What does the Bible say about new beginnings and lasting peace? The new year is a wonderful time to remember God’s promises. God’s enduring peace is available to all those who place their trust in Jesus! Join Pastor David Guzik for 5 days of Bible study about God’s peace, and enter the new year with courage. These short devotions were originally published by Enduring Word Bible Commentary.
Enduring Word
Day 1
Scriptures: John 15:5, Philippians 4:13
Themes for a New Year
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)
For many of us, the New Year is a strategic time – a time when we are more willing than ever to change our outlook and approach to life.
Why not use the beginning of a new year to re-establish a proper focus in your Christian life? I can’t think of two more important principles to keep in mind than John 15:5 and Philippians 4:13. Let’s consider them “bookends” for this year and all our life.
Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing.” Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. He is our source of life and nourishment. What other things do you gain strength from? Here, the secret is abiding: a close, intimate walk with Jesus; living with Him. Such a walk is forever built upon the basics of the Christian life: prayer, Bible reading and study, fellowship with believers, and service to God’s church and a needy world. When we do this, we naturally bear much fruit for God.
Many sense they have borne little fruit for God – but fruit will come naturally as we abide. This can be a year when you bear much fruit for God – leading others to Jesus Christ; serving God’s people in new capacities; seeing the work of God’s kingdom grow.
“Without Me you can do nothing” is an important principle. But the truth of Philippians 4:13 is just as important to remember for the New Year: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This is the other side of the coin of John 15:5 – without Jesus, we can do nothing; with Him, we can do all things. “All things” is pretty big – yet the promise of Philippians 4:13 is even more powerful than we might first think.
If we look at the context of Philippians 4:13, we understand the power of some of the “all things” Paul could do through the strength of Jesus. It was the strength to be abased, to be hungry, to suffer need, to be in distress – and through it all to have a joy and contentment that rises above every difficult circumstance. Through Jesus, Paul had the strength to abound, to be full, and to accomplish big things.
Your peace and joy throughout the past year were directly tied to the proportion that you lived within these two principles. When you find people thoroughly dependent on Jesus and receiving His strength for the trials and work of life, you will find them full of peace and joy.
No matter how great last year was in these areas, there is no reason why it can’t be even better as you depend more and more upon these two great themes for the coming New Year.
Day 2
Scriptures: Isaiah 30:15, 2 Timothy 1:7
How to Trust God’s Promises
For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not. (Isaiah 30:15)
Isaiah 30 was written in the context of a terrible invasion by the cruel Assyrian Empire. They threatened to destroy the Kingdom of Judah, just as they had destroyed other kingdoms which were even stronger. In the shadow of this threat, Judah chose to not trust God. They chose instead to trust in an alliance with Egypt.
God wanted them to know that He really could protect them against the Assyrians. If they would only trust in Him, then, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” God offered to Judah the promise of protection from Assyria. They didn’t need to look to Egypt for help. They could have trusted God for His promise. Isaiah 30:15 shows us how to trust God’s promise.
Trusting God’s promise means returning. If there is known disobedience in our lives, we must return to the Lord’s ways. Outright sin is never consistent with real trust in God’s promise. Returning also has the idea of drawing close to the Lord.
Trusting God’s promise means rest. When we trust God, we don’t have to strive to protect and guard ourselves. We have the best Protector and Guard in God. We can rest in Him, and when we do, it shows we are really trusting in His promise.
Trusting God’s promise means quietness. You don’t need to argue for your side when God is on your side. Be quiet before Him and before others. It shows that you really trust Him.
Trusting God’s promise means confidence. You aren’t given to despair or fear, because you trust God’s promise. You know He can and will come through, and you have a profound confidence in the God who loves you.
All these things together mean a real trust in God’s promise. It means that we shall be saved, and it means that we will find strength. There is no person walking this earth more powerful than a child of God boldly and properly trusting the promise of the living God!
Sadly, this was not the case with Judah in the days of Isaiah. He describes the sad fate they faced in rejecting God’s promise: “But you would not.” If they had trusted God’s promise, they would have had no reason to flee, and would have seen the Lord’s salvation and strength instead.
How much better it is to simply believe God and His promises for us; to know that “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” He is good enough and great enough to keep that promise.
Day 3
Scriptures: Isaiah 26:3-4, Philippians 3:10
Perfect Peace
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. (Isaiah 26:3-4)
God made an amazing promise through the Prophet Isaiah: “You will keep him in perfect peace.” What a promise – perfect peace! God promises that we can have perfect peace, and can even be kept in a place of perfect peace.
In the original Hebrew text, the term perfect peace is actually “shalom shalom.” In the Hebrew language, repetition communicates intensity. It isn’t just “shalom;” it is “shalom shalom,” perfect peace. It is as if God wasn’t satisfied to give us one door of peace to walk through; He opened up the double doors of peace and said, “shalom shalom.” If one assurance of peace is not enough for us, He will follow it with a second, and then will add the promise to keep us there.
Some can have this perfect peace, but it is fleeting; they are never kept there. Others can be kept in peace, but it is not a perfect peace; it is the peace of the wicked, the peace of spiritual sleep and ultimate destruction. But there is a perfect peace in which the Lord will keep us.
Who are the people who enjoy this peace? Isaiah tells us: “Those whose mind is stayed on You.” This is the place of perfect peace and even the source of it. When we keep our minds stayed – settled upon, established upon – the Lord Himself, then we can be kept in this perfect peace.
