I like the way you think, Lisi! Yes, if only we all could get along with each other. It seems so simple, doesn't it? We look around and see countries at war, families splitting up, churches divided, and we wonder why? Why can't we all just get along?
The main problem is we have an enemy in this world who hates us and hates God and will do whatever he can to disrupt things, cause division, strife, hatred, and ultimately death, whether spiritual or physical or both.
We forget sometimes that there is a very real spiritual world out there, just as real as what we can see in the physical. And in this spiritual world is good and evil, angels and demons, always at war. There will not be true peace until Jesus comes back and establishes peace and locks up our enemy. Then the world will know true peace like it's never known before.
However, that doesn't let us off the hook. We can't go around blaming the devil for everything and say "The devil made me do it." God tells us these things to warn us, to make us aware of what's going on behind the scenes. But we are still responsible for our actions and how we react and handle things.
We can't reall do it without God's help, either. We have to be willing to be humble and come to God and ask Him to help us love, help us forgive, because pride will always rear it's ugly head if we try to do things in our own strength. We simply can't do it.
Yes, it makes me sad to see so much fighting and hatred in families, churches, around the world, but I remind myself that the devil is behind all that and to pray, pray for peace. All we really can do is change ourselves and work on ourselves, with God's help. We can't change others, only God can, but we can pray. Prayer changes people and situations but even more, it changes us. The more we pray the more we will see that.
So my prayer is that we all will commit to pray for our families, our churches, our leaders and ourselves and to pray for peace. God is faithful and hears our prayers and He's bigger than us and only He can make the changes as we are willing to change ourselves.
And then hopefully we can do our best to show the love of Him to others and hope that it will make an impact in their lives and that they will seek the Lord and pass it on, one person at a time.
It really does make a difference!
Hello,
I think alot about this subject. Especially when I'm impatient with my family or my kids. At times I wish they would just understand me and i wish they themselves would change for the better. Then I sit back and begin to think about how patient God is with us. I think to myself that if God's mercy wouldnt be new every morning we would be dead by now. We need to remember the fruits of the Spirit.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)