I have a few devotionals around the house where I can pick a daily verse for every day of the month. Most of them also have a comment on the verse.
This morning I grabbed one, and the daily verse that I have known since I was a child, just popped up with high intensity like never before (Amazing how the Word of God is “new every morning”).
John 16:33 (NASB)
"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
Here in this verse Jesus is giving the formula to overcome life’s struggles and vicissitudes, life’s storms. Peace is the key. There is nothing in this life that can turn you down, if peace is a constant. Peace is so powerful, so needed, so desired that the apostle Paul said to the Philippians (4:7) that the peace of God “transcends all understanding”. Other versions say; “exceeds”, “surpasses”, or, “goes beyond” (anything we can imagine).
Now… This peace we can only get it in Him, Jesus. For me (this morning) to get something from the kitchen, I need to be in the kitchen. I cannot get something from the kitchen if I’m in the living room. No matter how close I am. To have the peace that He said “in Me you have”, I have to BE IN Him. Not close, not at the door… in Him.
To be in Him and have access to His peace, we need a pass, a key, a springboard. That is, His Word. Notice how He said it. “these things I have spoken to you”. His Word is like a magnet that pulls us to Him, in Him, and in Him we get hold of His peace.
Before Jesus notified His disciples that times of trouble would come, first He gave them the good news (This is the perfect example for us to be careful on how we approach people with good and bad news). He gave them the good news first, then the bad, and then more good news. In other words, He gave them the bad news in a way that they could not be afraid, dismayed, or suffocated to the point of giving up at the starting point. Here we can see a very strong differential between life’s storms and peace.
See how Jesus put it (I can see the picture of Him talking to His disciples and moving from the left to the right in order to emphasize His message so that they could understand these principles).
He said; “in Me you have peace”. Then He moves to the right and says; “In the world you’ll have tribulations”. Now… He didn’t tell them “pick one”. NO. He made them aware of both. But He also, at the same time, prepared them for the bad days to come by telling them that before those days come… “you can have My peace”. And “if you get My peace NOW”, you’ll be prepared, you’ll be ready to face the storms of life that will come to turn you down, later.
If we carefully analyze Jesus’ statement, we can see that this protection, this armor, this… as David expressed himself in Psalm 91; “the secret place of the most High”, we can see and accept that God’s peace, has a double effect because… we can have it, and have it, in Him. No joke, huh?!
After this we see Jesus explaining that for them to take hold of these principles as lifesavers and not let it go, they needed to be courageous. In other words, Jesus was telling them to “hold on”, “keep your hands on the helm”, “don’t get distracted”, “don’t give up”.
Jesus knew for sure that just by saying this (take courage) sooner or later they would, someway, somehow, slip, get distracted and be suffocated by the afflictions and negative circumstances, storms, and has He said… tribulations, that He had to give them an anchor, a guaranty, something to hold on and be (as the apostle Paul said) more than conquerors.
Jesus told them (and told me this morning); “I have overcome the world”. What in reality Jesus was saying is that He did it for me. Now I have a reason to “hold on” and “not give up”. Because if I’m IN Him (in Him we live and in Him we have our being) I can overcome life’s storms. And He did it for me as a testimony that I can do it, in Him, through Him.
This is why (later) John said in his first letter (5:4,5); for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
We can see by this statement that John experienced how to overcome the world by being in Him. This is why he said; “for everyone born of God overcomes the world”.
Only when we are born of God are we in Christ, and in Christ, in Him… we overcome life’s storms.
