Paraclete: Our peace and rest

[TonyChanYT]

John 14:

26 But the Helper <Paraclete>, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Focus on your conscience and Paraclete and see if you can sense the constant peace of God.

Wiki:

Elevation is an emotion elicited by witnessing actual or imagined virtuous acts of remarkable moral goodness.[1][2][3] It is experienced as a distinct feeling of warmth and expansion that is accompanied by appreciation and affection for the individual whose exceptional conduct is being observed.[3] Elevation motivates those who experience it to open up to, affiliate with, and assist others. Elevation makes an individual feel lifted up and optimistic about humanity.

I can't identify with this elevation. What I sense any time and all the time is peace in the Paraclete, there is no elevation of feeling at all. No ups, no downs, it is just a flat sense of peace, like right now in me.

Paul explains in Ephesians 2:

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,

peace in the Paraclete, not in the OT laws

16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

peace with God

17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

i.e., the Paraclete.

What is the true Sabbath rest?

Col 2:

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

The true Sabbath rest is found in Christ.

How to sense this peace/rest?

The Paraclete dwells in my human spirit which is in touch with my faculty of conscience. Conscience and emotion are two different faculties/departments. Emotion is close to the flesh. Conscience is close to the spirit. They are rather far away from each other. Do not mistake your human feelings as peace of the Paraclete.

This constant peace does not originate from your heart or mind, Philippians 4:

7 the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Jesus says in Mat 11:

28 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Rest in a gentle and lowly spirit and soul. I am talking about constant peace and rest, not elation, the sense of quiet peace from your conscience, and not the feeling of peace from your emotions. It may take some practice before you can tell the difference between the two. In the meantime, try How to get closer to God and grow in faith.

 

[Tenchi]

Focus on your conscience and Paraclete and see if you can sense the constant peace of God.

Is this scriptural? Does God say in His word to us to "focus on your conscience and the Paraclete and see if you can sense the constant peace of God"? Not that I'm aware of. For a great many people - Christians included - their conscience is seared, blunted and damaged by willful rebellion toward God and by resisting the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.

1 Timothy 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

Romans 1:28-32
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

2 Timothy 3:8
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

Focusing on one's conscience, ordered as it is by one's mind, then, can be often a very bad idea. One's conscience can be seriously warped and damaged, operating under the direction of a debased mind, and thus become a terrible means of discerning the right way to go, morally and spiritually.

I can't identify with this elevation. What I sense any time and all the time is peace in the Paraclete, there is no elevation of feeling at all. No ups, no downs, it is just a flat sense of peace, like right now in me.

Well, the "peace that passes all understanding" is in Christ Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace. Such peace is a Person, not primarily a feeling of contentment or inner calm.

Isaiah 9:6
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Philippians 4:5-7
5 ...The Lord is near.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Knowing him, trusting him, walking in submission to him, may produce inner calm, but it is Christ that is the Source of our peace, not the obtaining of a emotional/psychological state. I make this point because often when Christians talk about "peace" they mean a feeling, not a Person.

Paul explains in Ephesians 2:

peace in the Paraclete, not in the OT laws

peace with God

All of this is "peace" in the sense of reconciliation, of the unification of opposed parties, not an inner state of calm. It is the predicate, though, for living in the "peace that passes all understanding."

How to sense this peace/rest?

The Paraclete dwells in my human spirit which is in touch with my faculty of conscience. Conscience and emotion are two different faculties/departments. Emotion is close to the flesh. Conscience is close to the spirit. They are rather far away from each other. Do not mistake your human feelings as peace of the Paraclete.

Why do you say that "conscience is close to the Spirit"?

I wholeheartedly agree that one ought to be very careful not to confuse human emotions/feelings with the peace that the Holy Spirit is.

Rest in a gentle and lowly spirit and soul. I am talking about constant peace and rest, not elation, the sense of quiet peace from your conscience, and not the feeling of peace from your emotions. It may take some practice before you can tell the difference between the two.

Nowhere does Scripture indicate that one's conscience is the source of a believer's "quiet peace." The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is the Source of the believer's peace.

John 14:26-27
26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Here, Jesus indicated that the "peace" he would leave with his own was the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who would not come until Jesus had returned to his place at God the Father's right hand.

John 16:7-14
7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

In this passage, Jesus stated that it wasn't his disciples' consciences that would "guide them into all truth," but the Holy Spirit who would convict them of "sin, righteousness and judgment." And as Jesus told his disciples in John 14, from the Spirit also comes our peace; he is himself our peace, in fact.

Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Echoing Jesus, Paul here identified the Holy Spirit as the Source of the believer's peace, not their conscience.

Why, are so many Christians today anxious, depressed, obsessive and neurotic when they have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them? Well, there are only two basic reasons:

1.) They are not truly saved.
2.) They are in rebellion toward God.

