14th. September. 2021. Daily Devotion.
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3
The effect of righteousness is always peace. If you are holy, you will be at peace. Peace is broken by sin, but the holy soul takes sin instantly to the blood of Christ. Peace is broken by temptation, but the holy soul has learned to put Christ between itself and the first breath of the tempter. Peace is broken by worry, dissatisfaction, and unrest, but the Lord stands around the holy soul, as do the mountains around Jerusalem, which shield off the cruel winds, and collect the rain which streams down their broad sides to make the people in the valleys rejoice and sing. Others may be fretful and feverish, the subjects of wild alarms; but there is perfect peace to the soul which has God and is satisfied.
When a man is full of the peace of God, he will naturally become a son of peace. He will follow after peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. He will endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace He will sow harvests of peace as he makes peace All his words, like those of the great Apostle, will breathe benedictions of peace. When he enters a home, it will seem like a living embodiment of the ancient form of benediction: Peace be to this house. He will have a wonderful power of calling out responses from like-minded men; but where that is not the case, his peace, white-robed and dove-winged, shall come back to him again.
But there must be a definite following after peace. Some temperaments of people are so trying. They are so quick to look at things in a wrong light, to misread harmless actions, and to stand out on trifles. Hence the need of effort and patience and watchfulness, that we may exercise a wholesome influence as peacemakers.
Adapted from The Way Into the Holiest by F. B. Meyer
Celtic Prayer for the Morning
I will kindle my fire this morning in the presence of the holy angels of heaven; Without malice, without jealousy, without envy, without fear; without terror of any one under the sun, but the Holy Son of God to shield me.
God, kindle thou in my heart within a flame of love to my neighbour, to my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all; To the brave, to the coward, to the man in the street, O Son of the loveliest Mary, from the lowliest thing that lives to the Name that is highest of all. In the name of Christ, I pray. Amen.
For all Poor, Homeless, and Neglected People
O GOD, Almighty and merciful, who heals those that are broken in heart, and turns the sadness of the sorrowful to joy; Let your fatherly goodness be upon all that you have made. Remember in pity those who are this day destitute, homeless, or forgotten by their fellow men. Bless the congregation of your poor. Uplift those who are cast down. For those who suffer innocently, I pray that you will sanctify their endurance of the wrongs worked on them, keeping their hearts free of bitterness. Cheer with hope all discouraged and unhappy people and help those who are tempted into sin by their poverty; though they be troubled on every side, suffer them not to be distressed; though they be perplexed, save them from despair. Grant this, O Lord, for the love of him, who for our sakes endured poverty and blameless suffering, your Son, our Jesus Christ. Amen.