“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 taking up, 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, live in 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 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 peace from above, bringing peace within and the flow of peace without.

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).

As we trust in you, your peace continues to fill us, and opens the way for joy and hope: “May the God of hope fill You with all joy and peace as You trust in Him so that Your lives may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13 – emphasis mine). Without our trusting, none of this will come to pass.

You are wise, O God, you are worthy of praise, you are wonderful in insight, you are a wonderment to all who know you. To you, Lord Jesus, belongs all honor, glory and praise, for you are the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world, the Prince of Peace, the Harbinger of Hope, the Creator of all, the Ender of time, the Lover of our souls, the Bringer of justice, and the Minister of mercy.  We exalt you, we lift up your name, we magnify your majesty, we bow down in worship, and we rise up to obey.

Prayer: “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.”