"Peace be with you."
John 20:26
Several months ago I wrote a blogpost titled, "Love Over Fear". We looked at how love leads to joy and joy leads to peace, as Paul indirectly points out when he wrote about the Fruit of the Spirit. I encouraged you to focus on loving God, loving others, and loving yourself. Having a heart of thankfulness, unselfishness, and trust in God's love for you can go a long way to help in overcoming fear.
Today
I want to talk a little more specifically about how focusing on love
can bring peace by looking at how truth plays a role in this. Truth is
something that can bring on feelings of fear and also chase them away. Your fears may be for yourself or for those you
care about, such as your spouse, your children or grandchildren, another family member, a friend, neighbor, or those you minister to. You know bad things happen in our world. This is a sad
reality of life. Those you love, and you yourself, are vulnerable to physical, mental, or emotional trauma every day. Natural disasters, health problems, violence, crime, financial hardship, cruel words of others, just to name a few, are all very real and can threaten our well-being. But
the truth also tells us that God will care for us, protect us, and
bring good things out of bad circumstances.
The same is true regarding the condition of our hearts. We are sinful. We do the wrong things, make poor decisions, put our own needs above the needs of others. The reality of our sin can make us cower in shame, try to cover up our mistakes, and leave us feeling guilty and unworthy of anything good.
But God's mercy is also real. His love brings forgiveness and the courage to come into the light, admitting our failures and weaknesses and asking for help to overcome our clumsy, messy selves.
In 1 John 4:18 it says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has
to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Believing in God's love is a key factor to overcoming fear in your life, whether it's fear of your mistakes being exposed, others hurting you or someone you love, or not having what you need. These are real fears with real consequences. But God's love is greater than anything we could ever face in this life.
In John 20:26, we read these words of Jesus: "Peace be with you." His followers were gathered together, still trying to process what had happened concerning His death and apparent resurrection. Not everyone there was convinced He had risen from the dead, and whether He had or hadn't, they were obviously fearful because they had locked the doors.
Then Jesus appears and says, "Peace be with you." He didn't want them to be afraid and wanted to assure them everything was going to be okay. And, if we are willing to hear Him, He can speak these same words to us today in the middle of our fears and uncertain circumstances.
I encourage you to make a list of your current fears--fears you have for yourself and for others. Write them down to get them out in the open, not merely swimming through your mind. When you've completed your list, go through them one by one. How can believing in God's love for you or those you care about erase these fears? Try to write one truth beside each current or potential crisis, such as: God is with me/them, God will protect me/them; God will provide for me/them; God will help me/them; God forgives; God loves unconditionally; God works all things together for good, or whatever truths can apply. Finding a specific Bible verse or recalling a certain Bible story may be particularly powerful. Write whatever comes to mind on the same line as your fear and then cross-out the fear you listed.
When
you are finished, pray about the fears you crossed-out; Ask God to help
you believe what you already know is true. Then ask Him to reveal truths
that are greater than your fears that remain. You might need to search
the Bible or ask someone to help you look for specific words God spoke
and promises He has made that can bring you peace about these things.
If God didn't want us to have peace, He wouldn't have given us the Bible and His Spirit to teach us the truth and help us believe. But the truth is He did; and He can put our fears to rest and help the fruit of peace to flourish in our hearts and minds.
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil...having fastened the belt of truth...and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
Ephesians 6:10-11,14-15
Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
