Choose Your Words

John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye 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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
Many times as we read scripture we focus on the wrong words. I read a quote from J.H. Jowett, noted British preacher that he believed inter peace comes not from tranquil circumstances but from an untroubled heart. He said, “If we were to hear one hundred people repeating the sentence, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled,’ we should find that ninety-nine of them put emphasis upon the word troubled…I feel led to believe that the purposed emphasis in on the word heart… the heart is clothed in serene regality even when hell is knocking and rioting at its very door.”
After I read that I began to think that I was expending more energy trying to avoid problems and difficulties than on letting them happen and help me get to know Christ better. With that knowledge I discovered that if I continued in that mind set of avoidance rather than acceptance I would stay frustrated and doomed to failure.
Look at what Jesus told His disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” What was he telling them? He was preparing them for the darkest day in their life the day of His crucifixion. He knew they would be ok and weather the storm only by trusting in Him in spite of the apparent evil that lay before them. What dark days do we face on our own? How much better would that be if we looked to God to give us peace of mind?
Many today focus only on the trouble and forget about the heart. We must not focus on the trouble in our world. We must focus more on the victory we have in Christ Jesus because His death was followed by His resurrection. We must focus our attention on the heart not on the trouble. Once we do this His words take on new meaning. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
If we keep our minds on Christ we will have peace of mind and rest for our soul.