You can’t pray effectively with bitterness in your heart! Even if the other person is wrong, let God use you as a paramedic of His mercy. Apologise, forgive, then tell them you want to see the relationship healed. It may take more than a U-turn to make up the distance between you, but one step, just one, makes the road shorter and, if you stay on course, you’ll get to where you ought to be on time. 

Don’t fight over ‘who hit who first’. Come on, be bigger than that! You’ve been asking God to restore things; well, this is part of it! Go ahead; your pride will rebel and if you let it, fear of rejection will stop you dead in your tracks. But do it anyway and see what happens. Remember, when you forgive, you position yourself beyond condemnation, and God can begin to bless you. Can you afford to live without His blessing? Euodia and Syntyche worked hand-in-hand with Paul to build the church, yet the only mention of them is that they held a grudge against each other. Not good! 

Jesus said that if you hold a grudge you won’t be forgiven. Can you afford to live without His forgiveness? Listen: ‘If you enter your place of worship and…you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you…leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God’ (Matthew 5:23-24 TM). Now that you know what to do - do it!

Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate. He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations. The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness. He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever - holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. "

(Many of the reflections on each page are used with the kind permission of United Christian Broadcastors (UCB) from their FREE daily devotional - The Word for Today. They allow the publication of 52 of their passages per year and I find their messages apt and though-provoking for the times we live in.)

A Circle of Prayer around the world praying for and with each other, for peace and for a world in crisis. Please read more about it and perhaps join us, prayer was never more needed than it is in these times!

Praying all year round for the souls of our deceased relatives and friends, for the souls of those most in need of prayer and for those souls in purgatory who have nobody to pray for them.