "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"; the latter refers to His indwelling, who is our Peace. The one He has bequeathed as a legacy to all men…. the other is a gift, which must be appropriated and used…
The order of these two varieties of peace is invariable. ~We must have peace with God before we can enjoy the peace of God. We must receive the atonement, with all its blessed comfort, before we can enter upon our heritage in Christ Jesus. Christ dying for us on the cross must precede Christ living in us by His Spirit; justification with its evidence must be well apprehended before sanctification with its fruits; the peace with God must shed its benediction over the soul before it can enter upon the peace of God. Ah, soul! thou hast experienced the former; dost thou know the latter? Dost thou know what it is for Christ to enter into the closed doors of the inner chamber of the heart, and say, "Peace be unto thee"? Dost thou know what it is to hear His voice speaking above the tumult of the inland lake of thy soul, and making a great calm? Dost thou know what it is for Him to deal with the springs of the inner life, which lie deeper than emotion or fancy, and pour in His infinite serenity, so that the outflow may be tranquil?
Christ lays stress on His peace. He must mean the very peace that filled His own heart; not something like it, but the same, always keeping the heart with the affections, and the mind with its thoughts. This being so, we infer~
That His peace is consistent with a perfect knowledge of coming sorrow. ~He knew all things that awaited Him (John 18:4): the treachery of Judas, the denial by Peter, the forsaking by all, the shame and spitting, the cross and the grave; and yet He spoke serenely of His peace. It is therefore consistent with the certain outlook towards darkness and the shadow of death. You may know from certain symptoms that cancer has struck its fangs into your flesh, and that paralysis has begun to creep along your spine; that your dearest is barked by the Woodsman for felling; that your means of subsistence will inevitably dry up: but, facing all these, as Jesus faced the cross, you may still be conscious of a peace that passes understanding.
That it is consistent with energetic action. ~Men are disposed to think that peace is one of the last fruits of the tree of life which drop into the hand of the aged. A man says to himself, “I shall have to relinquish this active life, to settle in some quiet country home in the midst of nature, and then perhaps I shall know what peace means. A snug home and a competence, the culture of flowers, the slow march of the seasons, tender home-love far away from the hustling throng of the world ~these are the conditions of peace.” Not so, says Christ: "Arise, let us go hence." Let us leave this quiet harbor, and launch out into the stormy deep. Let us leave this still chamber, around the windows of which the vines cling, and go forth into the garden where the cedars fight with the tempest; and amidst it all we shall find it possible to enjoy the peace that passes understanding. Let men and women immersed in the throng of daily toil understand that Christ's peace is for those who hear the bugle note of duty summoning them to arise and go hence.
That the chief evidence of this peace is in the leisureliness of the heart. ~Christ's possession of peace was very evident through all the stormy scenes that followed. With perfect composure He could heal the ear of Malchus, and stay the impetuosity of Peter; could reason quietly with the slave that smote Him, and bid the daughters of Jerusalem cease their weeping; could open Paradise to the dying thief, and the door of John's home to the reception of His mother. Few things betray the presence of His peace more than the absence of irritability, fretfulness, and feverish haste, which expend the tissues of life.
Oh, that you may now receive from Christ this blessed gift! Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart; it is your high privilege, be not backward in availing yourself of it. It will be as oil to the machinery of life.
When you put the government upon His shoulder, He sets up His reign within you as the Prince of Peace. Happily for you, if of the increase of His government there is no end; for of the increase of your peace there will be no end either.
The world's peace consists in the absence of untoward circumstances; Christ's is altogether independent of circumstances, and consists in the state of the heart. It matters nothing that in the world we have tribulation; He bids us be of good cheer, because in Him we shall have peace. The wildest conjunction of outward things cannot break the perfect peace of the soul which nestles to His heart, as Noah's dove to the hand which plucked it in from the weltering waters.
"Let not your heart be troubled," the Master says again. “You may be troubled on every side; but be not troubled! Do not let the trouble come inside. Watch carefully against its intrusion, as you would against that of any other form of temptation. Let My peace, like a sentinel, keep you; and as you look forward to the unknown future, out of which spectral figures emerge, do not be afraid. There is a part for you to do, as well as for Me. I can give you My peace; but you must avoid any and everything that will militate against its possession and growth.”
F.B. MEYER
The Gospel of John
photo: Debbie Heyer
Olympic Mountains
