Have you ever been in a situation where you do struggle about getting along with certain people?

Yes, that is the real world for you. No matter how hard you try to get along with them, things just keep getting more difficult in having a healthy relationship with them that glorifies God.

But in your heart, you truly want to do the right thing by staying in the love of God with them. The harder you try to do the right thing; it just keeps getting worse.

It’s your Christian duty.

Well, we are called of God to live at peace with all men.

This is the bottom line about it all. And no matter how you may look at the situation, Jesus expects you to stay in love with them.

The scriptures say:

“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:17-18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Paul knew how tough this may be sometimes. That’s why he said, …”if it is possible, as much as depends on you”, to live at peace with all men.

There are people with whom it may be difficult to get along with. But we still have a duty to keep ourselves in the love of God, in our relationships with them.

This is a nobler and higher call that we all have in Christ Jesus.

I had personally been in such a situation many times before, but in spite of it all I have also learnt to move on in the love of God while keeping the relationship with them intact.

Do you know we will all have to answer before God for how we are treating fellow believers and non-believers in Christ Jesus?

There is absolutely nothing you can do to change the opinions of people about you. People will always have their own opinions about you; but you can absolutely change your own attitude and responses to their opinions and to them.

In doing this you’ve got to know, who you are in Christ Jesus. Who you are in Christ Jesus should never be influenced by people’s opinions concerning you as a child of God. Their opinions about you should never be allowed to affect your personal identity in Christ Jesus.

Your attitude and response to them should neither be based on your feelings about them. But it has to be based on what God’s Covenant word says concerning you and not about them.

If you have to live in this world based on how you feel about others, and your relationship with them; you would have gone back into the world as an unbeliever, instead of who you really are in Christ Jesus.

So, stop paying attention to those feelings.

Your relationship with people ought to be based on your faith in God, and not on your feelings.

Feelings can be deceptive, and you’ve got to be very careful with them. Feelings do change always, but your faith in God and in His word should never change.

This is the most important key to keeping yourself at peace with all men.

You don’t ever allow people’s views or attitude to guide or influence your life as a child of God. You are responsible before God for your own life as a Christian, and not those people.

We are never called by Christ Jesus into His Kingdom so as to please people. We are called to please God at all times (Hebrews 11:6).

Be steadfast in faith.

The scripture says again:

“When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Your Christian life pleases God as long as you are living by faith. The peace of God saturates your heart, because you are living and walking by faith before Him.

By pleasing God, you will receive His peace (Shalom), to guide your heart in the wisdom of God concerning your relationship with others.

And it is none of your business to even be worried about what people think about you, because worrying is a sin before God. Worrying is unbelief, and it feeds on doubts until it creates fear in you, so as to kill your faith in God.

Pray for all men.

That’s why you’ve got to be very careful, not to allow what others do against you to hold back from the blessing of God.

It is your responsibility to be praying for them, while keeping yourself in God’s love towards them. Then move on in the love of God by loving others just as you love them.

The most effective way to be praying in a situation like this is in the Holy Ghost; because He knows what you do not know about others and your relationship with them.

He will help you to pray for difficult people more effectively than in your own understanding or natural language.

The Holy Spirit is the One who convicts people about their behavior. Jesus said concerning Him that:

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me.”
John 16:7-9 NKJV

You cannot do this on your own. And the most dangerous sin, is the sin against the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said again:

“Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come”.
Matthew 12:31-32 NKJV

So, if after you’d prayed in the Holy Spirit, and He is leading you to do anything about the situation. Just do it, even if it is hard for you to do. Your act of obedience then becomes the key into God’s blessing.

You have to be very careful in your dealings with difficult people, because your relationship with them may affect your faith walk with God.

Sometimes you just have to let them go away (especially the unbelievers).

Letting them go as you’re praying for them in the Spirit, will allow you to move on into the greater things of God. You’ll have to always be at peace with them in such situations and never give place to the enemy.

The Bible says:

“Be angry [at sin—at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], yet do not sin; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down. And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness]”.
Ephesians 4:26-27 AMP

The Passion Translation puts it in this way:

“But don’t let the passion of your emotions lead you to sin! Don’t let anger control you or be fuel for revenge, not for even a day. Don’t give the slanderous accuser, the Devil, an opportunity to manipulate you!”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭TPT‬‬

The unsaved world does not understand what it means to be at peace with all men.

Of course, they do not understand why you are even trying to be at peace with them. But the onus is on you as a Christian to be at peace with them.

