Greatest Trade

Wouldn't it be great if we had a heads-up when trouble is coming? Like preparing for a storm, we would have time to board up windows, secure outside furniture, etc. News flash: that's rarely how life works! Mere hours before His arrest, Jesus said to His disciples: "'Take careful notice: an hour is coming, and has arrived, when you will all be scattered, each to his own home, leaving Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.'" (John 16:L32-33, AMP). That word "tribulation" literally means "pressure" - a warning to Jesus' followers that they would be afflicted and distressed by pressing troubles. If that sounds familiar, well ... it should! The full humanity of The Savior is crucial to our our spiritual lives. Jesus not only suffered the horrors of the cross, He knew well the pressures of life: rejection and betrayal, grief and sorrow, loneliness and abandonment. Yes, He faced the same storms we do and conquered them all. As Shane and Shane sing, "I'm fighting a battle You've already won!" Believers need not spend their days in a pressure-cooker; no! Christ gives His Peace.  However life is pressing you right now, give Him your pressures and take His Peace ... it's the greatest trade!