I live near Pearl Harbor.
At the base of Mount Fuji in Hakone, Japan, in a large hall faithful joined in prayer for the host nation. Foreign missionaries flanked local believers. Beside me sat a young Korean missionary serving in Japan for five years. In stilted English, she fervently interceded for the spiritual condition of her adopted people. A faint quiver in her voice divulged passion in her heart. Upon conclusion, she discretely wiped a tear from her eye.
My mind pondered the cultural and spiritual significance I was privileged to witness at point blank range. Two neighboring nations share a tenous history, to put it politely. Generations of documented difficulty enable suspicion to linger. Pain and prejudice sometimes are slow to surrender.
Yet, in a simple act of prayer, grudge gives way to grace.
The cross of Christ provides power military machines cannot replicate. Divine forgiveness offers solutions politicians can only dream and debate. Scripture declares, “For He Himself is our peace...and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the emnity.” (Ephesians 2:14, 16)
The human heart is the ultimate battlefield. In the journey of your life, where or with whom, do you need strife to cease?
By faith, history succumbs; ultimate victory begins.