Is our inner peace something we have to work up, wind up or pay up or is it a gift from God that we just have to lay back and receive?
Go to John 14:1 and 27 with me. First, I want you to read it as it is recorded in the King James Version:
King James Version
John 14:1
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Now I want you to read it in the Amplified version. There is nothing wrong with the King James Version but the Amplified looks deeper at the original Greek literal interpretation and amplifies it accordingly. These are my two favorite versions.:
Amplified Version
John 14:1
DO NOT let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.
John 14:27
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.]
The reason I wanted us to look at both versions of this verse is because most of us, I think, read the KJV or NIV. But I think the Amplified is going to teach us something. Look at John 14:1. Have you ever been distressed or agitated? Sure you have, we all have. That is what the enemy wants to do to us. He wants to rattle our faith, shake our faith, and get us agitated, disturbed and downright fearful. In short, he wants to destroy our peace. But look at Jesus’ words here. He tells us to believe in, adhere to, trust in and rely on Him. And not only that He tells us in John 14:27 we don’t have to depend on what peace we can muster up, He says He gives us HIS peace. He says He bequeaths it to us. That is a legal term like someone receiving something as an inheritance from a will.
He goes on to tell us though that WE are to put a stop to the agitation, WE are supposed to take authority over what is troubling us. God’s Word never tells us to do something He has not given us the power to do. If He abides in us we have the power to calm ourselves. WE have the power to stop the agitation and to always be at peace. Yes, the enemy will come but we have to stand our ground. Think about the term agitate. You know what the agitator is in your washing machine is, don’t you? What does it do? It agitates the clothes, in other words, it moves them around by constantly shifting their position. That is what the enemy wants to do to you. He wants to move you from the position you stand in the promises of God you have believed. He wants to move you from where you stand in your faith. He wants to move you from a place of peace to a place of fear. He wants to get you in a place of doubt or depending on your own strength. But we don’t have to depend on our own strength.
Joel 3:9-11 says, “Let the weak say, I am strong.”
“24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
Romans 4:17 says we are supposed to call those things which be not as though they were.
The point is we are not alone, we are not fighting alone, and we are not standing in our own strength. God cannot lie and we can stand upon the promises of His Word. If Jesus Himself says we have peace then we have peace! When the enemy comes against us we stand in the peace that Jesus gave us. We don’t have to be agitated. We don’t have to let ourselves be pushed around. We are not cowards. 1 John 4:4 says ”Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
I am told that the Apache warrior was the most fierce warrior of all because they would fight down to the last man. When there was only one man left he would tie a leather thong around his leg and the other end to a stake driven into the ground as a statement that having done all to stand that he would still stand. Ephesians 6: 13 says, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
It is in HIS peace we stand. He will come to our rescue. He will lift up a standard against the enemy when he comes in like a flood (Isaiah 59:19). All we have to do is stand. Stand on the promise of His Word. Stand in His peace. Don’t be agitated and fearful anymore! He has given us the power and we need not ever be afraid again.
What is fear anyway? Someone said FEAR can stand for False Evidence Appearing Real. That is all it is. Let’s break it down. How often do we judge that we see and hear and then create an image that we fear when in reality we have nothing to base such fears upon. There is such a thing as danger and it must be dealt with but even danger should be dealt with courageously. Fear is a feeling. You feel hot. You feel cold. You feel afraid. Too much hot, too much cold….too much fear can kill you. It can kill you not only physically but long before it kills you physically it will kill your heart, mind, spirit and soul. It can turn the most valiant of heroes into a blubbering, thumb-sucking weakling.
Here is the reality though. Fear is an illusion. It is a figment of your imagination, a product of your mind. It is your imagination used wrongly. To control your imagination and to be untouchable by fear though struck down by real danger you still win. To respond in fear to any situation, you have already lost, unless you recognize it soon enough and pull out of its vortex that will surely drag you down to destruction if you allow it. The battle is not won or lost on the battlefield. It is won or lost right in the mind.
When you sit upon a chair believing it will hold you, this is faith. If you begin to overanalyze and create all kinds of made-up reasons in your mind as to why you think the chair will not hold you this only results in you being very tired from standing when you could have just sat down and rested. Then someone comes along and sits in the chair and you feel really stupid. This is fear. It is the opposite of faith.
Ask any fighter, “When you fight do you have to be as strong as your opponent and push against the attacker and push him back?” And they will answer, “No, it is easier and more effective to redirect the motion of an attack and use the attacker’s force and momentum to our advantage.”
It is the same with fear. You should redirect its force and turn that which was meant to destroy you into something that serves you. Fear should be your slave, not your master. Doing things God’s way you deflect every attack and win every battle. You cannot defeat fear and the enemy’s lies in your own strength. Don’t perceive things at face value. Defend yourself with truth. Trust God and his promises and you will succeed and you proceed from a place of confidence and trust in he who has called you. It takes training your mind but you can do this.
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