Blessed Are the Peacemakers — Annie Poonen

In 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 1, we read that the last days will be difficult days. And definitely if we look at the days we are looking, we are living in now, they are difficult days. Maybe it will get more difficult as time goes by.

But you remember the dream that Pharaoh had and he was telling, he wanted Joseph to interpret the meaning of that dream and Joseph said, first there will be 7 years of plenty and then 7 years of famine.

And the days that we are living in, though they are difficult days, it's not for us, giving us information, these are the last days or difficult days and we just sit back about it, with it. They are given to us and the word of God tells us that, that's given to us for a purpose, that we can prepare ourselves to face the difficulties.

Preparing Families for Difficult Days

We have God's word, we have a lot of teaching from children of God, servants of God and prophetic messages, especially these days, to prepare us for these difficult days. And we can take every opportunity, study God's word, write God's word in our heart and remember it and prepare us, ourselves and our children for these difficult days.

All the trials that we face now, some of us are facing a little bit, some in greater measure because of the COVID, because of our job situations, our husband's job situations and things that our children are facing in school, the new things they have to learn and we are not sure what they are going to read about or the teachers are going to teach them, what political things they are going to be taught and we have to help them to unlearn some of those things and sift away the things that are not important.

And that's a great task, enormous task that God has given us, moms especially. When we think of that task that we have to face and tackle, we can't just take our calling lightly. We have to be so alert and we can't think of all the small things that are coming in our lives and be occupied with that.

We have to widen our vision and we have to say, Lord, help me to be alert and ready for what we are facing, what our children are facing. And we as moms have a lot of responsibility in that area. We have to shoulder the burden because our husbands are away at work and they are under a lot of pressure.

We can take that responsibility more and more. And get strength from the Lord. Do you remember that in the last two Bible sessions that we meditated on a godly woman, a wise woman, and that we read that in Proverbs 9 and Proverbs 14, that wisdom has built a house and she has seven and in 14, 1, I mean, 9, 1, that about the seven pillars and chapter 14, 1, the wisest of women builds a house.

Meekness as the Foundation of Wisdom

So I want to continue with that theme a little more. And in James 3, you remember we read that verse 17, it says, Who is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by meekness of wisdom. That word meekness speaks to me a lot.

When I speak in the meetings or when I share with other sisters, I don't want to come out as a person who's understood everything and who's mastered everything. I want to keep that meekness, keep in mind, Lord, help me to be meek.

Help me to have that meekness. Help me not to think that I have achieved and I have understood all this godly wisdom. I am so much in need. I need your grace and your strength. And with that meekness of wisdom, we can build our houses, each one.

And I said about the pillars that that a wise woman builds a house with. And I connected that with James 3, verse 17, where it says all the qualities that come with wisdom. We said about being pure as one of the qualities.

And today I want to meditate a little bit on the next quality and use that as a pillar that is being peaceable, being a woman of peace. Now, I can say that that is one of the most important pillars in a house that we are building.

Building a Peaceable Home

Our homes must have a peaceable atmosphere. And a lot depends on us as moms, as I don't have to remind you. We all know we can bring about a peaceful situation or a contentious situation in the home. In the book of Proverbs, there are a lot of verses about a contentious wife and a wife who's headstrong.

I don't want to go into that, but a woman of peace, she can build a house. We know that we face so many situations in our life, in our homes, where the peace can be shaken. It can come like a flood in some cases, like the wise man, he built his house and it was founded on the rock, it was built on the rock.

And although the floods and the rain came, that house stood firm. So also in these days, a lot of trials and shaking can come. But if we have those pillars strong, our house will stand by God's grace.

And one of the most important pillars, as I said, was being a peaceable person. And we can think of many situations in our home with our children, with our husbands, with other family members who may come and visit us, how easy it is to come out of that peaceful and peaceable situation.

You remember the story of Samson, after he was blinded, he told the young man who was leading him, he said, lead me to the pillars. And he, that young man led him to the pillars and he just, God gave him the strength and he pushed against those pillars and the whole building collapsed.

