God's Peace in Family Tension - Your Nightly Prayer - June 11th

Amanda Idleman

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Your Nightly Prayer

God’s Peace in Family Tension
Your Nightly Prayer

TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." - Romans 12:18

SOMETHING TO PONDER

For strained conversations and crowded days, this prayer asks God for patience and peace. Being in a family can be difficult. We each go about our days alongside one another, each with our unique personalities and perspectives. Working through inevitable conflict to achieve peace is tough. There are eight people in our immediate family, and as you can imagine, we experience more than our fair share of conflict. We are all juggling the needs of teenagers, all the way down to the baby, and it’s not easy. Feelings get hurt, anger flares up, hormones make people crazy, and the calendar is always full!

I am often reminded of our and especially my great need for grace as the mother to this crew. I want to be an agent of peace for my home, but more times than I’d like to admit, I, too, bring impatience into these situations. Time and time again, I have to go to my knees, asking God to forgive me and strengthen me anew for the daily work of loving my family well. One thing is true: finding peace in family tension requires humility. When we make mistakes as parents, spouses, siblings, sons, and daughters, we have to prioritize returning to the right relationship over having the last word. We have to be willing to say sorry, even when it’s not all our own fault. We have to be willing to listen more than speak. We need God’s love to guide us, as on our own, peace is hard to maintain.

If you are struggling to find peace in your home, remember you can only do your part in this puzzle towards unity. You can only control your words, your actions, your heart, and your posture. Set an example. Model forgiveness, humility, and grace. Pray for God to convict wherever conviction is needed. Trust Him to do what you can’t and to empower you to love your people beyond your own strength.

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER

Father,
Fill my heart with love for my family. Remind me of all the ways I am blessed to be part of this unit. Empower me to live humbly, prioritizing right relationship over rightness. Show me how to love well, to control my mouth and my emotions. Help me to say sorry often. Allow me to be an example of your grace to my family. Let your Holy Spirit’s presence rest on our home, drawing us closer to you and to one another. Do what only you can in these relationships! Bring conviction and repentance where it is needed.
Amen.

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON

How can you model humility in your home?
What habits could you change that would immediately bring more peace to your family?
Are you harboring unforgiveness towards family members? How can you begin to forgive?

Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Tim Bogdanov

Amanda Idleman is a writer whose passion is encouraging others to live joyfully. She writes devotions for Your Nightly Prayer, Crosswalk Couples Devotional, Your Daily Prayer, and more. She has work published with Her View from Home, on the MOPS Blog, and is a regular contributor for Crosswalk.com, Biblestudytools.com, and Christianity.com. She has most recently published a devotional, Comfort: A 30 Day Devotional Exploring God's Heart of Love for Mommas, alongside her husband’s companion devotional, Shepherd. You can find out more about Amanda on her Facebook Page or follow her on Instagram.

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