Dear God, Is Peace Possible?

In my quiet and peaceful prayer spot yesterday morning, I prayed for peace in our country. My heart ached as I thought how divided our country is -- seemingly louder and noisier than ever before. I saw these words by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman "Civil War in America may be coming if we cannot find a way out of the tribalistic political and cultural fracturing that threatens our future." I remembered studying American History with my young grandson a couple of months ago. The studies were about the deadly Civil War -- the most turbulent, violent years between the North and the South. I thought "Dear God, is peace possible?"

Oh, but very quickly, to straighten me out like He often does, my loving Father/Dad/Papa sent me these words: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.' 2 Chronicles 7:14. Notice He said, "If MY people....." Scrolling through my FB timeline yesterday morning, I saw that one of my Canadian friends' "shared" a video of a huge prayer meeting that was going on in Washington D.C. on Thursday. God's people were humbling themselves and praying.

Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed to the Supreme Court if a favorable final vote count comes in today. Whatever way it goes, God's Word gives no room for gloating or pouring "vinegar in a wound" to those who opposed this confirmation. In fact, King Solomon put it this way in Proverbs 25:20-22 "Don't be like one who takes away a garment on a cold day, or pours vinegar on a wound, or who sings songs to a heavy heart. If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you."

God’s Word calls us to defend our faith “with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). We are to “honor everyone” (1 Peter 2:17), whether they honor us or not. We are to “show no partiality” (James 2:1) as we show the world “brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” (1 Peter 3:8).

In so doing, we continue the earthly ministry of Jesus. He prayed that we would live in such a way that the world would believe in Him because of us (John 17:21). Then He returned to heaven so his Spirit could bear witness to Him through Christians all over the world (John 15:26-27).

Our work of loving, giving, serving and living as Christ did should be stronger than ever before. Charles Spurgeon said: “You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is His living biography, written out in the words and actions of his people.”

Debt Paid In Full

Day 93 of Photo Inspirations -- Debt PAID in FULL
Two friends and I meet daily (M-F) at 6:30 am to walk the perimeter of our subdivision three times (3.3 miles).  We walk, talk and pray.  We're on purpose.  We pray for divine intervention for our families, our community, city, state and world.  "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  II Chronicles 7:14  

Because, we're "in the moment", we notice the "God" things all around us.  As the sun rises, we recognize the LIGHT of God's creation and His "Good Morning" to us.  We see the birds flying, and we hear "Don't concern yourselves with things that keep you earth-bound.  Rise up to My view where I see the BIG PICTURE -- the BIG PLANS for your lives and those plans are in progress for your good."

Yesterday morning, we were walking in wind gusts of up to 40 mph. Whew!  Acts 2:2 resonated in us ("....the rushing, mighty wind of God came in and filled the house where they were sitting").  We said, "Aw -- God's rushing, mighty wind is upon us and that wind pushes out anything contrary to God's Word in our community, our families' lives, our country and our world.  We prayed for Israel.

But, it was "Good Friday", and we talked about what Christ did for us on Calvary.  He paid a debt He didn't owe.  He paid our debt.  My friend mentioned a health issue, and right away we talked about the blood of Jesus that was shed for our sins AND for our healing.  "He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24.

As we talked about the power of His blood, we looked down and saw this red paint mark on the concrete -- and we were impressed by the visual that God caused us to see...simply because we were "in the moment" seizing the moment. There is nothing to compare with the nudges, visuals, and sweet embraces we feel from God when we make Him the invited guest, the center of attention and the VIP of our day.  Go ahead -- try it!  I promise you many, many divine encounters when you do.  Why wouldn't the ONE Who paid our debt, gave His life for us so that we would live, check in with us on a daily basis?  That's Who He is.  He is Emmanuel -- GOD WITH US!