So much depends on the strength of a pillar. And in olden days, the pillars are made out of stone. And I said in one of the meetings how these pillars, these stones are chiseled and cut in a quarry away from people.

Nobody knows the cutting process that's gone on. But a beautiful pillar comes and God, the master builder, is the one who's cutting and chiseling us and making us good pillars in our house, in our homes.

And then sometimes in India, I know that there are pillars not made out of stone. They look very good outside, but you find that termites have come in and attacked and eaten up portions of that pillar.

And before you realize, the pillar crumbles and the whole building crumbles. Yes, those termites remind me of things which had come up in our lives. The pillars, we were supposed to be strong, but sometimes worldliness cares of this world and we get affected by what others think of us, the pressure of what our children are facing.

Anything that takes our eyes away from the Lord and we depend on our strength, that's little by little the termite gets into the pillar and the pillar gets weakened. We have to be so alert. We have to maintain that relationship with the Lord all the time so that that pillar is strong, that pillar of being peaceable.

You know how it is. Somebody, some relative may come in to come and visit us and say something and our peace gets a little shaken up. That we have to be so careful that those tiny termites driven, brought by the devil.

But God uses different, I mean, the devil uses different agents when they come in and they make that pillar weak and we have to be careful. When you remember when there was a storm in the sea, what did Jesus say?

Christ's Peace in the Midst of Trouble

He stood up and he said, peace, be still. We need to always hear the word of Jesus telling us, although these things are happening in this world, things are coming up to disturb your peace, but Jesus will give us peace.

He said, my peace, I leave with you. I give you my peace. You remember in John chapter 14, he said, I give you my peace. It's like when I think of those words of Jesus, I think of a mom on her deathbed.

She calls her daughter and she says, look, I have this gift which I want to give you in remembrance of me. Keep it always with you. And the peace that Jesus gives us is like that precious gift he gives us.

Not only reminds us of him, but we can use it. We can use it in our time of need because he has given us this peace. That's the peace which the world cannot give and the world cannot take away from us.

It will be deep down in our hearts. There's another verse. And you know, there's a day coming when the Lord will establish his kingdom and that it be a kingdom of peace. The whole world will be under the Lord's government and that will be the kingdom of peace.

And right now he's having little areas, pockets of that kingdom in our hearts, that kingdom of peace in our hearts. And we have to be alert to maintain that peace, that peaceable nature, that peaceable nature which only God can give.

Now, I don't want us to confuse with other words of Jesus when he said, I have come to bring a sword. That is because when we want to follow the Lord and we accept Jesus, other people may not understand us and they may attack us.

That is different. But when we follow the Lord in our hearts, there'll be a peace, whatever. There might be a sword around us. Our relatives may attack us. Other people may find fault with us. And say, you're in the wrong church.

You're doing wrong. You're too extreme. You're a hypocrite. You're a Pharisee. Whatever they may see. But they may say, that's like a sword trying to poke at us and attack us. But deep in our hearts, there'll be a peace that the Lord can give and which no one can take away from us.

Jesus the Peacemaker and Reconciliation with God

I also want to remind you of one verse where in Matthew 5, Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called the sons of God. They shall be called a child of God, a daughter of God. Why is it?

How can we become a child of God? Have that attribute being a child of God? Because when there was a problem between God and us, who was the first one who took that step? God took that first step. There was hostility between God and us because of our sins.

And because the devil took us away from the Lord. But God took the first step to reach out to us and bring us back to him. And if we take the first step like that to bring a peace into a situation, we can be like, we can be called a child of God.

That was, it says in Ephesians 2, 13 and 14, Jesus brought us who were far off, we've been brought near by the blood of Christ. He himself is our peace, made us one and broken down the dividing wall of hostility and made us one new man.

So Jesus broke down that wall, which was dividing us from separating us from God. He broke down that wall and he made peace between God and us. So God took that supreme step to make peace with us, with the fallen human beings.

And Jesus said, my peace, I give you. We keep in that's in John chapter 16, verse 33. And there's also another verse in 2nd Corinthians 7, 2nd Corinthians 14, 33, which says God is a God of peace, not a God of confusion.

