Triumphant Faith

Triumphant Faith

181:1.5 (1954.2)'Now that I am about to depart from you, I want to speak words of consolation and encouragement to you. Peace I leave with you: my peace I give to you. I do not bestow these gifts as the world does - in a certain quantity - but I give to each of you all that he wishes to accept. Let not your hearts be troubled, nor be afraid. I have overcome the world, and in me you will all triumph by faith. I warned you that the Son of Man will be killed, but I assure you that I will return before I go to the Father, though only for a short time. And after I ascend to the Father, I will most assuredly send the new teacher to be with you and even to dwell in your hearts. When you see all this happening, do not be dismayed, but believe, since you have known everything beforehand. I have loved you with a great love, nor would I want to leave you, but it is the Father's will. My hour has come.

181:1.6 (1954.3)'Do not doubt all these truths, even when you will be scattered by persecution everywhere and be dejected by many sorrows. When you feel you are alone in the world, your isolation will be known to me, just as my isolation will be known to you when you will be driven apart, each to his own place, and you will have to leave the Son of Man in the hands of his enemies. But I am never alone: the Father is always with me. Even at that time I will pray for you. And all these things I have said to you that you may have peace, and that in abundance. In this world you will know disaster, but be of good cheer; I have triumphed in the world and shown you the way to eternal joy and everlasting service.

181:1.7 (1954.4)Jesus grants peace to those who do God's will with him, but a peace that is different from the joys and satisfactions of this material world. Unbelieving materialists and fatalists can only hope for two kinds of peace and consolation for the soul: they must either be Stoics, determined to face the inevitable with steadfast fearlessness and endure the worst; or they must be optimists, always indulging in the hope that eternally wells up in the heart of man, and vainly longing for a peace that never really comes.

181:1.8 (1954.5)A certain amount of both stoicism and optimism does come in handy in life on earth, but neither has anything to do with that wonderful peace which the Son of God bestows on His brethren in the flesh. The peace that Michael gives to his children on earth is the same peace of which his own soul was filled when he himself lived as a mortal man in the flesh on this, your own world. The peace of Jesus is the joy and satisfaction of the man who knows God and who has achieved the triumph of having fully learned how to do the will of God while living mortal life in the flesh. Jesus' peace of mind rested on an absolute human faith trust in the actual reality of the divine Father's wise and compassionate almsgiving. Jesus had difficulties on earth, people have even mistakenly called him the “man of sorrows,” but in and through all these experiences he knew the consolation of the confidence that always gave him strength to persevere in his life's purpose, in the full assurance that he was accomplishing the Father's will. 181:1.9 (1954.6)Jesus was determined to accomplish his mission, and did so with full devotion and perseverance, but he was not an insensitive, hardened stoic; he always tried to see the joyful aspects of what he experienced in his life, but he was not a blind, self-deceiving optimist. The Master knew everything that would happen to him, and he was fearless. When He had given His peace to each of His followers, He could consistently say, “Let not your hearts be troubled, nor be afraid.

181:1.10 (1955.1)The peace of Jesus, then, is the peace and assurance of a son who fully believes that his career in time and eternity is secure and wholly under the care and care of an all-wise, all-loving and all-powerful spirit-Father. And this is indeed a peace beyond the comprehension of mortal thought, but which can be fully enjoyed in the heart of the believing man.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book