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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

 

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

 

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  Amen.

 – The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Friends, in this time of great confusion, frustration, and turmoil, there is still the opportunity for all of us to be the solution, not the problem.  When we stop focusing on all the wrongs of others and focus on allowing the Lord to use us as instruments of His peace, we will find a serenity of bringing God’s love to a desperate world.  The situation continues to come back to this, we all must be intentional about being used by God for His kingdom instead of being used by the enemy for the demise of others.

God is still on the throne, He is still holding the world in His hands, and He is looking for people like you and me to show the nations He is not finished with us yet!

That is Good News!

Rev. Brad McKenzie is Lead Pastor at Orange First Church of the Nazarene, 3810 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Orange.