The devil brings confusion into our lives, but God always brings peace into our, tries to make a peaceful settlement, a peaceful situation in our lives. And another beautiful verse I want to share with you is in James 3, verse 18, that you can take it as a promise.

The harvest of righteousness is sown by those who make peace. If we want to make peace and live in that atmosphere of peace, we will reap a harvest of righteousness. That's what we want. We want that harvest of righteousness in our lives.

Pursuing Peace with Everyone

Some of the things we can do to be peacemakers is we have to, in Romans 12, 18, it says we have to live peaceably with all men. Once we receive that peace in our hearts, we have to live peaceably. As it says in Romans 12, 18, if possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

You know, sometimes when we pursue peace, especially with our relatives, we want to pursue peace, but it's not within our ability. We try to make peace, but the other party is not cooperating. And then that's why it says, if possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace.

Sometimes they do things which are really outright wrong, and we can't make a compromise. We can't negotiate. Then we have to leave it. We say, yeah, in this situation, what can I do? Maybe over a period of time, things will clear up, but we keep on trying.

I know in many cases in my life, when there was a stressful situation with some of my relatives, and I just couldn't reach out to them, I kept trying. And over a period of time, God gave me opportunities to sow words of peace, and things cleared up in some cases.

So we have to keep trying and do as far as much as it depends on us to keep that peace and maintain that peace. And it also says in Psalm 34, verse 14, and Romans 14, 19, pursue peace with all people.

Not only we live peaceably, but we have to pursue peace. It's peace is like a person who's running fast, and we have to run fast to catch up with that. Sometimes we are sluggish, and we think, oh, well, what can I do?

I can't help it. There's a problem here, and I just let it be. Then nothing can be done. But we say, when we take that word, we have to pursue peace. We do all that we can. We run after peace and say, I want to settle this.

I want to have peace, especially in our homes. You know how it is, sometimes a small word which somebody says, we get hurt, and that peace gets disturbed. Then we say, I don't want to remain in that state of confusion and have a bad attitude in my heart.

I have to pursue. I want to go after it and say some kind words or say a word of apology and try to make that peace, especially with our children. As our children are growing up, teenage children, sometimes we think it's their fault.

They are doing wrong. They are being stubborn, and they go away, far and far away from us, and we let them go. Sometimes after they left home, and they're doing things which we are not happy about, and we just let them be, then for a long time, they can just go drift away from the Lord.

But if we have that attitude, I want to pursue peace. I want to do my part, and we reach out to them, send them words of, call them or some words of comfort and show them our love for them. Then they slowly come back.

I found in many cases, many mothers kept praying and reaching out to their children, and they brought them back to a relationship with the Lord. So a lot, so much depends on us as moms and as a wise woman.

It's in our hands to maintain peace in our home. And that pillar of being peaceable, we should do all that we can to make it strong and maintain that strength on that pillar. Now, so many people have written and asked me about problems that they have faced in the home and how to give, how to cope with that.

Responding to Conflict in the Family

And I want to just share some of the instances, the things that people have written and asked. I'm not saying it as a rule that you should follow, but maybe it'll help. Maybe in your case, you have to do something else.

But some sisters have written and asked things like this. One sister wrote and asked me, sometimes I see my parents who are unconverted fighting, and she's the only believer in her home. What should I do?

Now, that's a tricky situation. But whenever we see two people fighting, I think my suggestion is just leave that place. Don't be around watching that fight going on. Once I had a dream that two sisters were having an argument.

And one of those was a sister who was in our church. And the other one who was causing the confusion was a sister who had left our church. And I was watching them. And the one who had left our church was very adamant and very rude.

And the other one kept quiet. And then at the end of the argument, the one who was aggressive left. And the one who was in our church, she said, I'm so sad that you are witnessing this scene. And I woke up from the dream and I thought, God is trying to speak something to me.

So I thought, if I'm in a situation like that, and I see one sister being attacked by the other, my presence there itself is humiliating to that sister. She might feel embarrassed. So if that were to happen, I'll just walk away.

