Peacemakers Archives - God Cherishes You

Being Wise – part 3

In part 1 of the series, we looked at the nature of wisdom; and in part 2 we examined the wise applications of taking initiative, i.e. being at cause in the direction of our lives. Now, let us look at the wisdom of being a ‘peacemaker.’

If you are having to make peace, there must be some contention that you are having to deal with – something that is interfering with the highest gifts from God: peace, love, and joy. These gifts intersect; so, any malice towards one of them will also poison the other two.

The most common foes of peace, love and joy, are faithlessness, anger, and jealousy; (see Anger Kills and Right and Wrong Relationships – part 3) – all of which are forms of fear (see Fearless). Where fear exists, there is no love; therefore, neither is there peace nor joy:

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love. 1 Jn. 4:18 CSB

These fears are rooted in being afraid that you won’t get what you want, or that you are going to lose something – born from wanting to get your own way, and from practicing covetousness.

For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice. Jas. 3:16

In our humanness, we tend to strike back when our peace is assaulted; but that is not the godly model:

…he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. Joel 2:13 NLT

We are meant to model Him:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Eph. 4:31, 32. NLT

If we do that, we take on the characteristics of a peacemaker:

A gentle answer deflects anger… Pr. 15:1 NLT

…love covers all transgressions. Pr. 10:12 NASB

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” Lk. 6:27, 28. NKJV

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Rm. 12:18 ESV

This is all part of our godly mandate, an element for advancing His kingdom:

The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil… 2 Tim. 2:24 – 26. CSB

Finally, as you attempt to make peace, God will bless you as well:

…counselors of peace have joy. Pr. 12:20 NKJV

Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Cor. 13:11 CSB

“God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” Mt. 5:9 NLT

Peace be with you. Part 4 is coming soon!

Goodnight and God bless.

Anger Kills

“Anger, he smiles, towering in shiny metallic purple armor, Queen Jealousy, Envy waits beside him. Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground. Blue are the life-giving waters taken for granted. They quietly understand. Once happy turquoise armies lay opposite ready but wonder why the fight is on.” Bold as Love: Jimi Hendrix

Anger is a natural human response – part of the emotional array that we inherit from our Heavenly Template. Yes, God gets angry too, but His righteous anger is triggered only by injustice; and that’s the only way that He accepts angry behavior from His children:

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime. Ps. 30:5 NASB

…for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Joel 2:13 NKJV

But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath… Ps. 78.38 NKJV

If we follow our Father in heaven’s example then, we see that our anger is to be slow-growing, short-lived and filled with compassion and forgiveness.

Yet, as we have seen, since the fall of Adam and Eve, we have an ungodly component in our soul and flesh that desires to follow the worldly examples. Worldly anger, like its close cousins: pride, jealousy and envy, are all forms of fear:

Envy is the fear of being ‘less than,’ believing others to be better than you.

Jealousy is similar to envy, both being born out of a lust for something someone else has, while holding them in disdain for their apparent good fortune.

Exercising pride is where you lift yourself above another, effectively oppressing them.

Anger is the motherlode of all fears – the fear of life itself.

Anger is an unsuccessful strategy of oppression, a defense mechanism against the pain that they are feeling from their life experience, because they refuse to grab ahold of life by the rudder and take responsibility for their consequences. In addition, they are not inviting God to help them in the parts of their lives that they cannot control.

It is an emotional offensive play that is in reality a defense tactic to intimidate someone, whom they feel is trying to invalidate their own beliefs. These opinions are always rooted in some interpretation (meaning) that they’ve attached to some event in their past.

Anger is a form of ‘closing down,’ by ‘striking out.’ It creates barriers to communication and relationship. Worse, it’s addictive and feeds upon itself.

The roots of anger include 1) not liking something, i.e. your preferences manifesting, 2) wanting life to be different than it is, but being paralyzed by a fear of change, 3) seeing others as ‘the enemy’ for not sharing your preferences, 4) defending yourself against potential rejection, afraid the past will repeat itself, 5) fearing being ‘found out’ for some past mistake, or having your false persona being exposed, and finally 6) feeling that someone is trying to control you – especially if you see yourself as a ‘victim.’

There is nothing good about unrighteous anger:

Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. Ps. 37:8 NASB

For anger slays the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple. Job 5:2 NASB

Our tirades drive everyone away, even those we want to hold close, leaving us with more shame and guilt and ultimately, loneliness. Worse, it does nothing to relieve our pain.

The danger that indulging in anger brings, is the elevation to violence that you direct towards others and yourself. How can you expect to embrace happiness?

