Blessed are the Peacemakers

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Peace begins in your heart. When you have this peace, you can then go forth and spread your peace to the world. When enough people achieve this peace and we reach a critical mass then we may see some real changes for the better. Finding and achieving peace is a process. Certain practices are required to bring about this peace within yourself. Experimenting and finding the best methods of attaining inner peace for you is the first step in your journey. Peace is a fruit of the spirit that is mentioned in Galatians 5:22. It is the third fruit in this verse. The last one is self-control. I personally believe that self-control is one of the keys to attaining peace. Self-control is in my opinion the most difficult fruit to attain. That is why I believe it should be the one that you focus on the most. Self-control begins and ends in your mind. It could just as easily be called mind-control. When your mind is controlled spiritually, it cascades down into all the other fruits and makes them more prevalent in your life. Therefore, without the proper amount of self-control, your efforts at finding peace, joy, happiness, etc may be severly limited.

That being said, certain practices will help you with your self-control and peace attainment. They are:

1) Getting back to nature and breathing clean air. A nice forest, mountain lake, stream, or other natural areas are prime locations to decompress from our electric world. Take a hike or just sit, listen, and pray or meditate.

2) Meditate and pray. Prayer and meditation set the mind up for peace through calming methods and infused spiritual power.

3) Practice gratitude. Be grateful for the small things in life and build your list of gratitude from there. Keep your list visible or easy to reference. Regular moments of gratitude will build a foundation of happiness that you can draw upon when things are stressed.

4) Be responsible. Show through actions that you can handle life and responsibility will protect you from the stress of not being responsible.

5) Let go of your past traumas. Learn what you can, but do not let your mistakes or traumas define your life. Deal with your emotions and do not let them control how you live your life. Understand that you are not unique in your traumas. Everyone has experienced trauma in their life.

6) Learn self-love and practice loving yourself every day. Talk nice and encourage yourself like you are your own best friend.

7) Accept where you are in life right now and be content. Contentment is the greatest wealth, and those who are content seem to have the most peace, joy, love, and happiness in their lives.

8) Declutter your area and your mind. Useless objects and thoughts should be taken to the dump and forgotten.

9) Have a funny life moment that you can recall with ease when you are sad or stressed. We all have those funny life moments that sometimes flash through our heads at different times. Capture that thought and put it in your funny life moment folder for easy reference when life gets you down. Recalling happy times is a way to lessen your stress, calm your mind, and create peace.

10) Understand your feelings and emotions. Know that your feelings are an effect of your thoughts whether they are unconscious or conscious. Practicing awareness of your feelings will allow you to change negative feelings into positive thoughts. This will lead to more happiness and peace.

Let's all make peace with ourselves so that our World can become a better place. UseJesus.net is here to help. God bless and God speed.