The same thing, as I said, this young girl was listening to her parents having an argument. And sometimes as a mom, I am seeing my children, married children having an argument. In all those situations, I feel that a third person being present there is embarrassing.

So I feel that if I were to seek peace in that situation, to live peaceably, my feeling is, my desire is that I should just leave that room and go away as far as possible. And just be praying that God will diffuse.

Jesus is the master peacemaker. He's the prince of peace. He can go into that situation and bring peace. And I can trust him for that. Not my being present there. So I just leave that place and go far away and lock the door and pray for them.

And if it is my child or my person whom I am responsible, I can tell him or her quietly, look, don't be so hard on the other person. Just ignore it. Things will ease out if I get a chance. Same way if it is my parent and I see that it's my mom's fault, not my dad's.

When I get a chance and say, mom, I think you've gone too far. I think it's not as you imagine. You know, as gently as possible. That's another thing we have to remember. Gentle answer takes away anger.

That's in Proverbs, you know, those verses, Proverbs 16. And when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. So we try to say a word in a gentle way to whoever you feel free to.

But when we are there, we shouldn't give the impression that we are taking side with one person like with your dad or mom or with your son or daughter. They shouldn't get the impression that mom is on the side of this person.

They should say mom is not in this picture at all. If we unnecessarily get involved in that, then these two parties will become one and we'll be out. So better we don't get involved. Let them talk about it and they'll come to some situation, some settlement.

So we keep out of it and we pray. And then when we get the chance, we talk to whoever it is. Same way when if we see, but when we see two small children, if our children are very small, all of you are doing good.

If you see your two small children fighting, you separate them and you say, OK, you sit on that side and you go to the other room and you think about it. And very soon you'll find that after a few half an hour or so, they come together and they are the best of friends.

We don't have to do much. But when it's older children fighting, then it's not so easy. We separate them and then we call one person and say, OK, as we are doing our work, we can call one of them and say, tell me what happened.

And then we listen to the other person. And then they shouldn't feel that we are taking the side of one, our favorite child. We should pray and ask the Lord to give us wisdom and say, you talk together about it.

And you try to bring to some settlement that if you want me to talk to your sister, I'll talk. But I'm sure you can sort it out. So when older siblings have a misunderstanding or unpeaceful situation, then we can only pray.

And the older we get, the harder it is for siblings to get together. That's my feeling. And suppose it is a relative who has some problem with us and we are married and we have left, then it is harder because they may be wrong, but we just leave them and we just pray.

Welcoming Wayward Children and Supporting Troubled Marriages

Suppose it's a wayward child who's gone away from the Lord. And I mentioned earlier that sometimes a teenager may be away and may be doing wrong things and we want to reach out to him or her, then it's hard.

We have to pray and take the opportunity as it comes. But we should not drive them out and say, look, I don't want you to ever enter this house as long as you're doing this. I mean, you can change and you can come, but be ready to welcome them.

Like the prodigal son who wants to come back, be ready. That also is my opinion. Each case you have to value, you have to take as you feel. And some moms, some wives have written to me about unconverted husbands.

I don't think anyone who's sitting in this meeting has that problem. But some, you may come across some cases where the husband is unconverted and you're a believer and the husband is doing wrong things.

Maybe watching things in the internet, which he shouldn't be watching or having some relationship and you come to know about it. And the first option is not, okay, I'm going to divorce. That's not the first option at all.

We have to be, again, have this attitude of being a peacemaker and say, Lord, give me grace in this, even though it's very difficult. It's hard for me to think that my husband is doing this, but help me to be a peacemaker and be praying and change my husband.

And if that person's husband is doing something wrong, you can say, look, you're watching all this in the internet. What if our children see you? What if our children find out you want them to become like this?

And we must pray together. Sometimes some of these things, these addictions are like a disease. It starts off as a bad habit, but it becomes a disease and we have to help them to get over that. So if you know of any wife who's struggling in this and they want to divorce, I always write and tell them, don't think of divorce as an option.

Pray for them. Once I met her in another country, not India and not here. I met a wife whose husband was dying of cancer and she took me to visit him and she had some daughters. And when we were there, another woman came with a little boy and she later found out that this little boy was her husband's son and she hadn't known about it at all.

