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I believe God raises up spiritual gifts for specific needs among his people in particular times...and I have come to believe He is manifesting Himself more and more through the gift of peacemaking in this day because we have never needed it more than we do now. The divisions within our culture and even within the church itself in recent years have taken center stage for all the world to see. I believe it breaks God’s heart. As you are about to see, Dr. Philip Calvert, is one of God’s people through whom the gift of peacemaking is evident. This 40-day journey through the very heart of God’s Word is a journey through critical topics such as reconciliation, forgiveness, like-mindedness, humility, patience, kindness, and spiritual maturity. I am sure you will agree that these kinds of qualities and characteristics are glaringly missing from our current culture and certainly from our contemporary public discourse. Any journey toward Biblical Unity must necessarily advance across these very steppingstones. I love that this journey also addresses some of the most prevalent obstacles to unity as well...things like bias, prejudice, and fear. These are lynchpins to the “culture war” going on all around us (and within us). These are the weapons of that war, that is, the weapons of the world. But they are not for us as Christ followers, and this devotional journey makes that clear.
Even as I write these words, I am praying for you, dear reader. I am praying that the Spirit of the Living God will go before you and beneath you and will reside within you as you take this journey. I am praying that the Lord will shape and even reshape your heart to want the same things He wants and to see yourself and others through God’s eyes. I am praying for change...that you will, “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 (ESV)
Jesus prayed in John 17 for the unity of His church...for your church and for mine. I believe God has already answered that prayer by sending His Holy Spirit. And I believe the Spirit is still working today through believers like Dr. Calvert to guide us to all truth. Pay attention, friends. This is important.
~Blake Coffee
