I don’t know where this is, but I’d like to be there right now. It looks peaceful. And quiet. I can imagine the sweet songs of birds and off in the distance a horse softly whinnying. Perhaps the sounds of people talking softly or the giggles of children playing in the last moments of the day before they are called into the house for the night. My spirit longs for the peace of this scene.

“Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]” John 14:27 AMP

God has been showing me new things recently. My husband and I facilitate a home group and there has been much revelation coming out of our study and conversations. And there in the midst of these discussions God’s peace has come in ways I’ve not expected.

Jesus tells us in John 14 that He is leaving His peace with us, but not as the world gives peace. That causes me to stop. What is He saying?

The picture above leaves me with an impression of peace, of what I believe peace looks and sounds like. In my minds eye, it is what I perceive peace in this world to be. And yet, if I’m understanding correctly, the words of Jesus say this isn’t the peace He left for us.

No, His peace is something more. In His words He instructs us to not allow ourselves to be troubled – or afraid. How many times a day do you find yourself troubled or afraid? Honestly, I have troubling thoughts more often than I’d like to admit.

What is He trying to show us then?  I love the Amplified version because here, if we keep reading, we get a hint. It says, “stop allowing!” I take it there is a choice in this verse.  Jesus left His peace here for us to enjoy but it may not be what we think of when we think of peace.

Where do those troubling thoughts or fear come from? From the enemy of our soul, Satan.  How often does he attempt to cause us grief throughout our days? Often! I don’t know about you, but I find troubling thoughts in some of the oddest places of my life.

I think understandably, troubling thoughts and perhaps even fear can come from the news, perhaps situations we find ourselves in, maybe even in the everyday occurrences of our lives. Then they get compounded by conversations that take directions we didn’t expect, news from our loved ones, our jobs, and so on.

Surprisingly I’ve found troubling thoughts in my social media connections, in realizing that my good intentions have fallen by the wayside and even in conversations with folks I dearly love. Let’s face it. The enemy is quite adept at throwing us curves throughout our days! Why? Because if he can keep us off center, he can keep us from God’s peace!

Thus, Jesus is telling us in this verse that we must work at remaining in His peace.  It’s there for us because He told us He left it for us to partake of. But you and I are going to have to work at receiving His peace.  It means we must ever be on guard at the enemy’s tactics.

Here’s the kicker. When we begin to be aware of what the enemy is doing and all the ways he loves to take us into troubling thoughts and/or fear, we deliver a very gratifying and wicked left hook directly back at him! And that, my friend, feels really, really good!

No, I’m not sitting on that beautiful hill as the sun sets sweetly in the distance. I’m sitting here on my couch in my living room realizing that I’m resting in His peace tonight. I just finished looking at one of my social media sites and something I read disturbed me. But instead of allowing that disturbing thought to take hold, I saw what he was trying to do. I captured the thought, and in realizing and denying it, I just sucker-punched the enemy.

Not tonight Satan! I’m resting in the peace Jesus talked about in John 14:27. And that’s the truth!