Be A Peacemaker

The speaker welcomes the listeners to a morning devotion and expresses gratitude for the opportunity to learn from God's word. The theme of the discussion is being a peacemaker, and the passage considered is Romans 12:10-21. The speaker emphasizes the importance of promoting and maintaining peace in relationships, families, churches, and the world. It is acknowledged that living in peace with everyone may be challenging, but it is a responsibility that God places on His children. The speaker encourages prayer for peace and advises watching one's conduct to avoid actions that disrupt peace. Initiating peace and being quick to forgive are also recommended. The speaker concludes by urging listeners to be instruments of peace and to go out of their way to promote peace in all aspects of life. A hearty good morning to you dear one. Welcome to the morning glory devotion coming to you from the Harvest Chapel International, Denyame Kumasi. This is Dickiness Nishabri's Waffle. God bless you for coming along with us in this devotion. We will never be the same as you continue with us day after day as God will continue to pour his blessing upon you. This morning we want to lift up our voices to thank God for he has gathered us unto himself again to teach us his word to reveal himself unto us. It is a privilege that you don't want to take for granted. We want to lift up your voice and say thank you Lord for drawing me close to you this morning to give me your words that would help me in my life, words that will show me the way, words that will encourage me in the name of Jesus. We thank you for the Holy Spirit of God. We thank you for what you are set doing God in this moment that we spend with you in Jesus mighty name and all the saints shall shout a big and believing amen. Amen. Thank you dear ones. We are quickly going on to our confession which is taken from the book of Joshua chapter 1 verse 8. Joshua chapter 1 verse 8. This book of the Lord shall not depart from my mouth but I shall meditate in it day and night that I may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then I'll make my way prosperous and then I would have good success in Jesus name. Amen. Dear one, today the theme for our discussion is be a peacemaker. Be a peacemaker. And our passage for consideration is Romans chapter 12 verse 10 to 21. Romans chapter 12 verse 10 to 21. I'm reading from the International Standard Version. Be devoted to each other with mutual affection. Excel at showing respect for each other. Never be lazy in showing such devotion. Be on fire with the Spirit. Serve the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in trouble, and persistent in prayer. Supply the needs of the saints. Extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you. Keep on blessing them and never curse them. Rejoice with those who are rejoicing. Cry with those who are crying. Live in harmony with each other. Do not be arrogant but associate with humble people. Do not think that you are wiser than you really are. Do not pay anyone back evil for evil but focus your thoughts on what is right in the sight of all people. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live in peace with all people. Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath for it is written, vengeance belongs to me. I will pay them back, declares the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you will do this, you will pile burning coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good. Here ends the reading of the Word of God. And all the saints shall say, thanks be to God. Beloved, our memory verse will be the verse 18. Now take it from there. NLT says, do all you can to live in peace with everyone. I'll take it again. Romans chapter 12 verse 18. Do all you can to live in peace with everyone. Beloved, peace is the absence of war or chaos. It also means to be in harmony or tranquility. There's so much chaos, hostility, wars and misunderstandings in the world now. People are putting up attitudes and doing the very things that disturbs the peace in relationships, families, the church or the nation and rather promote disputes, wars and chaos. It is therefore timely, beloved, for God to re-echo his command to us to be peacemakers, to promote and maintain peace in our homes, churches, family, nation and the world at large. We, his children, who are the light of this world, need to set the pace. God places a demand on us as his dear ones when it comes to building and maintaining peace. So we are admonished to do all we can to live in peace with everyone. With the predisposition of man now, it has become difficult to live in total harmony with people. The memory verse acknowledges the difficulty in living at peace with all men but still entreats us as God's beloved children to do all that we can or all that is in our power to do to live in harmony with all men. This indicates to us that it is not easy but it is doable, dear one. Attention should be given to the fact that God expects us to live in peace with all men, not some men. It means we do not have to be selective as to who we want to have harmony with and perhaps who we want to maintain some form of war with. All men imply men who are reasonable and those who are not, men who are quarrelsome and those who are not, men who are very unkind and inconsiderate with their ways as well as those who are very thoughtful with their ways. Dear one, God lays the burden of building or maintaining peace in our relations with others on us first. He is depending on us to be the peacemakers or initiators of peace, so calling on us to do all that we can for this to be possible. Dear one, doing all we can also entails restraining or desisting from certain actions for the sake of peace. Where there is no peace, God is looking up to us to initiate peace in whichever way possible. With such huge responsibility on us, what do we do? The first point, dear one, is to pray. Pray continually for peace to prevail in all quarters, in your family, in your church, in the nation, in the world at large and with every interaction you have with people. In Psalm 122 verse 6, all are encouraged to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. So dearly beloved, it is not out of place to pray for peace in your family, peace in your relations with others, peace in the nation and peace in the world at large. So pray and pray and pray for peace. The second you could do, beloved, is to watch your conduct. Certain actions disturb the peace that exists between you and other men. These include gossiping, quarreling, using hateful speech, being selfish and not taking the welfare of others into account in our dealings, retaliating when you have been offended, seeking revenge, to mention a few. Desist from these negative attitudes that hamper peace, but rather build walls that promote peace. Be quick to forgive others. Be kind with others both in speech and in deed. Dear one, another thing we can do to make sure peace exists is to be initiators of peace. Do not necessarily wait on others to make the first move when it comes to promoting peace. See it as though the whole mandate of promoting and maintaining peace lies on you. Therefore, go all out, do everything within your power to actively promote and maintain peace. It may involve taking the bold step of patching up when there has been a misunderstanding between you and others. Do not let pride prevent you from being the first to ask for forgiveness. If you realize you have erred, or you think that asking for forgiveness, even if you are on the right path, may maintain and promote peace, dear one, do so. And this is very critical, particularly in our marriage setting, in our relationship, and in the church setting. It takes nothing away from you from being the one to first ask for forgiveness. Don't let pride prevent you. Again, dear one, have the habit of quenching the fires of anger or hatred, other than adding or starting it. When we have the opportunity, we should help calm the tempers of people by our kind words, or try to let them see whatever is causing the anger in a different light or way, rather than adding to it by lending support or speaking more negatively about the matter. Precious one, be an instrument of peace, not war. Live peaceably with all men and not some men. You will be mightily blessed of God as Matthew 6 tells us, that blessings are in store for peacemakers. Go out of your way to make sure that peace prevails in your home, in your family, in the church, in the nation, in the world at large, and particularly with the people you relate with, doing everything you can, particularly if it depends on you. Be a peacemaker. God bless you for hearing His word. Amen. God be with you and cause His face to shine upon you. God cause you to be a blessing unto others this day. Be a peacemaker and maintain peace. Shalom. Peace be with you. In Jesus name. Amen.