PEACE BE WITH YOU!

As I woke up Easter Sunday, like all of us, I was preparing to Celebrate the Lord’s resurrection in a very different way this year, and I was very blessed by the gift God gave me.  He woke me up quite early, before anyone else in my family, and like a sweet whisper called me to join Him for some precious time alone together. I was reminded of the moment after Jesus had conquered death and arose out of the grave, when He found Mary weeping and searching for His body.  There was this incredible moment when He called out her name! You know her heart was beating wildly when, after not recognizing His body, she recognized His Voice! He Called to her and she ran to Him. In a somewhat similar way, that is how I felt that morning. Although Christ had risen so many years before now, He was calling me to arise, out of bed and to come to Him!  This was doubly impactful to me on this day because of the weeks I had spent stuck in a bed, battling a pneumonia that had latched onto both of my lungs. This morning, though, I heard the voice of my Savior call out to me, and I may not have been able to actually run with my body, but trust me, I was running in my spirit as I stole away to go be with Him!

I grabbed my Bible and lost myself in John’s account of the Resurrection as the sun was coming up, and yet what grabbed my attention that day was what happened after Jesus’ encounter with Mary.  What we find as we continue through chapter 20 of John is that the very first thing Jesus would say to His followers as He encountered them is incredibly powerful! I want you to think of this, especially during our current Global situation and let your heart be seized by the power of our God as we see that He is still the same God, with the same message today.  You see, in verse 19, we are told that on that Sunday, Jesus’ followers were all in a house behind closed doors and as they were shut in together they were very afraid! Sound a little familiar? Suddenly Jesus was standing there among them, and the very first message and Command He had for them was this, “PEACE BE WITH YOU!” I had to just let the magnitude of that powerful command wash over me!  In verse 21 He will say it again to them, “PEACE BE WITH YOU!” Eight days later when they were yet again behind locked doors, this time with Thomas among them, Jesus came into their midst and the first thing He speaks to Thomas is, “PEACE BE WITH YOU!” I keep calling this a powerful command because you must remember that when Jesus declared, “PEACE” to the storm, the waves had to calm to perfect stillness under the command of their Creator!  At a time when fear was ruling the hearts of His people, when confusion was filling their minds, when it had seemed like He had gone, Jesus appeared to them and brought this one message: PEACE! This is still His message and His Command to the hearts of every believer today, “PEACE BE WITH YOU!” I love that with Jesus it is NOT just words that He is saying. His very presence IS PEACE! He is the Prince of Peace! When He is in center of your life, when He is in your midst, PEACE reigns!  The Turbulent Waves of Crisis, The Storms of Fear, The Winds of confusion, the Pelting of Doubt MUST ALL BE STILL when the SUPREME, SOVERIGN, ALL POWERFUL, CONQUERING GOD enters in and His very Presence declares “PEACE!” This is what Jesus wanted to remind me of that beautiful Easter morning, at a time when we had been behind closed doors for many weeks. It is what He declares to each one of us when fear is fighting to get the upper hand. Jesus IS ALIVE! HE has conquered ALL! And He is in our midst asking us, “Why are you afraid?  I have declared, PEACE to be WITH you!”

“Blessed are those who believe without seeing me!”