Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? Look: An hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”   John 16:31-33 HCSB

In the 16th chapter of John, Jesus wants His disciples’ faith to be strong as He knows they will soon be facing persecution. In verses 1-4, He tells them that He is telling them these things to keep them from stumbling or abandoning their faith.

Jesus wanted them and us to be prepared. We should not be shocked when we face rejection for our Christian beliefs. We are told in 2 Timothy 3:12 that all who want to live a godly life will be persecuted. But God tells them that the Holy Spirit will come and dwell within them. He will also dwell within us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.

We should pursue Jesus even when we don’t understand what He is doing, we should seek Him and draw near to Him. He wanted to be sure that their belief is solid and their faith is strong. We too, should be solid in our belief and strong in our faith.

In our scripture passage today, He tells them that soon He will leave them alone and they will leave Him alone, but that He won’t be alone because His Father is with Him. When He leaves them, the Holy Spirit will come to them. He tells them these things so that they may have peace in Him. We need to understand that peace does not equate to having no problems in our lives. When our peace if found in Him, we can have peace in the midst of life’s problems. He told them to be courageous, no matter what they may go through, because He had conquered the world.

When God is with us, we too can overcome life’s problems. When we accept Christ as our Savior and ask God to fill us with His Holy Spirit, we can be filled with the peace that only comes from a close relationship with our Lord and Savior.

From Genesis to Revelation, we see that God takes care of His people. In the book of Exodus, God frees His people from slavery in Egypt and is with them as they head for the Promised Land.

In the book of Daniel we meet Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They remained true to God even though they had been taken captive and were put into a pagan society. God was with them and caused them to be put in positions of authority. He saved Daniel from the mouths of the lions. He walked through the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and they came through unharmed.

In the book of Ruth, we see how God took good care of Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth after bringing them through some hard times.

In the book of Esther, a young girl and her cousin had been taken captive, along with all the other Jews. We see how God took good care of them. Esther became queen and her cousin Mordecai was given a high position in the king’s staff.

And the list goes on. Throughout the Bible we see that those who trust in Him and obey His commands have victory in Jesus no matter what comes their way.

God never forces us to accept what He has to offer, the choice is ours to make. I spent many years going around that same old mountain looking for the Promised Land. When I finally surrendered to Him, I gained peace in Him. I still have troubles in my life. Since sin came into the world, that’s just part of life here on planet earth. But, I know that with God I will be victorious. I can be courageous because my faith conquers my fear. I have come to know God and I know He’s got this.

If you want to really know God, begin by praying and reading your Bible. Find a good, Bible teaching church where you can study God’s Word. Don’t neglect to meet with other believers to praise and worship Him (Hebrews 10:24). Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). When you enter into a solid relationship with Him, He takes good care of you. In this sin-filled world, you will have trouble. But have no fear, He has conquered the world. Romans 8:31 tells us if God is for us, who can be against us? All these people came through hard times victoriously because God was with them. You can do the same if you allow God to be with you.

Have a great day!