The next fruit of the Spirit we'll be praying for our kids is peace. When I first read this I thought of it in terms peace as in not fighting with others but the more I thought about it I think it is peace like shalom. Paul, the author of Galatians where we find the Fruit of the Spirit, tells the church of Philipi in chapter 4 the recipe to a peace-filled life:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". (vs. 6 & 7).
The kids and I sing a song from the Psalty praise cd's and it says, "I've got that peace that passes understanding down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart to stay. And I'm so happy, so very happy, I've got the peace of Jesus in my heart". Its just the sweetest song and once you get it in your head you can't get it out but I love that, through God and His Spirit, our kids can know peace even when there is no earthly reason for them to.
As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, our kids don't have a little pint-sized Holy Spirit, they have the same Holy Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead, inspired Paul and guides our hearts and actions to this day. How awesome that the God who created the universe loves to give our
kids peace.Jehovah Shalom, great God of peace, thank you that you love __________ so much that you have sent your Spirit to give her peace in her times of fear, trouble, doubt and worry. Would you please open her eyes so that she will know where the peace comes from and that she will know to pray to you in her dark times. Amen.
p.s.
I'm going to try and confirm that the peace in Galatians is the same as the one referenced in Phillipians 4 and not the one in Romans in which we're told to be at peace with all men.
1 comment:
Jen - I love how much digging into the Bible you're doing in order to give solid guidance for PYKM. I'm gleaning great things from you!
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