40 Days of Peace - Day 9
Thursday, August 27
40 Days of Peace
Week 2 - Peace with God
Focus of the Week: Repenting from our sins brings God’s peace
Please read: 1 John 3:1-10
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:9
When I was five years-old, I did what most children eventually do…I wandered off. My mom and I were on a shopping trip at Sears and Roebuck. Oh, how I loved to go to Sears because I loved their toy section! During the car ride to the store, I kept asking her, “When can I see the toys?” To my disappointment, we did not go straight to the toy department. Mom took her time browsing in households. She kept reminding me to stay close, but the call of the toys was too strong, and I followed it down the aisle toward where I thought the toys might be. Of course, I got lost, and I panicked and worried for the next 20 minutes until I was safely back in her arms.
God knows our minds and hearts. He knows how strong a pull sin can have on us, especially when we struggle with bad habits and strongholds. That is why God places His Holy Spirit inside us, so that even when we sin, it becomes harder to keep on sinning. God’s Spirit in us makes us desire to follow Him. When we sin, we fall out of alignment with God. Worse yet, we know we have disappointed our Heavenly Father. At that point, God gives us a choice. We can continue to be out of sync with God or we can turn away from our sins and repent. To repent, as we learned earlier this week, is to turn around, to stop going the way we were going and go back in the opposite direction. Like a lost child who turns around after being lost and runs eagerly toward his parents, we can run back to God. Back in a parent’s arms, the child is at peace. Back in God’s arms, we experience His indescribable peace. And, once we experience it, we never want to be without it!
Repentance is a choice – and the choices we make define our lives. It’s won’t be easy, but to experience His peace and to walk with Him in harmony…Sister, it will be worth it!
For Further Reading: Isaiah 55:6-7, 1 John 5:18, Romans 7:21-25, 2 Thessalonians 3:16
God, please forgive us for falling into the same sins over and over again. We know that the lure of our habitual sins is keeping us from experiencing Your tremendous peace. Father, we want to feel Your peace! Thank you, Precious Lord, for forgiving us every time we confess and repent. Please make our longing for You stronger than the allure of our bad habits. Thank you that Your Spirit is inside us and that, as we practice obeying You, each of these habits and strongholds will lose its power over each of us. In Jesus’ Name and for the Father's glory, Amen.
