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Are you the odd one out yet?

What would you do in the last night if you knew that tomorrow you will be killed? Write your will. Seek forgiveness from those you have wronged in the past. Eat your favorite meal. Hug and say goodbye to your loved ones. Finish any unfinished work that you still have time for. The list goes on. But what if you knew this from before time, and you knew what was going to happen to you after you were killed? This was the scenario with Jesus!

John 16:33
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.

For Jesus, though unannounced, He knew exactly when and how He would be killed. He knew the end from before the beginning. For this reason I have peace in spite of everything that is going on around us.  This includes the possibility of being ostracized for my faith.  Being the odd one out in a conversation.  Losing privileges and being ridiculed.  Jesus said it plainly here that we will be "the odd one out".

John 16:1-4
These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

If I speak words that seem to be acceptable to the human mind, I need to question what I speak.  The reason for this is that the message I am speaking (or writing) is foreign to human wisdom.  It requires a God given conscience and faith to be accepted.  The Spirit of God is the one that reveals all things to you.  He is doing this to all men, and it may be in conflict with what we have accepted in the "natural", or in our human limitation.  We need God's intervention.  If you are seeking real peace, cry out to God with a sincere heart to intervene in your life.  He will reveal His purposes.

Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Father, help me to show the peace of Jesus. The real PEACE.

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