Make an effort for peace!

Welcome!

Today: Make an effort for peace!

Passage: Eph 4

³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph 4, NIV 84)-emphasis added

Peace can be maintained only through an effort

When we make no effort, peace does not happen

Many people don’t want to take the responsibility to create peace; we need peace with God, peace within ourselves, peace within the family, Church, work, etc

In all these cases, there must be a conscious effort from within

When anything comes between us and God, we must be willing to get rid of that. When we see things within us that steal our peace, we must “isolate” those things and deal with it. They will lie “mixed” with everything else

For example, if we are concerned about our children and that issue steals our peace, just bring that issue up – to God and deal with it

If there are habits in us that kills the peace within the family, find out specifically what those trends are, and deal with it

Same way, we can deal with the peace-killing culprits everywhere

Jesus shed his blood, to create peace between us and God, us and others

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Eph 2, NIV)

Jesus made a conscious effort to create and maintain peace

He preached peace; He lived (for) peace

Today, “peace” is the one thing that is in most demand in the world- more than Gold! God’s peace is different from the one the world talks about

We know where to get it; so why not be peace-creators and peace keepers?

I remember  talking to a brother who is in a top position in a company

He shared with me how he was able to create peace between two of his bosses, which avoided a big trouble in that place

God has put you and me in specific places with such responsibilities

But first, we need to have peace within, with God and with others

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b]rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Rom 5, NIV)

God’s peace to you!

BG

Spiritual formation

Welcome!

Today: Spiritual formation

Passage: Eph 4

¹ As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another inlove. (Eph 4, NIV 84)-emphasis added

God was so pleased to call us unto Himself

The Character of the Christian is shaped by Christ, from within

When there is true repentance, there is true transformation

Spiritual formation is a very important process every Christian should go through

If our relationship with Christ does not change our Character, something is wrong with that relationship

¹⁹ My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, (Gal 4, NIV)

When we say “yes” to Christ, we must allow Christ to be “formed” in us

As we allow the Spiritual formation of our life, the formation of our ministry will follow. If we do not let Christ do the character change (formation) in us, and we do the ministry, we will hear lot of noise

⁷ In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. (1 Kings 6, NIV)

When we allow all the sharp corners in our life be a”dressed” by God and His word, there will be much less noise in the church, home and elsewhere we go

In the verses from Ephesians 4 mentioned above, we see two pairs: “humble and gentle”, “patient and bearing with one another”

“Humbleness” is a matter of the heart, which helps us to be gentle with others. If you are not humble, you cannot be truly gentle

Without patience, you cannot truly bear with others

There is fake gentleness that people act, even when not humble; there is also fake “bearing with one another” where they keep the grudge in the heart and put a “smile” on the face. That is not what the Apostle is talking about

True gentleness comes from a heart of true patience and forgiveness

You don’t become a “gentleman” just because someone calls you so

Our family and friends must say so

We are called to live the life of Christ, before we start witnessing Him to others

How good are we, in living the life worthy of our great calling?

How much patience, humbleness and gentleness we have?

When we loose our temper, how worse we (can) become?

Let us allow Christ to do the complete (trans)formation in us

We will go deeper on this, in the days to come

God bless

BG

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I admit that I made you stop that process of character change in me. Please continue the spiritual formation in me, because I still need to change a lot, before I could influence others for good. Thank you; Amen