I have told you these
things so that in Me you may have perfect peace. In the world you have
tribulation, trials, distress, and frustration, but be of good cheer;
I have overcome the world and deprived it of its power to harm you. (John
16:33, AMP)
These are a few of Jesus’ last words of
encouragement before the soldiers took Him as a prisoner. Do we think they are
only for those twelve disciples? They are for every one
of Jesus’ followers of all time.
Nothing Jesus said was just for that moment in time. As God is in control
now, was in control in the past, and will always be in control, so Jesus’
words, as the Son of God, are for the past, present, and future. So what
does this verse mean for us? Jesus said you will experience trials, distresses, frustrations, and tribulations. He did not say if you have them, but in
the world, “you will have.” The world will affect us. We are definitely going to flounder
in this world. Yet, we do not have to go through them alone. Jesus, in verse 7
of this chapter, said He is sending a Comforter, a Helper. That knowledge should
bring cheer to us each of us by itself; we retain God-sized help for our daily
walk. Jesus said He gives more than this. We will possess cheer and peace, not
just any peace but perfect peace. Peace and joy are not things we can find within
the world or even within ourselves. They are only found in a relationship with
Jesus. We might hold peace
for a moment in ourselves when a calm night is with us and when we have completed
necessary tasks and our needs are provided. We might say, what need have we for
Jesus when we acquired this by our own hands. What about tomorrow, though, when
peace is not relative with us, when things are out of your control? Do we possess
peace in the midst of the troubles in which we find ourselves? Jesus gives
peace for this situation, peace that comes because He has conquered the evil
one, the one who is causing our troubles. Satan knows He is beaten; he is just
hoping we have forgotten so he can steal our peace from our minds. We must
remember we have Jesus as our conquering Savior; He is the provider of perfect peace. This is
nothing new. The writers in the Old Testament testified to this peace many
times, read Psalms and Proverbs again. Read about the Israelites’ travels to
the Promised Land. Peace is here through Jesus, in the past, the present and
for the future. We must never fail to remember and believe it comes
through Jesus as Conqueror and Savior. Job did not fail to give praise to God
and remember from whom his blessings had come in
the past. He even went so far as to pray for his
friends who appeared to have forgotten this fact and lost their peace. (Job
42:10).
Now here is the question,
are we remembering Jesus blessed us with perfect peace? Are we allowing Satan
through his tricks to confound and blind us to the reality of God’s absolute sovereignty, blessing of victory,
and perfect peace? Remember, as Isaiah said, “You will guard and keep him in
perfect and constant peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he commits
himself to You” (Isaiah 26:3, AMP).
