Episode 20: Zechariah 8:16
Dear friends, welcome to Peace Prayers. My name is Juli, and I would love to be able to spend some time with you today. What I'd like to do is read a Scripture from the Bible about peace and then pray it together over our lives. That way we can have a few minutes to start our day with God's peace. I'm so excited to get started with you. Thank you for joining me today.
Today's verse is Zechariah 8:16.
These are the things that you shall do. Speak the truth to one another. Render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace.
Let's pray together.
Jesus, today, I pray that we would embrace truth. That way we would embrace the idea that communicating honestly with You and with each other is what is going to bring us true peace. I think so much of the time we hold back our feelings, we hold back our heart because we don't think it's gonna do any good to talk about it, and because we're afraid of hurting other people, or that they're not gonna understand. Or that it makes us too vulnerable, and they'll exploit that hurt that we have brought to their attention. And it's true that we can't always trust the people around us to protect the vulnerability that we bring to them.
But it starts with us, Father. We need to follow Your example. We need to be honest with ourselves and with You and with each other. And when we can do that, God, I think that we are able to make better decisions. We are able to actually render true judgments. We see more clearly because the truth sets us free.
Set us free today, Father. Secrets tend to make us withdrawn and closed off. We're afraid and we're ashamed, but You didn't call us to live that kind of a shuttered-in life. You want us to be free. You want us to be in communion with each other, and You want us to be one with You.
So I pray, Father, that we won't be afraid today. Help us to be wise, so we can know the people that are safe to talk to, but help us not to be afraid to speak the truth or to hear the truth. Sometimes we don't like what other people have to say to us because we do feel that we are in the wrong, and we don't like to feel that way. But, Jesus, open up our hearts in humility to hear truly the hearts of other people so that we can speak freely. We can communicate honestly and gently, to speak the truth in love.
And I think sometimes we think that having true peace means that we don't say mean things or hard things. But sometimes if we don't, we'll never have true peace. We'll never have true wholeness, reconciliation in our relationships, understanding of ourselves, or communion with You. Jesus, let us be so unafraid of this.
Today, if there's anybody that you are holding something back from, pray to God and ask for wisdom from the Holy Spirit about the best way to clear the air with that person. We are told that when we are offering sacrifices to God, if we have anything against anyone else, that we need to go and make it right with them first. And sometimes the Holy Spirit may let us know it's not safe to talk to that other person, but we still need to do the work of forgiveness, the work of healing toward them, even if it's not time to actually have that conversation. But we need to be ready for them. We need to be excited for them, for the unity that they can bring, for the wonderful ability to be truly close to someone because you're not holding anything back.
Jesus, I know that's true for me today. That's definitely true for me. So help me to follow the words that I speak here. Speak to me, Holy Spirit. Give me opportunity. Give me time. Give me the words. Give me the receptiveness.
And I pray that the mending of relationships, the healing of hearts is because I chose to speak truth, and I wanted to be fair to the people around me. And I want peace above all else. Peace in myself, peace for others and peace with You. Wholeness, completeness, restoration. Jesus, help us to long for these things, to hold them up as something precious to be fought for.
And it's not easy, God. We need Your strength. We need Your courage. We need Your timing. We need Your words. We need Your guidance. So help us. Jesus, help us to look for that, to hear that, and then to speak that, and to be careful and kind with others when they do the same to us.
In Your name, I pray, Jesus. Amen.
That is it for me today, my friends. Thank you so much for joining, and I hope you have a wonderful, peaceful rest of your day. If you'd like to connect with me, you can find me over on Instagram at thejulihernandez, and I'd love to see you there.
Otherwise, we will see you on Friday.
