The Bible reveals to us who God is, and one important aspect of His character is that the Lord loves peace and wants it to fill the earth.\u00a0 Read Jesus\u2019 promise in John\u2019s gospel:\u00a0 \u201cPeace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.\u00a0 Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful: (John 14:27).\u00a0 We also learn that the Lord is a \u201cGod of peace\u201d (Rom. 15:33; Phil. 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Heb. 13:20), the Messiah is called the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6), and there is peace in heaven (Luke 19:38).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In light of all this, when Jesus says, \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers\u201d in Matthew 5:9, we can understand why:\u00a0 To be a peacemaker is to reflect the image of our heavenly Father \u2014 using our breath, energy, and creativity to sow peace wherever the Spirit takes us. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think about it\u2026
\u2022 What words, feelings, or situations do you associate with peace?\u00a0 When have you experienced peace as a gift from God? \u00a0
\u2022 Read John 14:27 again.\u00a0 Can you think of fears or concerns that affect your ability to experience or demonstrate peace?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thoughts about God\u2019s peace:
The end result of the Holy Spirit\u2019s work in our lives is deep and lasting peace.\u00a0 Unlike worldly peace,\u00a0 which is usually defined as the absence of conflict, this peace is confident assurance in any circumstance; with Christ\u2019s peace, we have no need to fear the present or the future.\u00a0 Sin, fear, uncertainty, doubt, and numerous other forces are at war within us.\u00a0 The peace of God moves into our hearts and lives to restrain these hostile forces and offer comfort in place of conflict.\u00a0 Jesus says he will give us that peace if we are willing to accept it from him.\u00a0 If your life is full of stress, allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with Christ\u2019s peace. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romans 15:33\u00a0\u00a0The God of peace be with\u00a0 you all.\u00a0 Amen.<\/em> Key thoughts: Blessings from the Youth Committee The Bible reveals to us who God is, and one important aspect of His character is that the Lord loves peace and wants it to fill the earth.\u00a0 Read Jesus\u2019 promise in John\u2019s gospel:\u00a0 \u201cPeace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":402,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/402"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2159,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions\/2159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Philippians\u00a04:9\u00a0\u00a0Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me\u2014put it into practice.\u00a0 And the God of peace will be with\u00a0 you.<\/em>
1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:23\u00a0\u00a0May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.\u00a0May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/em>
Hebrews 13:20\u00a0\u00a0Now may the God of Peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not enough to hear or read the Word of God, or even to know it well.\u00a0 We must also put it into practice.\u00a0 Exposure to God\u2019s Word must lead to obedience.\u00a0 God\u2019s word can be trusted and we enjoy the blessing of peace in our daily lives. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
References:\u00a0 God\u2019s Word NIV and In Touch Ministries\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"