September 1, 2026

What is peace; do you have peace in your life? It’s been said that peace is not the absence of conflict, but it is the presence of Christ…  How so? Or maybe I should ask, why so? If you have been around long enough, you will know that problems can come from out of nowhere… many of them can be very debilitating and exhaust your patience, mental resilience, and economic resources; and many times, they totally upset your necessary daily routines and work schedule… and if related to your health [or that of your family], serious problems can even re-route your entire life trajectory and future plans… some can turn your world upside down. What then?

It is not uncommon for persons to blame God or others [who may actually be at fault], and without employing forgiveness, bitterness can begin its corrosive destruction of your life…  While some things include physical and financial pain, it is the breakdown of the emotional state and mental stress that causes the most suffering.

You might ask, how can “staying one’s mind on Christ be therapeutic and restoring?” I don’t know if you will like this answer, but it is true… simply because God said so.

When the darkest of times and deepest of sorrows try to defeat us, it is faith in Yahweh’s Word and the presence of His Spirit that provides the most powerful opposition to the troubles that afflict us. This is especially true when the deep pain of heartfelt rejection and persecution run their courses against our lives…  this is why it is so important to study and know [within your heart] what Yahweh’s Word teaches us.

In the normal course of life, problems can be severe enough, but Yeshua [Jesus] tells us of times in which the persons we love the most will betray us and even deliver us up to death and think they are doing God a service:

“Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” mat 10:21-22 nkjv

What kind of suffering and stress would cause this unthinkable situation? Where would one find peace in this place of sorrow? What kind of social upheaval would bring people to this kind of thinking? I suggest it would be a world without love, a hedonistic society steeped in its own confusion and self interest, with little or no concern for others, because they do not fear God…  our world is headed in that direction; think not, just read the news, look around you at the insane activity and moral and spiritual degradation. Yeshua, continuing on in His teaching in Matthew chapter 10, says this:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” mat 10:34-39 nkjv

These verses have troubling implications. It seems the times for this kind of inner family conflict must come out of people’s anger and disregard for those who have a relationship with Yeshua… and other family members have real problems with it. Yeshua is, in simple terms, saying, you must decide if you love ME or men [especially family] that reject ME. This would be a time when one’s peace would have to be founded in faith believing Yeshua’s presence within them would “keep them in perfect peace,” because their mind was fixed upon Him.

Here is an excerpt from a teaching by Derek Prince:

“One thing is certain in this world, we’re not going to escape affliction forever. At some time or other, each of us is going to know the meaning of that word affliction. In the New Testament the apostles told the new Christian congregation that we must, through much tribulation (or affliction) enter into the Kingdom of God. So don’t try to find a way through life that bypasses affliction, because if you do find it, it won’t take you to heaven. But in your affliction, you need an anchor. And that’s what the psalmist says in those words that I read: If God’s law had not been his delight he would have perished in his affliction.

“When the pressures, the waves and the billows swept over him, when it seemed that his tiny little vessel was going to be carried away on those monstrous billows, he had an anchor. It was God’s law and that kept him. And so he says, with gratitude, looking back on that experience, “I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have renewed my life.” As we turn to God’s law in the midst of our affliction we receive from it life, new life, life that wells up in spite of all the opposition and the pressures against us. Out of God’s law and God’s Word there comes a life that is a stronger and more powerful than all the forces that oppose us.”

Derek Prince (1915- 2003)

The Scripture tells us that in the end, in Heaven, Yahweh will wipe away every tear…  I think these are the kind of issues that those tears could have come from. Note this:

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” rev 21:3-5 nkjv

So then, yes it is true… because Yahweh [God] said so… that is our hope.

Shalom, John