Blessed Are the Peacemakers

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”-Matthew 5:9 (KJV)

“Shalom” is a Hebrew greeting that has several meanings, the most important of which is to wish personal well-being, prosperity, bodily health and peace to the one greeted. Jesus taught us in the beatitudes that peacemakers are blessed and are called the children of God, for God is the Master Peacemaker. Peacemaking was exemplified in the life and ministry of Jesus. Where hatred and strife existed, He taught us how to seek and pursue the ways of peace. A peacemaker is not static, hoping that peace will come if a situation is left alone to work itself out. Instead, a peacemaker actively works to bring about reconciliation where enmity and hatred exist.

Those who work for peace are sharing in Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 teaches us that being a peacemaker is part of our Christian way of life: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

Paul’s teachings on Jesus and the Christian as peacemaker are further clarified in Ephesians 2:14: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” In Colossians 1:19-20 the importance of peace and how it is generated is expressed thusly: “For in Him (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”

Saint Francis of Assissi lived and worked in the 13^th century. A study of his life shows that he was a noted peacemaker. He left behind an often-quoted prayer that has been set to music. The words of his prayer bear out the truth of the seventh Beatitude:

“Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much

Seek to be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Amen.

– Ethelene Dyer Jones 02.22.2015

A Prayer for Wisdom for Presidents and Rulers

“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” -1 Kings 3:9 (ESV)

The occasion of this prayer by King Solomon of Israel was soon after he began to reign following the death of his father, King David. Solomon’s reign was from about 970 -930 B. C. Solomon prayed for “an understanding mind.” He had a purpose in focus as he prayed for wisdom. He prayed for discernment between good and evil..He prayed that he might govern well the people over whom he reigned.

God’s response to Solomon’s prayer is noted in 1 Kings 3:10-14 (please read). God was pleased that King Solomon asked for understanding instead of long life and riches. God bestowed on Solomon “a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.” (1 Kings 3: 12b). Furthermore, God also gave Solomon what he had not asked: riches and honor. And if Solomon would walk uprightly, keeping His statutes, Solomon was also promised long life.

I wish that an examination of King Solomon’s forty year reign as King of Israel showed him always following God’s statutes and living an astute and exemplary life. He did accomplish much and the nation prospered. The magnificent Temple was erected in Jerusalem during Solomon’s reign. He also built the king’s palace. Solomon’s prayer of dedication after the Ark of the Covenant had been placed in the Temple was a high and holy time in the life of the Israelite nation. This account of the Temple dedication and the lofty prayer is recorded in 1 Kings 8. Solomon ended his dedicatory address by saying to the people of Israel gathered at the Temple: “”Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in His statutes and keeping His commandments, as at this day.” (I Kings 8;61).

President’s Day is observed the third Monday in February. It is a time when we remember in America that we have a government headed by a president. At every inauguration of presidents from the first, George Washington, to the incumbent, a Bible has been used in the oath of office and a prayer offered for the leader and his responsibilities. We as citizens are urged to pray for the leaders who serve our county.

We stand at a crucial point in our nation’s history. We see a weakening of the principles that have bound us and kept us “one nation under God.” May we, as Solomon, pray for understanding and wisdom for our nation’s leaders and that the president and his cabinet and others in responsible positions in government will have understanding, discernment, and determination to live uprightly and to rule honestly and with integrity.

Prayer: God, guide our nation’s current leaders. Give them understanding and discernment to lead and determination to follow Your statutes and rule with mercy, justice and righteousness. Amen.

-Ethelene Dyer Jones 02.15.2015

Considering Love

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” –John 3:16 (KJV)

John 3:16 is said to be the most memorized verse of Scripture in the entire Bible. We learn it as children. It remains with us for the entirety of our life. We study it, appreciate its message, accept its truth by faith, and believe it with all sincerity.

Love? How could God “so love” the world that He would give His only begotten Son to restore the broken fellowship that sin wrought?

Countless scholars have written about it in an effort to explain. Millions of preachers of the Word have expounded upon it in attempts to clarify and elucidate the message. Unnumbered teachers have thought of ways to make clear and understandable the impact of the verse’s message and the extent of God’s love it expresses. For me, a degree of understanding—enough that I could accept it on faith—came when I was told to put my name where “whosoever” is in John 3:16, and read it thus: “that if Ethelene will believe in Him she will not perish but have everlasting life.” That simple exercise opened the magnificent truth of the verse to me so that I accepted the truth of God’s love and believed.

The Greek word used for love in this verse is “agape.” In “agape” love, it does not begin in the human heart but in the heart of God. Coming from God, and undeserved, for it cannot be earned, it extends to all persons who will accept His love by faith. Agape love is evidence of and foretaste of the goal of God’s purposes for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Agape love brings restoration and redemption, and eternal life.

I read the story of the conversion of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1832-1893), noted English clergyman. On January 6, 1850 a severe snowstorm hit the city of Colchester, England. Spurgeon was a teenage boy under deep conviction. Both his grandfather and father were preachers, but somehow Spurgeon had not been able to trust in the Lord for his own salvation. On that particular Sunday, the snow was too deep for him to go to the church he normally attended. He made his way to a small chapel where a lay person was substituting for the minister who could not get through the snowstorm to meet his preaching obligation. The layperson took his text from Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” The layperson in his halting way said “Anyone can look to Jesus. Even a child can look. God loved us so much that we only have to look to Him for salvation. Whosoever will, may look.” Then spying Spurgeon, looking miserable on the back row of the little chapel, the man said, “Young man, all you have to do to be saved is just look to Jesus!” That was the moment of revelation for Charles Haddon Spurgeon. That day his heart was opened to the love of Jesus. In reading his biography we know how many years he diligently gave himself to loving Jesus Christ and being a marvelous preacher proclaiming Christ’s love to others. In one of his sermons on John 3:16 Spurgeon said: “How sad that anyone should perish for lack of knowledge of the love of God. Jesus is near the seeker when he is tossed upon oceans of doubt. The sinner has but to stoop down and drink and live.”

The words of Frederick M. Lehman are a poetic expression of God’s magnificent love: “The love of God is greater far, than tongue or pen can ever tell; It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell.” Thank you, God, for Your immeasurable love, reaching to even me! – Ethelene Dyer Jones 02.01.2015.