“Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed -- and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors -- and they have no comforter,” [Ecclesiastes 4:1]
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him,” [John 14:15-21]
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid,” [John 14:25-27]
“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify,” [John 15:26]
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him -- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -- and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea,” [Isaiah 11:1-9]
The Holy Spirit has come to teach us the meaning of peace. When the world talks about peace, it only thinks about wars between countries coming to an end. But God is more concerned about the deadliest war of all: The war that rages in the human heart. This is the war that causes us to be enemies of God. But God has a solution to bring peace to the earth and to us personally.
God sent His Peacemaker, Jesus. And He became the “peace treaty” between God and all of us by offering Himself as our sin sacrifice. He became our “compromise solution” that broke God’s heart and mended ours. But it is not our efforts that sustains the peace: It’s God Himself. He now sends His Spirit into every heart that is longing for real peace –first with Him and then for us, and also for the world.
God’s wrath has been turned from us. We have become friends of God through His Peace Offering. This peace reestablishes our relationship with God and changes our mind about sin and selfishness.
God’s Spirit is given to us that we can stay at peace with God and with others. The Spirit is rightfully called the “Counselor” or “Comforter,” which literally means, “The One who walks beside us.” He is with us and in us and enables us to live in God’s grace (the Spirit is the administrator of God’s grace) and pray. The Spirit knows the mind of God and enables us to know God’s mind through unveiling the Word to us and “walking with us” as we pray. At times when we can’t put into words what we need to pray, the Spirit prays with us and for us. A remarkable transformation is taking place in a saint who is home to the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus has sent His Spirit so that we all can be peacemakers, acting in the Name of Jesus to change the world. The Spirit enables us to bring grace into our families and communities. Our passion and desire is to see that this world is returned to the Rightful Ruler –and the Spirit is with us to make sure that the job gets done by grace through faith. And we remember that our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the One who has brought us peace. The world around is changes when we believe that the Spirit is capable of changing the world –what is impossible with people is possible with God.
At this critical time in history, we cannot betray our Savior Who loved us first. We must believe that the world will change when we believe and pray for grace to flood the world around us. And as we do this, we see the peace of God flood into dark places and more of the world returned to the King of kings. Now is not the time to throw our hands in the air and accept defeat. Now is the time to worship in Spirit and Truth. Because when the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. And we are free to retake souls from darkness to the glory of the Father. Pray, and the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Nothing limits God’s power except our own unbelief. Pray like you mean it and our world around us cannot help but respond the grace of God.
Pray with confidence,
George