Both of these circumstances cut-off a person from the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, who would fill them with himself, thus conforming them more and more to Christ, the Prince of Peace. In the first case, there is no spiritual life, the life of Christ (John 1:4; John 14:6; John 15:4-5; 1 John 5:11-12; Colossians 3:4), in them at all. This is remedied by repenting of life without God (James 4:6-10), confessing that such a life is rebellious and sinful (1 John 1:9), trusting in Christ as Savior and submitting to him as Lord (Romans 10:9-10).

In the second case, the person possesses "new life in Christ" in the Person of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5; Romans 8:9-14; 1 John 4:13), but they are not living in constant submission to God, yielding themselves as often as necessary throughout each day to the Spirit's control (Romans 6:13-22; Romans 12:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:6). This is, essentially, to live in rebellion to God; and so long as such rebellion persists, the Spirit-indwelt believer cannot be filled with the Spirit and thus transformed by him into the "image of Christ" (Romans 8:29). God, you see, does not fill and transform rebels. Instead, He opposes them, and turns His face from them, withholding fellowship and transformation of them until they submit to His will and way (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; 1 Peter 3:10-12).

 

[TonyChanYT]

Is this scriptural? Does God say in His word to us to "focus on your conscience and the Paraclete and see if you can sense the constant peace of God"? Not that I'm aware of. For a great many people - Christians included - their conscience is seared, blunted and damaged by willful rebellion toward God and by resisting the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.

1 Timothy 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

Romans 1:28-32
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

2 Timothy 3:8
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

Focusing on one's conscience, ordered as it is by one's mind, then, can be often a very bad idea. One's conscience can be seriously warped and damaged, operating under the direction of a debased mind, and thus become a terrible means of discerning the right way to go, morally and spiritually.



Well, the "peace that passes all understanding" is in Christ Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace. Such peace is a Person, not primarily a feeling of contentment or inner calm.

Isaiah 9:6
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Philippians 4:5-7
5 ...The Lord is near.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Knowing him, trusting him, walking in submission to him, may produce inner calm, but it is Christ that is the Source of our peace, not the obtaining of a emotional/psychological state. I make this point because often when Christians talk about "peace" they mean a feeling, not a Person.



All of this is "peace" in the sense of reconciliation, of the unification of opposed parties, not an inner state of calm. It is the predicate, though, for living in the "peace that passes all understanding."



Why do you say that "conscience is close to the Spirit"?

I wholeheartedly agree that one ought to be very careful not to confuse human emotions/feelings with the peace that the Holy Spirit is.



Nowhere does Scripture indicate that one's conscience is the source of a believer's "quiet peace." The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is the Source of the believer's peace.

John 14:26-27
26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Here, Jesus indicated that the "peace" he would leave with his own was the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who would not come until Jesus had returned to his place at God the Father's right hand.

John 16:7-14
7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

In this passage, Jesus stated that it wasn't his disciples' consciences that would "guide them into all truth," but the Holy Spirit who would convict them of "sin, righteousness and judgment." And as Jesus told his disciples in John 14, from the Spirit also comes our peace; he is himself our peace, in fact.

Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Echoing Jesus, Paul here identified the Holy Spirit as the Source of the believer's peace, not their conscience.

Why, are so many Christians today anxious, depressed, obsessive and neurotic when they have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them? Well, there are only two basic reasons:

1.) They are not truly saved.
2.) They are in rebellion toward God.

Both of these circumstances cut-off a person from the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, who would fill them with himself, thus conforming them more and more to Christ, the Prince of Peace. In the first case, there is no spiritual life, the life of Christ (John 1:4; John 14:6; John 15:4-5; 1 John 5:11-12; Colossians 3:4), in them at all. This is remedied by repenting of life without God (James 4:6-10), confessing that such a life is rebellious and sinful (1 John 1:9), trusting in Christ as Savior and submitting to him as Lord (Romans 10:9-10).

In the second case, the person possesses "new life in Christ" in the Person of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5; Romans 8:9-14; 1 John 4:13), but they are not living in constant submission to God, yielding themselves as often as necessary throughout each day to the Spirit's control (Romans 6:13-22; Romans 12:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:6). This is, essentially, to live in rebellion to God; and so long as such rebellion persists, the Spirit-indwelt believer cannot be filled with the Spirit and thus transformed by him into the "image of Christ" (Romans 8:29). God, you see, does not fill and transform rebels. Instead, He opposes them, and turns His face from them, withholding fellowship and transformation of them until they submit to His will and way (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; 1 Peter 3:10-12).

Thanks for sharing

My post assumes the person has the Paraclete indwelling in him, connected to his conscience. The peace and rest refer to the Paraclete himself. The person is to sense him who is his peace and rest.