Conquering My Problems

April 6, 2021

Jesus: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NLT

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Romans 12:21 NLT

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:57 NIV

It was the night before Jesus’ death, just hours before His arrest, beatings, and trial. He has spent the evening loving, teaching, and preparing His disciples for the future with information He knows they cannot understand now, but one day they will. He has taught them that they must remain in Him and this is the only way they will have productive lives.

He has told them that He is going away and that He is preparing a place for them to be with Him. They don’t understand how to get there. In the moment they can’t conceive or figure out what He meant. He told them that He is speaking frankly to them so they will remember—He even says that the Advocate He is sending will remind them of all these things. He told them the time was coming when the people who would pursue and kill them would believe they are doing it as a holy service to God. Jesus said He is telling them these things for two reasons: so the problems they face will not cause them to abandon their faith (John 16:1) and so they can have peace in the midst of any situation (John 16:33), made possible because He will always be with them.

It was only a few hours before the hard times Jesus predicted began to happen. He had predicted that they would all desert Him and leave Him alone. They did. Their love for Him was great, but love alone cannot get you through the battles of life. You have to have true power that comes from another place. When Jesus fulfilled His promise that He would die and in three days rise to life again, everything changed! The Holy Spirit He had promised would come on His behalf to be with them did come and filled them with courage they never dreamed they could have. They remembered everything Jesus said—He was with them, and He had overcome everything Satan and the world could throw at them.

All of His followers, including Paul who met Him on the road to Damascus years after Jesus had returned to heaven, found the presence of Jesus is essential to conquering problems. We don’t even have to resort to the down and dirty tricks of the world because we are guaranteed the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Praise Him!

• “Courage, dear heart,” Aslan (the picture of Christ) whispered to Lucy in the midst of the storm in The Chronicles of Narnia. Hear Him speak those empowering words to you today.