Oh Troubled Heart Be Still2/22/2016 Welcome to a new chapter of the gospel of John! I pray that your studies are going well and that God has been opening your eyes to the great treasures He has for you in each passage. I apologize for not writing last week, but hope you enjoyed my Valentine’s gift to you. In this week’s study of John, we’re going to focus on the first verse of chapter fourteen. Life can be full of worries, anxieties, stressful situations, and sometimes tragedy, and these cares and concerns often burden our soul. However, as we learn from the verse above, Jesus commands us to trouble not and believe in God. Yet how often do we forget this and instead waste our time fretting over mundane concerns? Why do we so easily forget that God is always in control? The disciples also struggled with trust. One moment they would declare Jesus as the Son of God, and the next they were back to doubting. Jesus knew this. And He also knew that two thousand years later His followers would still be struggling with the same thing. This is why chapter fourteen of John starts out with the encouraging exhortation to not be troubled and instead trust God. Jesus was trying to prepare the Twelve for the greatest test of faith they would ever face—that of watching their Rabbi, Teacher, and Lord betrayed by one of their own and then enduring a criminal’s death. Nevertheless, this exhortation also applies to us. As Christians, we will face various tests of faith throughout our spiritual walk, and it is during these seasons that we need to remember the words of Christ, “Let not your hearts be troubled…” Easier said than done, right?! Most of us like control: control of our environment, our schedules, our lives. However, as redeemed children of the one true God, we are to take the limited control we have and surrender it to the One who holds the universe together. Therefore, we should not fret because God is always in control, and the times when our heart is most troubled are often the times when we are trying to take back control of our life. Surrender is not a once in a lifetime action, it is something we must continually do. But it is so worth it! For the secret to peace is surrender, and the antidote to fear and anxiety is trust. And the peace God gives surpasses all understanding and guards our hearts and minds from the temptations of the evil one, temptations to doubt and fear which then cause our hearts to become troubled. So I ask you, have you given God complete control over your life or are you still holding on to the reins? Is Jesus—the King of kings—the King of your life? Is He sitting on the throne of your heart or are you still stubbornly perched there? Are you experiencing the peace and contentment of total surrender or are you tied up in knots with worry and anxiety? Give God the driver’s seat in your life and trust Him to safely navigate you to where He wants you, and there you’ll find the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. And may we be people whose trust is fully in the Lord our God, and whose heart is troubled no more. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
~John 14:27
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