give people peace instead of pain

Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. 9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.

The world offers us many opportunities to hand out more pain. It comes through the things people do to us or maybe how they make us feel. We want to make someone hurt like they hurt us, but that isn’t what God would have us do.

You may have heard this before: hurting people hurt people. Yet I also believe that this is true: blessed people bless people. The choice is ours. Will we focus on our pain or our blessing? It sounds easy. It’s not.

When we choose to bless others we will seek unity with God and with the people around us. To be at peace with others takes lots of work, and it also takes trying to understand the people around us.

God made it so that peace comes when God’s love grips us. He loves us and in turn love others. Being sensitive to others can make it possible for people to see or find God as well as for us to bless the people we come in contact with.

Don’t give back evil when someone does evil to you. Give a blessing instead. People will hurt you, insult you and do things that make life difficult, yet what we focus on will lead us to love and bless others or to hurt others.

Being kind to and blessing people does two things. First, it blesses the people we come in contact with. Second, we will be blessed by God. That is a promise.

1 Peter 3:10-12 NLT

For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. 11 Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. 12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.”

Do you and I want to be blessed? Then change what you say. Do good and stay away from what is wrong. Staying close to God is always a challenge, but it is a challenge with a blessing. God hears the prayers and watches over those who seek Him.

May our lives return peace instead of pain to the people around us.

Francis Chan's "Forgotten God" (brand new book)

One of the most powerful preachers, writers and leaders of our time, in my opinion, is Francis Chan. His first book, Crazy Love , revolutionized my thoughts about God's love as well as my interacting with God. Now it is time for a brand new book from Chan being released tomorrow, September 1st. The book is Forgotten God . This is a phenomenal book about the power that Christians and the church can and must tap into. All of it is within the Holy Spirit. Francis talks about the power that was seen in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit began to move among people. It is true that many have avoided or maybe forgotten what the Holy Spirit is all about. And like the Savior who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and ac...

inspiration from C.S. Lewis

There are many people, past and present, who get our attention by what they write or say or share. For me C.S. Lewis is one of those. He was a prolific writer who continues to grab the attention of thinkers from many different points of view. Lewis first grabbed my attention when I was in 5 th grader, and our teacher, Mrs. Foy, shared The Chronicles of Narnia with our class. It was a powerful time that this dreamer opened doors to thinking like I had never lived before. He wrote of faith, of far off places and of strong figures who found their character rooted deep in God. C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and died in 1963, 7 years before I was born. It wasn’t until his 30’s that under the influence of his friend Tolkien that he came to be a Christian. He was raised in a traditional church going home, turned away from God as an Atheist in his teen years and through trying to stay away from God and faith returned to God with...

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!

Michael Harrison's e-devotion

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