I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 ESV
Sometimes it may feel as if God is playing a game, by putting the peace that we need under one of three shells, and leaving it up to us to guess where He has it hidden. But, Jesus makes it clear that the peace we need so much can be found in Him, and He didn’t leave our finding it to chance. I like the way that the King James renders this verse, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might find peace.” When Jesus says, “These things,” He means, all of His teachings, from loving our enemies, to forgiving our brothers and sisters, or trusting in Him alone for salvation, were spoken, not to make us miserable. Instead everything Jesus ever taught was so that in Him we could have peace. God already knows about our problem, and He is not asking for us to guess where to find the answer as we face it. He has promised that in troubles of every kind, we can find peace in Him, because He has already overcome them. He endured the terrible agony of the cross, still remaining faithful until death to His Father’s will, so that we could have His amazing and miraculous peace. In what area of your life do you desperately need God’s peace today? Bring it to Him in prayer, trusting that He already knows and has already overcome and He longs for you and I to have His peace in every situation because He loved us more than His own life.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26 KJV
When we bow our heads to pray at the table before dinner we are apt to recite the same words night after night. But when we are shaken to the core by, an attack, whether spiritual or physical, then we cry out to the Lord in a completely different way. That groaning which the verse speaks of is poured out in our hearts with the Holy Spirit’s help. He not only knows the mind of the Father, but He also knows our deepest hurts and needs. I hope you will listen to the brief testimony which I share about a dear friend’s ultimate test of faith and how she found grace to help in time of need in her own “Sweet Hour of Prayer. “
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23 NLT
That Sunday morning, no one, least of all Diane, was ready. At 7:45 A. M., she was still snuggling down under the blankets and thinking of how wonderful it was that her father’s job with the Navy had brought their family all the way from Connecticut to Hawaii. The temperature the day before had been in the upper 70’s, and compared to snowy Southern New England, which felt like heaven! Then she heard the sound of planes flying over their house, and she sat up and looked out the window caught a glimpse of a red circle on one of the wings as the formation turned towards the harbor. Immediately the phone began ringing, and she heard the door to her parent’s room creak open and her dad’s footsteps going into the kitchen to answer. When Diane slipped out of bed and tip-toed to her doorway, she saw daddy running back into his bedroom and heard her mom yelling for her and her older brother Don to wake up. Then from the direction of the harbor came the sound of explosions such as she had never heard before and in a moment her world was changed. That little girl Diane was my mother and her dad, my grandfather, was the captain of one of the destroyers at Pearl Harbor. That morning he made it to His ship and engaged the enemy. After the attack, his ship was sent out to sea and my grandmother with mom and two brothers moved back to Connecticut, and never returned to what they had thought was heaven on earth.
Today many of us are no more ready for what lies ahead in our spiritual lives, than my family was on December 7th, 1941. Just as no one knew that the Japanese planes were coming to attack our fleet that morning, we also can never know what challenges or difficulties await us in the future. Pearl Harbor became the worst military defeat in our history because we left the harbor unguarded. Today’s verse tells us that we must also guard the harbor of our hearts, and there is no better way to do that than by prayer. But the kind of prayer that is needed means more than just sitting up in bed and watching out the window as the enemy attacks. Prayer that guards our hearts will supply ammunition for the anti-aircraft guns that protect the harbor and, watches God’s radar for any enemy incursion of our airspace. That kind of prayer doesn’t just fearfully huddle in a corner wondering what to do, but it boldly rushes to battle stations and engages the enemy. Now there are certainly times, even when we pray, that we will still face temporary defeats. But just as the Navy repaired its ships after Pearl Harbor and recruited and trained thousands of seamen and went on to win the war, we can do the same. We can begin that process by contacting our spiritual Naval headquarters. And find out what new orders God has assigned us and then, trust His command as we launch out to sea. Then, even with a war raging on, we can be thankful for His promise that He will be with us through every danger and will lead us on to victory no matter what lies ahead!
The family photo is of my mom, her brother Don and my grandparents, The bottom photo is of my grandfather, Captain A.J. Detzer, taken in 1945. This post is a reprint of an article which appeared in the 2023 Spring Issue of Breakthrough Intercessor magazine.
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