Memory Verse: Inner Peace

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” -John 14:27 (NKJV)

True peace is inward and can come only from a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
      The occasion of this statement from Jesus that He would give His disciples peace was made in the Upper Room on the night He was betrayed. He was facing death on the cross, yet He said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.” He who knew peace in what He was doing wanted His followers then and now to know the source of peace and the means of peace. Even amidst conflict, the believer can have the confidence and peace that come from trusting in Christ and relying on His promises. It is through faith that we know the peace Jesus promised.

      Hymns and their words are inspiring and helpful to me as I think of the inner peace Jesus gives. There’s the rousing spiritual “I’ve Got Peace Like a River” with the old words of the spiritual tune arranged by William J. Reynolds:
“I’ve got peace like a river, Ive’ got peace like a river;
I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.”
Then in the second and third verses we add appropriately, “I’ve got love….” “I’ve got joy…”
      If I want a quieter expression, I remember words by Edgar Page Stites (1836-1923) in the hymn “Trusting Jesus,” set to music by that revival musician of another century, Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908):
“Simply trusting ev’ry day, Trusting thro’ a story way;
Even when my faith is small, Trusting Jesus that is all.
Trusting as the moments fly, Trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’er befall; Trusting Jesus, that is all.”
      Prayer: Father when all around us our times are troubled, may we remember the source of inner peace and “let not our hearts be troubled; neither let them be afraid, “ but trust wholly in the Lord. - Ethelene Dyer Jones 06.25.2016