Have You Received This Gift?

So it’s wednesday again!

And another time to dig into what God has for us in His Word for our online family.
Let me take a minute to say that if you are one of those who keep coming on here each wednesday for our #OnlineBibleStudy, I celebrate you.
God’s Word never fails and even if you don’t need it now, you’ll need it later.

 
So, what are we going to be delving into today?
There’s a particular Bible Study I’ve been intending to post for the past two weeks but something always overrides it.
I had it ready yesterday when the words from John 14 kept ringing in my head. And when that happens, I know it won’t be fair to just dump it because I have a scheduled Bible study in my head. Someone may need this.

 
So I go through many situations and receive mails from people with questions to which sometimes, the answer in me to give to them is just to #REST in God’s peace.
No matter how much I would want to write lots of things, the answer would just be #REST in God’s peace.
It always seems too funny and too simple to do right?
We say “Lord, I am going through terrible things at the moment, the wind is blowing terribly hard in my face. What are you telling me to do? What?
Just #REST?”

 
Here’s what was ringing in me yesterday…
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.”

 
But it’s funny, in today’s world, nobody wants to rest or let not their hearts be troubled.
People want you/God to give them a step by step solution to their problems.
I don’t want you to tell me to rest in God’s peace when I tell you I have issues in my home.
No.
I want you to tell me what to do to make the issues go away!
But Jesus knew that we will have issues in our lives but still, He started John 14 with…
” Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” – John 14:1

 
But some of us would still want to scream, “how can you tell me to let not my heart be troubled, do you know what I am going through?”
But do you know what Jesus went through?
As at when He was telling His disciples not to let their hearts be troubled, He himself was going to face death at the cross so that answer is given already.
He knows what you are going through because He even went through worse.

 
But I guess that’s why He says that this gift of peace I give to you is not one that the world gives.
The world tells you not to worry when all is going well, but Jesus tells you not to worry in every circumstances, even when things aren’t going well.
The people in the world cannot understand this peace because it’s not from them, it’s from the Spirit.

Have you ever looked at some persons who are so calm in every situation and wondered how they do it?
Someone dies in their family, they are in grief but still, they have this peace and joy in their soul.
They will even be the ones comforting others who come to sympathize with them.
Yes, that kind of peace.
It doesn’t come from the World, it comes from God.
It is a fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22
” But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,…”

So the Holy Spirit is the one who produces the fruit of peace in our lives.
We must know by now that God is a truine God.
So God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
So there is no confusion there when Jesus says I leave the gift of peace with you and then we also see that peace is a fruit of the Spirit.
All its saying is that peace – true peace comes from God.

 
It’s the reason why the world which isn’t in God cannot understand, neither can they recognize this peace.
There are certain things my dad tells me that try as I might, I just can’t get ruffled up about.
Instead of flying off the handle(which is my natural reaction), I turn it into prayers and just let my soul remain calm.
I tell you, that’s isn’t done by my own power because I know what my first reaction always is. I want to rant and rave and cry but this peace from God just comes in, so I take it to God and #REST.

 
Jesus said my peace I have given you and He has expressly told us not to worry or be troubled.
Then why do so many Christians still go to bed worrying and wake up worrying?
Because we haven’t received this gift of peace.

 
Let’s look at that passage again in the NLT version.
Jesus says, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – John 14:27

 
Two things are involved when gifts are given – giving and receiving.
So Jesus may have given us this gift but some of us may not have received it.
Or we have received it with our mouths but not with our hearts/actions.
We are still the first persons to get all jittery among our unbelievers friends anytime something happens.
They say there is ebola(last year things) and we are the first persons to drink salt.
They say that a lecturer fails people and we are the first to start lamenting.
But Christ said that He has left us with His gift of peace.
Why are still so shaken?

 
Well, one way to indeed receive this peace is to feed on the Word of God.
If you receive a gift and don’t use it, it will just rot away.
So you can’t receive this peace and just leave it there without using/putting it to practice.
A way to use it is to use it in the Word of God.
Now i’m not just throwing words around, do this as an experiment if you please.
Switch off your phones and all distractions for just a week, then tune into God’s Word and kingdom songs and all, and see if God’s word doesn’t rise up in you when you start to get all troubled.
That’s how the gift of peace gets put into use.
It comes more and more alive in us as we feed on the Bible.

 
Check out Christians who are always worried, ask them if they still spend quality quiet time with God, they will tell you no.
Well, that’s the problem right there.
They can’t #REST in God’s peace because their anchor is off.

 
Jesus made it clear that this peace cannot be gotten from the world, no matter how hard you try.
It’s also funny that someone went through so much to give us such a precious gift but the problem is for us to receive it.
Who does the hardest work? The one who takes the problems or the one who gives them away?
He said, just throw those troubles and leave them on me, you go and don’t be worried, take my peace and let your heart be at rest. I will go and work on your behalf.
But still, peace eludes us Christians nonetheless.
What are we not doing right then?

 
This has got to stop don’t you think so?
The worries and burdens we are just logging around.
We need to just dump those issues now and tell God, I am tired of carrying around stuff that I can’t even solve anyways.
My heart isn’t strong enough to withstand such heavy load of worries.
Please, I drop them at your feet and I receive your peace instead.

 
When Jesus walked into storms, the seas became calm, because He knew the Son of whom He was.
His peace spread to all His disciples and the storm itself.
Does our peace spread to our families?
Does it spread to our friends?
Do people get even more jumpy when they tell us their problems?
The anchor of peace that we lean on should be able to permeate our lives and permeate other lives through us.
When we see storms in our lives, the peace we have received should be able to calm the storm and get us through it.

 
I encourage us all today to rest in the peace that God gives.
Drop all your worries, let God carry them.
You take up His peace and #REST.
It doesn’t take too much to receive this peace, just let’s pray along sincerely today.

 
Prayer – Lord, I lay down every burden and worries in my heart at your altar.
All trials and storms in my life that I have been trying to work out on my own, I drop them into your hands and I take up your peace.
Oh Lord, I receive your peace and I ask that you do what you know how best to do. Work on my behalf and calm every storm.
Take total charge of every aspect of my life.
I love you and I thank you Father, in Jesus name we have prayed, amen.

Pray that prayer sincerely and let God’s Word be your anchor, when you feel worries coming on again, go to your private place of prayer before God and dump all the worries.
Determine not to go down that road of being troubled.
You rest in God’s peace.

And please, for all those who always say that I have “said it all” in our Bible study, I can’t possibly have said it all here, this study just came to me yesterday.
I am always eager to hear from you all.
Have you been in trying times before? How were you able to be calm through it all?
How did God help you?
Please share with us in the comment section below, I don’t joke with the contributions from you all on wednesdays.

 
And oh please, can we make this online community of lovers of God’s Word bigger?
Please share this post to others with the social media buttons below and subscribe via email to get notifications of new posts and be a part of this family in the box below.
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Till our next #OnlineBibleStudy,
Much Love
Frances.

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