My Peace I Leave with You

Most people in the world long for peace.

Peace between nations.

Peace between family members.

Peace within their hearts.

My husband and a few friends recently spent time together in Israel. What a beautiful, confusing, deep, amazing land.

There's so much I long to understand about the past and the present of this complicated. special place.

Jesus walked that ground 2,000 years ago teaching, healing, and showing the world His Father. In fact, what got the people most angry with Him were the words "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father."

Even then, people wanted peace.

Peace in their nation.

Peace in their hearts.

No different from today, they looked and listened but they could not see nor hear.

We want peace, but only on our own terms. Peace without cost. Peace without effort.

Hours before Jesus was arrested, He spoke to those closest to Him. He spoke from the heart. He spoke from the Father.

John chapter 14. We call it the Comfort Chapter. It has been a personal favorite chapter for many years.

"Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place I will come again and receive you unto myself so where I am, you will be also ... Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives ..."

Peace comes with a price.

The price is surrender. The price is laying down self-sufficiency and picking up Jesus. The price is not just admitting we need Him, the price is in acting on our need minute by minute of every broken and difficult day.

Our hearts are restless because we want to understand everything. We want answers to the why's of heartache and disappointment. We want relief. We think peace comes with having all our prayers answered.

Complete peace, like true joy, comes from giving up and giving in. It's the cry, that guttural cry, that admits I cannot continue to do this life this way. I cannot continue to use my own limited strength.

Jesus! I give in. I hand over to You my need to do it on my own, my desire to fix. My want to understand and my felt control.

I want Your peace. I accept Your peace in place of my pride.

I hope you'll read John chapter 14 today.

I will pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

I will pray for peace among people.

But more so, I pray for people to know the gift of salvation and the peace of total surrender.

Minute by minute of every broken and difficult day.