To be kept in this perfect peace, our mind must be stayed. So, what sustains your mind? What do you lay your mind upon? What upholds your mind? What does your mind stand fast upon? What is your mind established upon? What does your mind lean upon? To have this perfect peace, your mind cannot occasionally come to the Lord; it must be stayed on Him.
To be kept in this perfect peace, our mind must be stayed on the Lord. If our mind is stayed on ourselves, or our problems, or the problem people in our lives, or on anything else, we can’t have this perfect peace. This is the heart that says with the Apostle Paul, “that I may know Him” (Philippians 3:10). Satan loves to get our minds on anything except God and His love to us!
To emphasize the point, Isaiah wrote: “Because He trusts in You.” This is another way of expressing the idea of keeping our minds stayed on Him. Almost always, we keep our mind stayed on whatever we are trusting. When we trust the Lord, we keep our mind stayed on Him. It all means that the battle for trust in our lives begins in our minds. If we trust the Lord, it will show in our actions, but it will begin in our mind.
These two wonderful verses end like this: “For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” If the Lord calls us to rely on Him completely with our mind, He appeals to our mind with a rational reason. Why should we trust the Lord? Because He is everlasting strength. It isn’t just that the Lord has everlasting strength, He iseverlasting strength.
That should put your mind at peace – perfect peace indeed!
Day 4
Scriptures: Numbers 6:23-27, John 10:10
Getting the Blessing
Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, “This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them. (Numbers 6:23-27)
The LORD bless you: This simple desire prefaces everything. God loves to bless His people, and He loves when His leaders long for the people to be blessed. God’s blessing always keeps in mind our greatest and highest good. We often expect God’s blessing in our life to mean a world of comfort and ease – but that certainly isn’t for our greatest and highest good. God knows how you need to be blessed, even if you don’t!
And keep you: To be kept by the LORD is a blessing indeed. Some are kept by their sin and desire; some are kept by idolatry and greed; others are kept by their bitterness and anger. But to be kept by the Lord ensures life, peace, and success.
The LORD make His face to shine upon you: To have the glorious, happy face of God shining upon you is the greatest gift one could have. To know that as God looks upon you, He is well pleased – not because of who you are, or what you have done, but because you are in Jesus Christ – there is no greater source of peace and power in life.
And be gracious to you: The idea is that God shows tender mercy and care for His people.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you: The priest prays that God would look upon His people/ When God blesses, keeps, shines, and is gracious towards His people, any look He casts towards His people is filled with nothing but blessing. His loving attention is on the believer!
And give you peace: The Hebrew word is shalom, which is more than the cessation of hostility; it is God’s word for wholeness and goodness and total satisfaction in life. This is the abundant life Jesus promised (John 10:10).
Through the blessing, the three-fold repetition of LORD does not prove the Trinity, but it certainly illustrates it. God the Father blesses and keeps His children. God the Son makes God’s face to shine on us and brings us grace. God the Holy Spirit communicates God’s attention to us and gives us peace.
Notice God’s promise at the end: “And I will bless them.” God promises to bless in response to this blessing. Every believer can know that we have a High Priest in heaven who ever lives to intercede for us and to bless us. Do you sense this blessing in your life?
Receive the blessing of Jesus – your High Priest – in your life today.
Day 5
Scriptures: John 16:33, Philippians 4:6-8
New Year’s Predictions
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
At the start of a new year, people offer all sorts of predictions. Nevertheless, I believe we could take this statement from Jesus as a prediction for any year. See what Jesus predicts for the coming year.
First, “In the world you will have tribulation.” You can count on it – you will face tribulation this year. Jesus promised it would be so. The ancient Greek word translated tribulation has the idea of stress or pressing. Someday, you will have a time of rest and unending happiness – but that is for heaven, not for earth.
Understanding this removes a false hope. Struggling Christians often hope for the day when they will laugh at temptation and life will be one effortless victory after another. While we are in this world, we are promised a struggle, yet there is peace in Jesus. Your current area of struggle may one day pass away, but after that, there will be new areas to conquer.
We are promised something greater than tribulation: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” In this, Jesus shouted out the truth of His victory. It is an amazing statement from a man about to be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, tortured, and executed. The glory of the resurrection made it clear that Jesus could truly say, “I have overcome the world.”
Knowing all this, Jesus made a sincere offer: the gift of courage (good cheer) for the tribulation we must face. Knowing – not just as a fact in a history book – that Jesus has overcome the world brings us courage. There is no reason to be downcast or discouraged. If we believe His victory, and by faith share in His overcoming, we have good cheer. We also have what He offered at the beginning of the verse: peace.
Remember the circumstances surrounding this opening statement to the verse: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.“ At that very moment, Judas met with Jesus’ enemies to plot His arrest. Jesus knew that He would be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, humiliated, tortured, and executed before the next day was over.
Finally, notice that Jesus did not promise peace, but He offered it. He said, “You may have peace.” People can follow Jesus and yet deny themselves that peace. Jesus said, “that in Me you may have peace.” We will not find real peace anywhere else; we find it in Jesus alone.
We can predict tribulation. We can look back on the fact that Jesus has overcome the world. When we really receive His victory as our own, we can have peace. That is one prediction we are assured will come true.
In Jesus Christ, this new year is your year.