We have all seen the damage that comes to relationships because of strong disagreements. We have witnessed this recently on a wider scale. How can there now be rebuilding of relationships and how can respect and trust be restored? This week, we have marked “Family Day.” It is an opportunity intended to initiate appreciating family and the chance to spend meaningful time together. In our families, when there are differences of opinion and when sharp words have been spoken, sometimes relationships are severed. It takes determination for broken relationships to be mended. It takes the healing work of God’s Holy Spirit for people who have not spoken to each other, to work to restore relationships. Many of us are wondering what the path toward reconciliation will look like. When people have been frustrated and hurt by others this is not an easy path to walk. There is likely to be a great deal of reluctance to step on to the path toward reconciliation. There is very legitimate fear that we will be frustrated and hurt again. We need to know that we are not alone when we choose to work towards restored relationships. God, our Father in heaven, wants to walk the path of restored relationships with us. Consider this Scripture from Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.” We can know that our God specializes in the forgiveness necessary to restore strained and fractured relationships. A further instruction comes in Ephesians 5:8-9 “…Live as children of light for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” It can only be the miraculous work of God that can permit families and friends and communities who do not agree to still love and care for each other. This week we will engage the power of prayer to ask God to help us to do our part in working toward restoring of relationships. Please plan to join tomorrow, February 23rd at 1 pm for our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER.
Praying that God will guide us in the ways that He wants us to participate in the restoration of relationships, Pastor Lola.
Our loving Father in heaven, we come to you now aware that there are many relationships that have been damaged by disagreement. We wonder where things will go from here. We are praying that you will ease the resentment and frustration that has come out of these protests. We need You to guide our feet on to a path of peace. We cannot figure out how to proceed by ourselves. We know that Your Divine wisdom is required. Instead of thinking to repair damaged relationships by ourselves, we look to You to show us what to say and do. Sometimes conflict can seem far away when we see it reported on the news. Sometimes the impact of division is very close to home, when we encounter it in our own families. Where there are people not speaking to each other, please build a bridge that will make it possible for people to come together again and to express their care for each other. Where harsh words have been spoken, we ask for the willingness to forgive and to preserve relationships. We see the very real potential for violence in various places in our world and we pray for those who have the influence to be motivated to negotiate peace. There is always so much at stake when division and hate rises up. Our God we are asking You to show us how to live our lives as peacemakers. We need your help to be effective instruments of peace. The hard work toward peace appears so difficult and overwhelming. We look to You God to equip us for this demanding, yet deeply necessary work. In every relationship, we ask You to shape us to be kind and compassionate. We pray that we will be willing to forgive as Christ forgave us. We continue to pray for courage to live as children of light. We ask that through our prayers Your light will shine in us. May this result in the consistent display of goodness, righteousness, and truth. We sincerely pray for Your grace to confront the truth of who we are and how we are. When our words and actions interfere with Your redemptive plans, we ask You to convict and to correct us. We so quickly identify what we see others doing that we consider to be wrong or working against Your will. Please humble us to see where our attitudes and behaviours need to be transformed. Our God, we really do want to be able to participate in the restoration of relationships. We want to listen carefully and to care deeply for each person with whom we spend time. We are praying today that You will instill hope in our hearts for what You can and will accomplish in us and through us as we take seriously this challenge of living as children of light. And may the peace that only Jesus can bring about be the lived experience for us all. We offer this prayer, knowing how much we need You to be the One Who makes this restoration of relationships possible. In the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, AMEN.