Why you can have PEACE and HOPE at all times!

Fear and uncertainty are running rampant in our world. Everyone is dealing with some type of hardship whether it be a worldwide pandemic or an internal struggle we face daily. Many people are concerned about losing their jobs, running out of resources, or simply becoming ill.  Despite all this, God is good. Despite all this, He meets all our needs. In Daniel chapter 11, Daniel prophesied what will happen in the end times and how the people of God will respond.

 

“He (the enemy) shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” Daniel 11:32

 

Those who intimately know God will be strong in the midst of hardship. They know the character of their Father and how He has always provided for them. He NEVER fails. If we find ourselves growing discouraged or in a panic, we have forgotten WHO our God is. If we look at any situation with eyes of hopelessness, we have partnered with the enemy by believing His lies. 

 

Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have access to all the benefits of a covenant relationship with God! A covenant is a promise, an alliance, and a pledge. When you signed a rental agreement or paperwork for your new job, you entered into a covenant with them. When you said, “I do!”, you made a covenant with your spouse. That covenant is based on promises of what you will do and what they will do. The same is true between us and God. When you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you entered into a covenant relationship that comes with many great and precious promises! (2 Peter 1:4) Everything you need right now has already been provided! 

 

“But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” Hebrews 8:6

 

The old covenant, established between God and the Israelites, had many great promises such as healing, provision, and protection! The only stipulation was that they had to be faithful in their relationship with Him, keep His commandments (all 613 of them), and not follow other ‘gods’. (Deuteronomy 28) 

 

The Israelites could not keep the covenant because of their sinful hearts. They consistently broke covenant with God and it created many problems for them.  Yet God planned all along to restore His people to a right relationship with Him. God promised in Jeremiah chapter 31 to establish a new covenant with His people, a covenant that would be written on their hearts, giving them the ability to follow Him wholeheartedly. 

 

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:26-34

 

THAT is why Jesus had to come and die! We could not keep the old covenant. We needed new hearts, new minds, and His Spirit living within us. (Ezekiel 36:26-28) Through faith in Jesus, we enter into this new covenant that has even better promises than the old one. 

 

You might be saying, “Okay, so what does this have to do with having hope during these troubling times?”  Before Jesus, we could not access the benefits of covenant relationship with God – healing, provision, peace, and joy – that we need during these hard times. The old covenant depended on you being perfect. The new covenant depends on the perfection of Jesus in us that we receive by faith. This new covenant that Jesus has made available to us through faith, gives us access to everything we need. 

 

Healing – 

“..who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

 “And by His stripes (wounds), we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 

“No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling…” Psalm 91:10

Provision –

 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:9 

“Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:30-34

 

Peace – 

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

“Peace, I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6

“The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

 

So, why are you scared or discouraged beloved? If you know (have an intimate relationship with) Jesus, you can stand strong! You can have total peace and hope despite what is going on in the world. King Jesus is a faithful promise keeper. King JESUS is worthy of our trust! We have access to every benefit of the covenant!

“For all the promises of God in Him (Jesus) are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” – 1 Corinthians 1:20

He is good! 

He is faithful! 

He is a Kind King! 

 

All He asks is that we believe, seek first His Kingdom, and His righteousness! Matthew 6:33 <3 

 

Receive His peace beloved,

Yielded Vessels Ministries