Prayer To Be Those Who Give Grace and Peace To One Another

GIVING GRACE AND PEACE ONE ANOTHER

Recently I’ve been thinking about Saint Paul and how he identified himself .  He often used words such as: 

An apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.  2 Timothy 1:1

That’s who he was when he stuck out his hand to someone and said, “Hi, my name is …” He had a greeting and words of blessing for those he was encountering.   

So here we are, just past the 2 year mark here in British Columbia since the first case of covid was diagnosed – Jan 28, 2020 was that infamous day.  We’ve spent a long time apart from one another and avoiding any kind of contact.  Today I hope that we can bridge the gap a little by looking at the wonderful greetings Paul always gave his friends. 

Right after his introduction of himself Paul would usually say something like, “Grace and peace,” or “Grace, mercy, and peace.”  The most often phrase I found that he used was, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Romans 1:7

Someone’s definition of grace is: the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not necessarily because of anything we have done to earn it

We could all do with a few doses of love and mercy given to us – not because we necessarily deserve it or have done anything to earn it, but simply because God, wants us to have something good and lovely and life giving.

How are we approaching others?  Are we doing all we can, in God’s power to offer them love and mercy simply because we want them to have something good today?

Loving God, thank you for how generously You have given grace and peace to us.  It really didn’t matter to You if we were doing all that great that day or not – just that we turned to You and wanted to know You were with us and were caring for us.  How many times has Your love quieted our hearts in the middle of stress and aggravation and given us peace.  We’re so grateful.

Today Lord, we want to live as Your representatives to do that we need to be aware of Your grace and peace active in us and filling us, and then as You make us aware of others in need of the same, to pass it along from You.  Lord help us to give generous measures of grace, and mercy, and peace as we listen to Your heart for people and remember the amazing price Jesus paid for people when He died for them on the cross.  Use us today, Lord, to give clear witness to Your heart of grace and peace offered to anyone today who will receive. Amen