Blood Bought Peace

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

—John 14:27 (NKJV)

Prince of Peace,

Thank You for leaving us Your gift of peace—that gift You purchased for us with Your own blood.

Thank You that I receive Your gift of peace when—in response to Your great love for me—I truly believe that I have been completely reconciled with God by Your sacrifice on the cross.

Thank You that within this reconciliation I can find freedom from all fears—and I can live in Your peace at all times.

Thank You that it is not like the peace that the world offers—which is imperfect, untrustworthy, temporary, dependent on circumstances, and tainted by the sin of man.

Thank You that Your peace is a peace that no one else can offer—it is perfect, everlasting, not dependent on what the world does or does not do, nor on the circumstances that I may face.

Thank You that as I believe and choose to receive Your peace, it resides deep within my spirit—and it goes far beyond my ability to comprehend it.

Thank You that within the peace You give me, You have given me the power to keep my heart from being troubled—by things from my past, by any trials or struggles that I face today, or by the uncertainties of tomorrow and beyond.

Thank You for leaving us Your gift of peace—that gift You purchased for us with Your own blood.

In Your Precious and Perfect Name, Amen.

An Ambassador Of Reconciliation

So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”  For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

—2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Help me not to take lightly the responsibility I have to speak to others about the reconciliation that You have made available to us through Your Son, Jesus Christ—making the most out of every opportunity You give me to declare Your amazing love for us.

As Your representative to a lost and dying world, grant me courage to boldly speak of the marvelous gift that Christ offers—as I plead with them, “Come back to God!”

Help me to share the wondrous exchange that Christ made for me when I invited Him to come into my life and be my Savior and Lord—how He took all of my sin and, in exchange, put me in right standing with You.

By Your Holy Spirit, fill my mouth with Your words as I declare to them that this same exchange that was given to me, my sin for Christ’s righteousness—as unbalanced in my favor as it was—can be theirs as well.

Prepare their hearts in advance to see and understand that once they accept Your Son into their hearts and lives, You will always look on them as pure and holy—as if they had lived the perfect life that Your Son, Jesus did.

Out of my gratitude for what You have done, help me always willingly and obediently follow after Your plan for my life and in everything I do or say, represent my Lord and Savior well.

Help me not to take lightly the responsibility I have to speak to others about the reconciliation that You have made available to us through Your Son, Jesus Christ—making the most out of every opportunity You give me to declare Your amazing love for us.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.