Vision 2020Sample

Day 14

Peace

John 14:27 (NIV) Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

How much peace do you possess in your life? One of the things we all search for and seek after is peace. Peace can be defined in a number of ways. It’s a word that is used to describe “a state of tranquility or quiet.” It’s also used to describe “harmony in particular relationships.” Peace is something that all of us desire in our personal lives, as well as in our interpersonal interactions with others.

One of the greatest hindrances to peace, personally and interpersonally, in our society today, is something called stress. The Christian psychologist, Archibald Hart, states in one of his books that “the time is rapidly approaching, if it hasn’t already arrived, when we will be dying less and less from infectious disease but more and more from the ravaging effects of too much stress.”

Stress can be defined as “pressure that is exerted upon our lives physically, spiritually and psychologically.” I recently discovered an interesting list of things that can cause stress in our lives. One author states that “stress can result from anything that: annoys you, threatens you, prods you, excites you, scares you, worries you, hurries you, angers you, frustrates you, challenges you, or criticizes you. As we can see from this list, not everything that might cause us stress is necessarily negative. In fact, stress can actually result in positive growth in our lives. The issue is not whether we will experience stress; the critical factor is how we will respond to it when it does arrive in our lives.

In today’s passage Christ speaks to His disciples during a time of great stress in their lives. After walking with Christ for three years they suddenly found themselves facing the reality that He was soon going to depart from them. The thought of this was too much for them to bear. Christ knew that this was both a difficult and challenging time for His disciples, a time that called them to new growth. Growing through this stress required supernatural peace.

In these words, Christ promises something to His disciples, a resource that would carry them through their time of stress. It was His peace, a peace that would overcome the fear and turmoil in their hearts.

Perhaps you are facing some stress in your life today. Reach out and receive the peace that passes all understanding. Receive the peace of God in your life today!