Many people travel around the world moving from one country to another in search of peace and stability. And their need to move away from their home country is very real. Their homeland may be surrounded with war; there may have been a lot of killing there; there could have been persecution happening to them because they were from a clan that was not in power. Maybe they belonged to the wrong religion according to the government and had to escape. Maybe there was famine or disease.
Whatever the reason many people find themselves on the run in search of peace; a place where they can settle down, eat, live and work – and be at peace.
I remember talking to a Somali man in a coffee shop one day as he was looking out the window and smiling. We were sitting in a coffee shop in Canada. I went up to him and asked him why he was smiling. He said: “It’s nice to know that I can cross a street to get to the other side and not have to worry about someone putting a bullet through my head. Back in Mogadishu you could not cross the street without someone shooting at you and the fear that you might die.”
So it can be very difficult for many people.
So they leave their home countries in search of peace, physical peace. They want to go to a country where there is no war. They go to Europe, or Canada, or the US, or Brazil; they make their way to South Africa or elsewhere to find some peace. And some find it, and some don’t; some make it and some don’t. Those who make it to a safe haven, a safe place to live are happy. But the problems of life do not leave. Children are not accepted at schools, young men get depressed and start taking drugs or drinking alcohol. Some people want to commit suicide because they are so troubled – and some people cannot find peace for their souls.
The aching in your heart
There was this book I read about a man who had to leave Mogadishu as a young boy of only 8 years old. He was an orphan and was pretty well on his own with his cousin. He worked fixing a truck and driving around the countries delivering good and fixing the truck. He did this for many years. He moved from country to country until he made his way to South Africa and opened as convenience store – a spaza shop – and then moved to the United States of America. His name was Asad and he moved around many times and to many places; but he always ended up in the same place – alone without peace in his soul.
And maybe you are like that. No matter how many countries you have travelled to; no matter how many times you changed your job; or your spouse, or family, or education – you just cannot find the peace and dull the aching pain that you feel in your heart.
Jesus will give you peace in your heart
I am here to tell you that the peace you are looking for to calm your heart and your mind is available through Jesus Christ. Yes. Through Jesus Christ; God sent Jesus into this world so that He could make peace for you with God.
This is what the Bible says: “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 5:18
Jesus said: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you peace.” – Matthew 11:28
We all carry heavy burdens. We feel guilty for the things that we have done in the past. None of us has lived a perfect life here on earth and we have done things that have hurt other people. We can find forgiveness of our sins and freedom from the guilt and condemnation we feel through the blood of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says: “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”
“Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new way between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.”
God has made a new way for us to feel at peace with Him. The old way of trying to be a perfect human being by your behaviour did not work. Many of us tried to be perfect on our own and found it very sad and frustrating that we were not able to accomplish our goals. We wanted to be made right with God through what we did but we could never find the way to get there. So we were left feeling hopeless, abandoned, rejected, sad and alone.
But then we heard about Christ. And someone said: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
And we heard that we can have peace with God; we can have eternal life; our sins can be forgiven and we can enjoy peace and love and we can be a new person and live for God and have a Holy life and be good and kind to our family and the people around us.
So we called out to God – we cried out to God and asked Him to come into our lives and help us. We asked God to show Himself to us and reveal Himself to us. And maybe immediately nothing happened. We cried out to God and then forgot about what we did. And then sometime in the future we started to realize that we were different. Something happened to us. We were changed and we really like this new person we had become. We had become a new person, the old person was gone, and the new person had arrived – and this new person was Jesus Christ living inside of us.
Jesus said I Will come into your heart
Jesus enters our bodies by His Spirit: he comes to live in us. It says in the Book of Revelation chapter 3: “”Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”
Jesus is the new life that we have been given and He lives in us after we call out to God and ask Him to show Himself to us. We cry out to God asking Him to show Himself to us but we really do not know what it is that we are expecting to see. We cry out to God and hope that somehow He will change us and that we will see changes in our lives. But we are not sure what and how that will look like.
Jesus Christ is the person that you are looking for if you are looking to have peace with God. If you are looking for satisfaction and peace in your life then you are looking for Jesus. Jesus will be able to take way the burdens and the heaviness that you have in your life and in your heart and free you from the burdens and pains that you are carrying.
You have found your peace. Jesus is the peace that you have been looking for and you finally found Him.
So how to you find Jesus
God is nearby and if you want to have a personal relationship with God then you can do so very easily. All you have to do is cry out to God with all your heart and all your soul and all you mind. God can hear you, God can see you, God can take an active role in your life and do the things that you are seeking for.
If you want to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour then you can pray this prayer after me:
“Lord Jesus Christ I come before you with all my fears and doubts that are going through my mind. I ask you to come into my life and fill me with your Spirit of love and forgiveness. I ask you to forgive me for the sins that I have committed in my life. I ask you to free me from the fear of death and of dying because I do not want to die and go to hell. Fill me with your peace and love from above. I want to be born again; I want to have a new life in Jesus Christ; I want to be a new person; I want the old person within me to die and to live for God. I want to be a Holy and a godly person. God please take away my guilt and the sin that I feel. I feel so condemned and guilty for all the things I have done in the past and I have tried to live a perfect life and I have found that I cannot. So please come into my life and live that perfect life through me that I have always wanted. Please, Lord Jesus, come into my life. I invite you in.”
Peace with God
If you have prayed this prayer you should find peace with God. If you have prayed this prayer then you should join a Bible believing church or group of friends; you should read your Bible; and you should pray and keep in fellowship and contact with God.