In the words of the Apostle Paul, “Grace and Peace to you”, such was his customary greeting to those whom he loved. 
Today I want to ask you what does Peace mean to you and how do you obtain it? I would like to share a passage with you as well as challenge you to rethink what you may know of how to obtain it. I would like to share with you today four things that peace, divine peace, can bring to your life!
Before we look into this week’s passage, here are a few answers I found when I asked different groups as what peace meant to them.
Many people view peace differently. How do you view peace?
Kids want peace, “piece of candy”.
Teens want peace, “peace from their parents.”
Mom’s want peace, “peace and quiet”
Dad’s want a piece, “peace on the lazy boy”
Grandparents want peace “peace after the grand children have left”
The world wants peace, “piece of the American dream” 
This isn’t the type of peace we will study today in our time together. I want to share with you what peace looks like in the face of Christ.
A final Covenant that Christ made with us before He departed. John 14:24-31
24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Fathers, who sent Me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. 27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. 28 “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. 30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; 31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.
Here, Christ was giving His disciples, yet another, nuggets of wisdom before He was set to leave them and take His rightful place beside the Father on His throne. His disciples were surely not thinking this is a joyous occasion, their minds must have been full of questions and even eroded with doubt and fear, but joy, NO, certainly not at that moment. Christ was setting the stage with preparation as to a joy that was to come, not a joy that was to happen at this moment. This is something that we, today, struggle with in light of seeking God. We rush to His word when times in our lives seem to be in disrepair. We flock to church on Sunday hoping that the speak will have just the right words that can overcome our current situations. Rarely do we see that Peace, that Christ has offered us in its natural form.
As we seek out this form of peace today I want us to do so in the light of which Christ gave it to us. Today I want to seek Peace amidst all our troubles and all our pains.
The blessed effects of this divine Peace are:
- Joy: You will notice that the words “joy,” and “peace” are continually put together; for joy without peace is something we cannot divorce from each other. No person actively seeks joy without peace nor does someone ask for peace and does not find joy within it. Now, divine peace gives joy to the Christian; and such joy!
Charles Spurgeon is quoted for describing joy as “It has been my happy lot to pray with many a convinced sinner, to witness the deep agony of spirit, and deeply to sympathize with the poor creature in his trouble for sin. I have prayed and have exhorted to faith, and I have seen that flash of joy, when at last the hopeful word was spoken, “I do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart.” Oh! that look of joy! It is as if the gates of heaven had been opened for a moment, and some flash of glory had blazed upon the eye and had been reflected therefrom.” C. H. Spurgeon
Joy also comes to us as we reflect our own salvation. Do you remember the peace and joy from that very day when you made the declaration that you surrendered to God? I remember that day, I was overcome with peace, knowing that I could rest knowing that I was not on my own, now would I ever face anything that life threw at me without the peace from God! How about you, parents, do you remember that day your child received the greatest gift that they have ever received, the day they came to know salvation, the look on their face, wasn’t that Joy!
- The second effect of this kind of divine peace is LOVE. In John 15:13 we know that no great love than for one to lay down his life for his bother. Christ laid down His life for your peace. He paid the total price that your sin costs. Christ didn’t just grant you relationship back with the father, He gave you the peace knowing that you don’t have to stress out about trying to figure it out on your own. His love grated you this peace. He delivered us a helper to remain with us while He went to be with the Father. This passage in verse 26 give us hope, hope that we can have peace in the Holy Spirit!
- The third effect of this divine peace is holiness: In this passage we see that Christ reminds His disciples that they are to know that the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. If we are to have live in peace, we must strive for Holiness, not on our own strength or on our own accord, rather we have the Holy Spirit to aid us in our pursuits. This form of holiness causes us to be at peace with God and helps us flee from sin, we must, as the Palmist says, “above all else guard our heart”.
- Lastly the divine peace will help us: bear affliction
God has warned us in this passage the at the one who rules this world is coming, Satan is coming. Christ gives us hope in the fact that those who are in Him will be reunited to Him in eternity. If we have this kind of peace we must know that all the troubles that will come in our lives will not be the end of us, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. Peace that God gives is peace that comes with no expiration, nor does He take it away. This divine peace gives us the strength to walk without weariness and run without fainting, for I can do all things when my soul is at peace with God. There are no sufferings that shall move my soul to pain, no terrors that shall cause me to fear, and no wounds that can cut me away from the peace that Christ offers to me. God has made you great and might, because He has filled your soul with Peace and with overflowing joy!
“More might I tell you of the blessed effects of this peace; but I shall be content, after I have simply noticed that this peace gives boldness at the throne, and access to a Father’s mercy-seat. We feel we are reconciled, and therefore we stand no longer at a distance, but we come up to him, even to his knees; we spread our wants before him, plead our cause, and rest satisfied of success, because there is no enmity in our Father’s heart to us, and none in ours to him. We are one with God, and he is one with us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” C. H. Spurgeon
Be encouraged that we serve the Prince of Peace, one who gives us His peace and He does it freely. Are you asking for His peace today in your life, if no then what is keeping you from it? If so are you being intentional in your desire to share it or are you keeping it for yourself?
I hope you are encouraged this week as you seek out to find a deeper peace, one that cannot be found merely in the everyday life we live, rather in the One whom is crowned Prince of Peace! 
Blessings
JR
shapedbytheson.com 
His peace is so much more than the “peace” the world gives!