Dear Friend,

It is such a privilege to be able to share with you what’s on my heart this month. God is doing amazing things! Our world has changed a lot in the last three years, but that has not stopped His mighty hand or His ability to change lives. He is a rescuing God, a saving God, and a supplier-of-our-needs God — and He will always be!

But first I want to tell you how thankful I am for the many responses and prayer requests I’m receiving. I read every one, and I pray over every prayer request and rejoice over every praise report. I’m so aware that God is reaching out to us. It doesn’t matter if we can see each other or not — His Spirit is working mightily among us!

Today I want to talk to you about the faithfulness of our God, His compassion, and His peace. In John 14:18, we see these amazing and wonderful words from Jesus: “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.” Through these powerful words, we catch a glimpse of the heart of Jesus and the heart of the Father for the disciples. Jesus knew He would soon be leaving His chosen followers. He knew they would see and witness His arrest, He knew they would see Him crucified, and He was speaking these words to bring comfort to them before these things happened.

Jesus knew these cascading events would shake His disciples — they would devastate them. Out of His compassion for them, He was preparing them beforehand. He cared perfectly for them. And the Word says He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8), so His heart toward us is the same as it was toward His disciples. He can see what is ahead of us. We may not see it, but He does, and He says to us, “I will never leave you. Never!

Before Jesus reassured the disciples by saying, “I will come to you” (John 14:18), He told them how He would come to them. In John 14:16, He said, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” When Jesus said He was going to send them (and us) another Comforter, He was basically saying, “I am going to send you Someone exactly like Me.” And that Someone is the Holy Spirit — the perfect representation of Jesus in every way. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter, our refuge, our strength, and our very present help in times of trouble (see Psalm 46:1).

The New King James Version of John 14:18 says, “I will not leave you as orphans….” Maybe you were an orphan, or maybe you have adopted a child who was orphaned. If so, you have intimate knowledge about what it means to be an orphan. I have been in several orphanages in the former USSR. In fact, more than two decades ago, we sold one of our first homes to a ministry, and they transformed it into an orphanage. When I went back to visit the children at the orphanage, I could see clearly that they had once been rejected, abandoned, ignored, devalued, and absent of love and parental affection. But Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans.” In other words, He was saying, “I will not leave you rejected. I will not leave you abandoned. I will not leave you ignored, without value, or absent of love or affection.” Then He said, “I am giving you the Holy Spirit, and He will never, never, never leave you!”

Jesus continued His words of encouragement to His disciples by saying, “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy [Spirit], whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:25,26).

In verse 27, Jesus then shares something that’s even more revealing of His tender care for us. He says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

When Jesus said this to His disciples, He was immediately giving them peace — and that same peace is available to us. Peace can mean several things: It can mean cessation of war, the putting away of weapons, putting away conflict, or a time of rebuilding and reconstruction after war has ceased. It can also mean distractions being removed and order in the place of chaos. Ultimately, peace is a calm inner stability that results in peacefulness even in the midst of circumstances that would normally be traumatic and upsetting.

First Peter 3:4 also gives us wisdom concerning peace. It says, “But let it [peace] be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” This can be the picture of a godly wife with controlled strength — a wife who has opinions and preferences about how she would like to see things happen in her marriage, or a wife who has desires about how her husband should treat her. But instead of arguing and complaining, she takes hold of peace and lets it manifest in her as controlled strength.

God says this kind of peace is “very precious” in His sight (see 1 Peter 3:4 NKJV). But this kind of peace does not just happen automatically. It is something that we must pursue. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” This word “pursue” means to hunt for and to follow after. So my friend, if we desire to attain this peace and keep it, we must continually pursue it.

Peace can be ours today — it is ours to freely receive. But we must choose to pursue peace and say to our heart, “Don’t be troubled. Don’t be afraid.” Speak peace over yourself, your family, your children, and your house. God said to Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses” (Joshua 1:3). Take your authority over your place and declare peace! Peace is a weapon, and it silences the enemy. It conquers anger and defeats anxiety.

This peace that you have on the inside is so powerful, and it has a powerful voice. Peace says, “Don’t fear.” Peace says, “Yes! I can do this.” Peace says, “Don’t worry.” Peace says, “Devil, shut up!” And peace says, “Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and I will not fear.” Speak it by faith today — embrace peace, and don’t let it go.

Dear friend, when we take hold of that peace, joy comes, strength comes, and patience and kindness come. I know, in this day especially, we need to embrace the peace of God. His peace shows up very powerfully in the midst of difficulties. What an amazing and wonderful Savior we have! He is the Prince of Peace and the One who gave us His peace.

I speak the peace of God to you right now — over your mind, over your body, over your emotions, over your relationship with your family, over your finances, and over your home.

Thank you so much for spending this time with me. If you would like more encouragement from the Word, I invite you to join me for my program, TIME With Denise Renner, on Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. CT on YouTube and Facebook. You can also find me Saturdays at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. CT on GospelTruth.TV and Saturdays at 3:30 p.m. CT on PTL. And you can access my audio podcast on Spotify, Apple, and Google with new episodes every Monday at 5:00 a.m.

Please let us know how we can pray for you. If you have a special prayer request, one of our prayer partners is just a phone call or email away. Call 1.800.742.5593 or send us an email at prayer@deniserenner.org.We look forward to joining our faith with yours for the answer you need!

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner