Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."
Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.— John 14:1-6
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
Jesus’ disciples here at the beginning of Chapter 14 were probably feeling dismayed, discouraged and pretty confused. I can feel the same way after spending just 10 minutes reading the news. In the previous chapter, Jesus had told His disciples that He was going away, that one of them was a traitor and that Peter would deny Him three times. And that was just in chapter 13! Earlier in chapter 12, He told them He would die. The disciples’ whole world was shaking.
I love that even here…even when He was facing the cross…Jesus looked at His followers with compassion. He looks at you and me with that same heart. He comforts them with words of exhortations to believe and the promise of heaven that awaits those who place their trust in Him. My focus for this devotional is on verse 1.
First the command…let not your heart be troubled. Next, He tells them the way to obey it when He says believe in God, believe also in Me.
There is nothing that goes further to relieve me in my grief and sustain me in my trials than truly believing God. Jesus alone can bring the comfort each of us crave. Jesus alone can bring the peace for which our troubled hearts long. A strong trust in God and Jesus, His Son is the key to keeping a peaceful heart.
I liked this from J Vernon McGee:
“With the word believe we find the preposition eis which means “into.” When John talks about saving faith, there is always a preposition with it. The faith is not inactive, not passive; it is to believe into or to believe upon or to believe in. It is an active faith, which is trust. If you believe that your car will take you home, how do you get home? By just believing it? No, you believe in it so much that you commit yourself to the car. You get into it and trust that it will get you home. In just such a way you get saved. You believe into Christ; you trust yourself to Him.”
Beloved…Believe God…believe His promises. Be aware of what you are meditating on as you go about your day. Ask Him to reveal to you the lies that keep you from experiencing His peace. Ask Him to unite your heart to fear Him. Ask Him to help your unbelief. He will do that work. He will bring you safely through this world to your home in heaven with Him. He is preparing a place for you. He who has promised is faithful. He will do it.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.—Proverbs 4:23
Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.—Psalm 61:1-2
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.—Philippians 4:4-9
And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.—1 John 5:11-13
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.—Ephesians 1:3-14
Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.'"—Isaiah 12:2
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