And it was such a big shock to her. And in that country, all the wealth, primary wealth goes to the son. Now she had daughters and this other boy who had come, she knew he would get all, most of the husband's wealth and it was so difficult for her to accept it.

But it's so, I'm so happy to say she stayed back and looked after her husband who was dying of cancer till the end. She loved him and cared for him. And she said, God has given me healthy daughters. If they can find some jobs and take care of me, that's okay.

I leave him in God's hand and maybe he repented. But I thought what an, and she was a Christian sister. I thought what an example it is for a sister who saw her husband so far away, gone so far away from God, but she was able to love him.

And when the Lord gives grace to situations like that, where we think like, yeah, for the sake of my family, I'm going to be true to, I want our family to stay together. I want my children to be safe.

I want this pillar to be strong. I want to keep this peaceable nature, this peaceable pillar very strong so that my home doesn't crumble. Now those things may not happen to us, but we will find people who are facing that.

And God will give you the wisdom, God will give you a word of wisdom to give to such sisters, such women who are facing. I know in India, there are a lot in, you know, in culture in India. Some, it's quite common to have multiple wives and people don't think of it wrong in that religion.

But girls who have, women who have been converted from there to accept this, we have to pray for them. And they need much grace from the Lord to forgive the husband who's been unfaithful to them and to love them.

Gentleness, Forgiveness, and Guarding the Heart

And we give words, speak words of gentle words, forgiving words, not harsh words. You know, we ourselves face in small situations, like somebody does something wrong or spill something or does something, a small thing in the home, how much the tendency is there to be rude and harsh and cruel.

And when we have to cleanse ourselves and say, Lord, always give me a chance to be gentle. We have to ask the Lord, Lord, in every situation, help me to gain wisdom, how I should talk. More and more gentle, more and more wise, more and more forgiving in my speech.

I have to be firm with my children, but I definitely can learn to speak better and better and have that pillar of peaceable nature strong in my life. So these are some of the tips I want to share. Don't accuse and don't argue.

And if it's somebody else's affair, even if it's a husband's, don't pry into everything that they're doing. And don't doubt that they're doing something wrong all the time. Just think, yeah, that's not my business.

It's his business and God is in charge of him. I can only pray and do my part. So many times, many people's suspicions is wrong. There's no foundation for that suspicion. And many women I know who've been suspicious, but there's nothing wrong.

And we have to say, yes, my husband is talking to that sister. He's giving some advice, maybe. Maybe she has confidence in him. Let him give that advice. Don't let a suspicious thought ever come into our heart because that suspicion can grow and can lead to strife and that peace in our home can be disturbed.

And say, Lord, help me always to have that loving attitude. There are two kingdoms in this world, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. And the kingdom of darkness has people who hate and doubt and fight.

The kingdom of light are those who belong to Jesus. And they are the ones who have love in their hearts, who are able to forgive. And that love knows no bounds. It grows and grows. That divine love is more than what we can imagine.

The love that Jesus had for us on Calvary, us who are sinners, he had such a love for us. That's the love he wants to give in our hearts. So if we have that habit of accusing or arguing or doubting, ask the Lord, Lord, don't let me have that anymore.

Help me to have that peaceable nature so that I can get that harvest of righteousness in my life. James 3, 18. Then don't start an argument. If you see something wrong and you're so tempted to say, yeah, it's just boiling inside.

I want to just get done with it. And when we start an argument, usually it's the wrong time. But pray about it and say, Lord, help me. Even though I'm convinced that this is something wrong which is happening in my home or with my children, I'm not going to start an argument.

Accepting Differences in Marriage and Family Life

Let it come on its own and give me the wisdom to bring about it and deal with this in a gentle and a loving way. And then another thing is don't expect others to do exactly what you do. See, I have seen many mothers-in-law in India.

You know, when we joined homes as daughters-in-law, we learned to do things our mother-in-law did. And we used to get up earlier than usual because we wanted to be good daughters-in-law. Get up early and do more and more things just to make a good impression to our mother-in-law.

