“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him….”
Romans 15:13a
Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, King of Peace, God of Grace, Giver of Good. You, in your wisdom have brought to us the possibility of peace, but have left to us the practice of partaking, implementing and enjoying it. You invite us to dine with you at the table of peace; if we refuse to sit down and join you by trusting you, we, by our own choice, will live in peaceless turmoil, worry and fear.
I praise you, Lord Jesus, for what you have done in your great Love, Wisdom and Faithfulness, making peace possible. In your passion you have provided for all people a passage from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. You have made peace available to all by sacrificing yourself.
Without you, Lord Jesus, there can be no peace. Without trusting you there can be no rest. You are a wonder, loving your enemies so much that you provided them peace at great personal cost. And in your wisdom you made us responsible for taking up and enjoying that peace through trust and obedience.
So now we can have peace, first with you, Heavenly Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by confessing our sins, receiving forgiveness and surrendering to you as our Lord.
Then we can have peace within when we forgive ourselves as you have forgiven us.
After that we can have peace with others by forgiving them as you have forgiven us, and by asking for forgiveness when we commit an offence against them. The outcome is the release of grace from above, bringing peace within and the flow of peace without, to those around us.
This peace is carried on into our day as we trust in you, lifting up the shield of faith by praise, which is the demonstration of our trust in you, for, “You are good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon you” (Ps. 86:5, KJV).
“Lord God, King of Peace, help me today to have peace with you, confessing all sin and receiving your forgiveness; to have peace with myself, forgiving myself for my failures and sins because your shed blood covers them; and to have peace with others, forgiving them as you have forgiven me. Help me to walk through this day in peace with all because of your great sacrifice, Lord Jesus. Amen.”
