Spiritual Peace, Not Worldly.

Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments. 

Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 

Joh 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 

If…

If…

And one more time, if…

Such a tiny word with such big meaning. If implies an action based on a choice. The dictionary definition goes something like this- 'A conjunction used to indicate the circumstances that would have to exist in order for an event to happen.' (Encarta Dictionary)  The circumstance here that exists is LOVING Jesus, and the event to happen KEEPING His commandments. If we love, we keep. Jesus isn't mincing words here, He's not saying if we love Him we can choose to keep a couple of His commandments. He's stating plainly IF we claim to love Him, if we think even for a moment that we love Him, then we will CHOOSE to keep His commandments. So what happens when we don't keep His commandments? Is that proof of our not really loving Him? Or is it proof of our precarious position in the war against sin? The choice is to love, and out of love to keep the commandments. The awfulness that caused us to ever need to be saved prevents us from doing this perfectly, and yet, we must ever strive to keep and when we fail to, we have to seek forgiveness which means recognition of our wrong, and the saving grace that comes from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

IF we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments and when we keep His commandments HE will pray to the Father to give us a Comforter who will live with us forever. The Spirit of truth. This Spirit of truth, our Comforter cannot be known by the world, but only those who love Jesus. We will know because He will live with us, and in us.

Joh 14:18  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 

Joh 14:19  Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 

Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 

Again, emphasized, if we keep the commandments of Jesus (summed up in loving God and loving others), we love Him. If we love Jesus, we are loved by the Father, and Jesus will manifest Himself to us. We will be given the Spirit of truth, the Comforter.

Joh 14:22  Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 

Spirit living. We choose to keep the words of Jesus revealing our choice to love Him, and He will spiritually fill us with Himself, with God the Father, with the Holy Spirit.

Joh 14:24  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. 

Joh 14:25  These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 

Joh 14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 

Joh 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. 

Peace, Jesus' peace- NOT the peace the world can offer, but Jesus' peace is given to us, He leaves us with His peace and He tells us not to let our heart be troubled or afraid.

Is it any wonder we are told NOT to let our heart be trouble or afraid? The world we live in, the world anyone has lived in the past, this world ruled by the prince of darkness is a very fearful, troubling place to live. And the world does offer peace in many different ways, peace from the troubles of life. What do you do to get peace in your life? The constant unwinding at the end of the day, brought about by the constant winding during the day. The constant looking towards weekends where the hope of peace from weekday life is supposed to exist. The striving for vacation time each year so an entire week or so can be spent in the peace of not living a life of work strife. There are many ways people seek the peace of the world- through drink, food, flesh pleasures, entertainment all things to take our minds off the troubles and just forget about them for a while.

Jesus' peace isn't the peace of the worldly. Jesus' peace is found in the knowledge that loving Him and living for Him will EVENTFULLY result in an eternal peace, an everlasting peace. We find His peace now in faith of future forever peace. We lay claim to that hope, and the hope gives us a tiny taste of the peace to come. 

All around us will be chaos, we aren't taken out of the chaotic, sin filled, sin ruled world- but we are to be kept by the Father from the evil that would keep us from loving our God.

Our lives may be filled with a constant barrage of circumstances that encourage our fearful and troubled heart. One after another circumstances that bring us to our knees in tears, clawing our hearts to pieces so we can barely stand to exist, will assail us. We may wonder at our extreme worldly misfortune with things happening that we've done nothing to provoke. We can't comprehend how the awful things of life can occur to us who are striving to love God and love others. You've often heard it said that it's proof of God not loving or caring for us when we live with horrendous misfortunes throughout our lives. When tragedies occur some will use them to claim no loving God could exist who lets this happen, and yet others will say, these happen because sin is ruling the world, and people have turned their backs on God.

The rain falls on the just and the unjust the Bible tells us.

Trouble falls on the just and the unjust.

The peace of God, the peace only God can give to us climbs out over all the strife in life no matter how, what, where, when it exists and tells us it is ALL temporary, there is hope in a future beyond this current world's sin ruled state.

Joh 14:28  Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 

Joh 14:29  And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 

Joh 14:30  Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 

Joh 14:31  But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. 

May we LOVE Jesus, may we keep His commandments, may we receive the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, may the Father God, Jesus, and the Comforter live in us keeping us in the spiritual peace only given by them. Please, Lord, we would love You and all that means! Live in us, let the Spirit of Truth guide all we do and fill us with YOUR peace, not the peace of the world.

Please.

Thank you!!!!!!!

All glory, praise, and honor unto You now and forever!!!!!!!