And then when we become mothers-in-law, we think like, oh, our daughters-in-law should be like how we were. No, we should never think like that. We think they are different. This is a different age.

This is a different... These girls have studied and grown up in a different way. It's a different time now. They have got a career. They were not like us. They are independent. We have to give them their margin.

Even if they don't get up in time or they don't get up early, don't expect them to come and join you in the kitchen and do things. I'm saying as a mother-in-law. All of you are young, but one day you may become a mother-in-law.

So give allowance to them and say, let them do it their way. I do my way. If I want to get up, nobody is asking me to get up at five o 'clock in the morning and make the breakfast. But I choose to do it because I'm awake.

I do that. But I should not be judging my daughter-in-law. I'm doing all this alone and she's not coming and helping me. So don't expect others to do the way we are doing. And another secret to live in a peaceable way is don't reveal secrets which others have confided in you.

Discretion and Respect for Family Privacy

We see so many things in other sisters, maybe in the church or in our family, especially in our family atmosphere. There are two or three sisters or sisters-in-law and they find something happening in one person's life.

When you find out something, just keep it to yourself. I think of my family like an orange. You know, when you peel an orange, there are many segments in that orange. My family is that orange and each unit is separate.

I'm not going to join them all together and squish them and make this person like the other person or this person's secret come into the other person's family. I must respect that family unit. Even though we are one family as they're all my children, but all of them who are married, they're separate units.

We let them keep their lives private. All I can do is to be a peaceable person and bring peace in that situation. You know, in the olden days when we used to have bicycles, children used to go biking to school.

We used to have a little gadget like a cup with a long nozzle and you had to pour oil into these different parts of the bicycle to oil it. Otherwise, it would creak or the chain would slip out or something would happen.

So before our sons went to school, they would remind them, okay, you clean the bike, brush out all the dust and you oil. So my duty as a mom is just to be that oiling machine, bring peace in the creaking areas.

Whenever something's not working properly or it's going wrong or creaking, a lot of noise comes out. My duty is just to be that oiling machine. Put a drop of oil there, bring peace there and everything will run smoothly.

I found that my children are grown up and have their own homes. All I need to do is just be like that oiling machine, do my part and just leave them. God will take care of everything. So that gentleness in speech is very important.

And when we say things, it's so tempting to make a quick and rude, unwise remark and say, yeah, pass that message, share that bad thing or unwise thing with other people. We have to be discreet. We don't have to share everything that comes to us, speak everything that comes to our mind.

Just say, Lord, in the past, I've done a lot of foolish things by revealing things and saying things wrongly and unwisely. Please change me. Make me more and more peaceable and peace loving person so that I don't bring discord.

I don't bring discord in other people's life or in my life. Let me do my part in bringing peace in the homes of all those whom I meet with. Especially when you sisters, you meet each other. Sometimes you see one sister brings up her child in a way different from us.

And we are tempted to judge or say something. They say, yeah, in the end, everybody will turn out okay. That sister is doing her best to bring up her children by not spanking, but just looking at it or speaking some word.

But different sisters have different ways. Maybe just a glare is enough to change that sister, that child. But let her do it her way. In the end, everybody will be turned out okay. All of them will be glorious children in God's church, in the temple of God.

Children as Pillars in God's House

So there was one verse which I wanted to share as a promise. And that's in Psalm 144. I read that beautiful verse. Psalm 144, verse 12. It says, may our sons in their youth be like plants full grown. Our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of our palace.

We want our children to be like corner pillars. Corner pillars are the very important pillars. They take the weight of the whole, most of the weight of the building. And the palace, they're cut for the structure of the palace.

May our daughters be like that. And the palace is God's house. The temple of the Lord. And our daughters, we want our daughters and our children to be cut out like that. And there's another promise in Revelation 3, 17.

It says, those who overcome, I'll make him or her a pillar in my temple. We want to be overcomers in every area, especially in this area. Most important thing for us as moms and as women to be peaceable and peace loving.

That's like a key which God has given us in the home. The key to open every difficult situation, impossible situation, when there's strife and things go wrong, things don't work out in time and somebody's sick.