Peace is the presence of Jesus.

“Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:32 & 33(ESV).

What do we do in the face of fear?

I have an obstinate streak. When I’m afraid, when I’m picturing the worst-case scenario, I find it hard to internalize the well-meaning phrases people try and comfort me with. It’s like I’m staring a bleak future in the face, and I can’t seem to take my eyes off it. In those moments, no amount of “it’ll be OK,” “you’ve got this,” or “God works all things together for good” can ease my fear.

It’s not that I want to live in fear, but I can be so gripped by it that I don’t know how to climb out of a panicked mindset.

I’ll never forget the first time I heard Bill Johnson say in a sermon: “peace is not the absence of something; it’s the presence of someone.” I stopped cleaning the mirror and stared at the reflection of the shower tiles, transfixed by that concept. I had been trying to get rid of my fear by denying it, underplaying it, and shaming myself for falling into it yet again. But this idea offered a gracious way to turn to Jesus in the midst of fear.

All of this week, John 16:33, keeps coming back to me, and this morning it was one of the verses in my devotional.

“Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:32 & 33 (ESV).

What I love about Jesus is that he’s a realist. In this Bible passage, it’s the lead-up to Jesus’ crucifixion, and he’s preparing his disciples for what’s to come. They have no idea, of course, that he’ll suffer a gruesome death. Still, they’ve understood enough of his cryptic phrases to know something bad is going to happen, and he’s going to leave them. They’re frightened (and I’m sure Jesus is too). What strikes me is that Jesus doesn’t deny that: “you will have tribulation,” he admits. Other translations say “trials and distress and frustration” (AMP) or “difficulties” (MSG).

Nor does Jesus tell them to think positively. For me, the challenge with many positive phrases is they rely on the outcome or circumstances changing: “you got this,” “it’ll be OK.” What if “I don’t got this” and what if “it isn’t OK?” That’s actually a possibility! I’m not just being melodramatic.

Instead, Jesus tells them to take heart, to “be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]” (AMP). It’s like he’s saying, “borrow some courage from me, lean on my heart.” He’s telling them to focus on filling themselves with something else, not on trying to distinguish the fear.

When Jesus tells me to take heart in the face of fear, two powerful truths make this so much more possible and helpful than mere positive thinking.

Presence

“In Me, you may have peace,” “shalom” (TLV), “perfect confidence” (AMP), “you will be unshakable” (MSG). Jesus is telling me it’s His presence that brings me peace. It’s not the absence of fear or the absence of trials. It’s not even His sound advice or his wise words, but the presence of a loving, compassionate saviour who brings wholeness (shalom) and the presence of the comforter, the Holy Spirit (John 14:26 & 27) who always brings me to TRUTH. Jesus knows how crucial it is for us to know we’re not alone in scary situations because He says just before, “I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.” If Jesus, who was perfect, needed the presence of His Father in hard times, how much more do I?

Power

“I have overcome the world.” The second reason is that Jesus isn’t just a kind, well-meaning person. He’s the most powerful. He has “conquered the world” (MSG). He’s “deprived it of power to harm you” (AMP). So, that scary future I’m imagining? Well, yes, it could happen. But Jesus has overcome it, and He’s taken the power from it to harm me.

This revelation – that peace is presence – has shifted my response when I’m faced with fear. No longer do I try to shame myself for feeling it, shout louder than it or imagine a better outcome. Instead, I close my eyes and imagine Jesus with me. I invite Him in, and I’m learning to allow His presence to become more overpowering than my imagination.

I pray that you’d know His presence today in every moment, the victorious ones and the fear-inducing ones.