In my last video I said the origin of peace was in the unseen, in the supernatural realm. And that is true. But that's not to say there are not practical steps.
Here's the thing. At the moment, there are a thousand things that are going to stick in your craw. Get up your nose. Make you mad. Rob you of your zen. Some of them small, some of them big. But no matter what their size or where they come from, ignoring them is only a partial solution. For you to find true peace, they need to be dealt with.
It could be something you've read on the internet. It could be your kids, whom you now have to home school, are no behaving. It could be a politician who has made a decision that's hurting you. It could be that somebody didn't wear a mask when they where supposed to. Or you're annoyed that they did wear a mask when they didn't need to.
Ignoring these offenses only pats down the flames, for them to flair back up again when it comes back to mind. The people behind each of them - you need to forgive them.
See, each offense is like a dead body. Some are big, like a family member who hurts you, and that's a subject for another day. But others are small, a tiny dead fly. And so we think, nah, it doesn't matter, just push it out of mind. But as it stands, at the moment, the there are so many offenses swirling around us it's like we've up to our waist in dead flys. And dead flys stink. They cause disease. All these little dead things are rotting you from the inside out.
So you need to forgive them. You need to forgive the people that have caused you offence, harm and hurt. Be it your family, your kids, the politician, the neighbor. Forgiving them removes the dead fly from your grill. It keeps you clean, clean on the inside.
Now I know from experience, that forgiving, even for something small, is almost impossible. It seems simple, but is quite undoable!
So here's the secret. Here's what I'd suggest.
Firstly, accept forgiveness for yourself. When Jesus Christ taught how to pray, he taught us to first ask for and receive forgiveness. Then, with the forgiveness we receive, we can then forgive.
Here's the model Jesus gave for praying. I'll paraphrase from the book of Matthew chapter six.
Our Father in heaven, help us to honor your name. Come and set up your kingdom Give us our food for today. Forgive us for doing wrong, as we forgive others.
Matthew 6:9-12 paraphrased
You need to first experience the forgiveness given to you by God, and then with this forgiveness you can forgive others, for things big and small. With each person forgiven you're removing the dead bodies that besiege your soul. As you dislodge each you find the air more clear, a new light in the darkness.
If you've no forgiveness for others, for the most part that's simply because you've not received the forgiveness of God for yourself. Do you know that's true? Right now, if you ask him to forgive you for what you're done wrong, he immediately, entirely and irreversibly removes it from your record. You receive wild and beautiful grace.
In the bible it says
"if they pray to me and repent ... then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again."
2 Chronicles 7:14
It is this forgiveness that then you can use, and you should use, to forgive others. Later in the book of Matthew, in chapter ten, Jesus says,
Freely you have received; freely give.
Matthew 10:8
Receive forgiveness, and then forgive others.
Now it won't happen, but it's worth knowing, that what I've shared with you right there is the secret to the world finding Peace. Yep, the whole world. But lets start with you and me hey?
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:28