Anger makes you think that you are powerful; but it eviscerates your health – leading to anxiety, high blood pressure, stroke and cancer.

We must put on the mindset of the Godhead:

BE ANGRY [at sin – at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], YET DO NOT SIN; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down. And do not give the devil the opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness]. Eph. 4:26, 27. AMP

A gentle answer turns away wrath… Pr. 15:1 NASB

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Eph. 4:31, 31. ESV

Good sense and discretion make a man slow to anger, and it is his honor and glory to overlook a transgression or an offense [without seeking revenge and harboring resentment]. Pr. 19:11 AMP

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… Gal. 5:22, 23. NASB

The long and short of it is, that if we want to root anger out of our lives, we must practice living our lives in the opposite way, i.e. a life of peace:

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Rm. 12:18 ESV

…live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Cor. 13:11 NKJV

Ultimately, we can choose anger and die, or, choose peace and live:

“God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” Mt. 5:9 NLT

Goodnight and God bless.

God’s Children Must Stand for Peace

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass…For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom…all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Mt. 24:6 – 8. NKJV

Jesus is saying that right up until the end of time, there will be wars. We see it today. There are wars festering over the entire globe. Our own country has been creating a ‘perpetual’ war since 1952 in order to justify military overgrowth, to serve the associated defense contractors, to pander to ego and avarice-driven politicians, and to foster fear in our population in order to keep us in line.

Followers of Christ have received several imperatives to walk a different path:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Rm. 12:2 ESV

But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Ps. 37:11 NKJV

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Is. 9:6 NKJV

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Mt. 5:9 NKJV

If it is possible, as much as depends upon you, live peaceably with all men. Rm. 12:18 NKJV

The world is war-like. We don’t have to be. Nor do we have to support war. We are called to emulate Christ – the Prince of Peace. Uniting in Him, we can take a peaceful stand against any form of aggression by our respective governments by offering a better way, living out a spiritual path as an example of how peace might be attained.

We cannot be caught up in the patriotic jargon and emotion slathered over the death-face of war, or we just become additional nutrients for the disease. Other than self-defense, we can never consider that a war can be justified. (And it is in those self-defense actions that we can express our undying gratitude to the brave, selfless soldiers who took up our cause.)

Simultaneously, we must not forget our Christian love and compassion – even for blind, faithless warmongers who are at the mercy of their flesh and its violent chaos:

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. James 4:1, 2. NKJV

Yes, wars simply come down to someone wanting what someone else has. It is also the projection of the evil within the perpetrator upon the innocent victim, whom they call them the ‘enemy.’

“But I say to you, ‘love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Mt. 5:44, 45. NKJV

When you love your enemy, you can better understand them, which makes them hard to hate.

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth… Acts 17:26 NKJV

Thus, we can see that we are at one with our enemy, whom is also loved by God. And, just like our secular government and its multitudinous tentacles, we can pray for them, knowing that they too need the salvation that comes from the grace of God through Christ.

Aggressive military ‘solutions’ are becoming increasingly more formidable, lethal and potentially destructive on a global scale. Even what some consider a small military ‘action,’ almost always explodes into full scale war.

Wars don’t have to be a ‘given.’ We can look for alternate ways for conflict resolution. We can start by living out our Christ-peace with everyone we know. We can elect people who want peace and let our desires for peace be made known – making it a national referendum by bringing Christ to more people.

Turn away from the mass media, who gleefully promotes misunderstanding, hate and war in order to sell news. Walk away from the ‘religious’ folks who say that God is behind any kind of war. Pay no heed to political ideology that expresses itself by saber rattling. By all means, don’t listen to the government ‘elites’ who have brought this country to the brink of ruin.

War can never bring justice. Military and governmental fear mongering is propaganda designed for instilling the desire of relief from that same fear into the populace that the monger’s say can only come through violent victory.

The one and only hope is to turn to God and pray for His intervention. He has repeatedly demonstrated that He wants to save us from ourselves and lay us in fields of peace. We can take that potential salvation to the nations, educating them about peace and create a unified movement that will demand peaceful resolutions from those who are doing the governing.

That begins by teaching and practicing peace with each other.

War is blasphemy, as is the production and sale of weapons of mass destruction. And war is always a product of the degradation of our souls.

We all suffer from fears fomented by anger, aggression, greed and insecurity:

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Rm. 7:22 – 25. ESV

Thus, we transcend ourselves and take on the cloak of the peace of Christ and shine that light out into the world. After all, the world only reflects its inhabitants…

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world give do I give peace to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jn. 14:27 NKJV

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jn. 16:33 NKJV

Goodnight and God Bless.

Peacemakers

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