Stay focused on being good to all.

The Apostle Paul again went further to challenge every child of God not only to live at peace with all men; but to do good also to all men, especially to fellow believers in Christ Jesus.

But do you know that it is possible to live at peace with people, without necessarily doing them any good at all?

Paul told the Galatians:

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

What kind of opportunity do you get by doing good to all men?

Primarily, it does gives us access continually into, THE BLESSING OF THE LORD!

There is nothing as powerful as the blessing of God working in the life of a born-again child of God, especially if he is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Doing good to all men, keeps that flow of the blessing of God constant in your life as a Christian. When you stop doing good, you will stop the blessing flow also in your life.

For example, it is possible to live at peace with your next-door neighbor.

At the same time, you may not be doing that neighbor any good at all, if you do see the same neighbor in a difficult situation, that you do know you can be of help in alleviating his suffering. But you have chosen to do nothing just because you do not want to get into other people’s business.

Do you know that when you do this, you are actually cutting short your flow of God’s blessing?

When you shut your eyes to them like the Pharisee and the Levite did to the Good Samaritan, you are apparently blocking the flow of the blessing of God into your own life also (see Luke 10:25-37).

The blessing of God flows where His mercy is present. When you show mercy to others, you are enlarging your blessing territory.

The Bible says:

““This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.”
‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭7:9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It is the love of God and His mercy working through your life, that gives you peace; and manifests the goodness of God towards you as you’re living by faith in God.

It takes a man of faith to live at peace with all men and do good to all men at the same time.

The Good Samaritan in the parable of Jesus acted in faith to help the man, who was attacked by robbers on the way to Jericho.

That Good Samaritan never listened to his feelings. He must had felt like the others, who had seen the man before him bleeding and in pain, but did nothing to help the man.

But he just did the right thing based on the commandment of God. He sowed his time, money and other resources into the life of a complete stranger.

It takes faith to show kindness to people; especially to people that you do not know.

It is the blessing of God in your life as a Christian that makes it possible. If God has not been good to you, you cannot show His goodness to others.

But without the wisdom of God, you will never be able to tap into the blessing of God itself. The blessing of the Lord is multiplied in your life through the peace and the goodness of God, working through your life to touch others.

The peace and the goodness of God in your life is a manifestation of God’s blessing.

You may be able to tell the whole world that you do love them. But that love often gets tested, in those moments when you will have the opportunity to show His goodness to a stranger.

You however do have to see yourself not holding back from doing good because of our feelings.

Live a lifestyle of forgiveness.

The key to living at peace with all men, is therefore in your ability to live in forgiveness with others also.

If you cannot live in forgiveness with anyone, then you cannot love that person, because you are not able to forgive him.

And the result will be that you will never be at peace with God, due to your lack of forgiveness for others.

When you are always quick to forgive others, your inner peace with God will remain intact, and the flow of God’s blessing into your life as His child will be constant.

The Prophet Isaiah said:

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭26:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The heart of a man who lives by faith before God is stayed and focused on Jesus. The heart of that man will be at peace with God and with all men.

There are many Christians who are struggling today to live in forgiveness with fellow Christians.

Homes are being broken daily due to the lack of forgiveness. Congregations are being divided, because they have allowed the enemy’s seed of unforgiveness to multiply among them.

The enemy is tearing believers apart, and setting them up against one another, because of their lack of forgiveness towards one another.

Forgive as you pray.

A believer in Christ Jesus with an unforgiving heart cannot pray effectively. Jesus said:

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭11:25-26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Jesus had made this statement immediately after teaching His disciples about faith.

Apparently, no Christian can ever be effective in prayer, if he is not constantly living in forgiveness towards others. And it takes faith to be able to forgive those who have hurt you.

Jesus went even further when He said again:

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:44‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If you’re practicing this everyday as you are praying for others, something supernatural will begin to happen in your life as a believer in Christ Jesus.

The Lord God will give you the supernatural ability to live in forgiveness, and to be at peace with others.

Are you struggling today to forgive someone? Start praying and blessing that person daily.

That kind of prayer will allow the love and the goodness of God to saturate your soul. It will then be easier to forgive that fellow brother or sister in Christ, as you continue in the love of God in your relationship with him or her.

Husbands and wives can apply this same principle from Jesus, to live at peace with one another at home.

Live a Lifestyle of faith and love.

Remember that without faith it is impossible to please God. In the same way without faith, it is impossible to forgive and love your enemies.

Paul wrote again to the Galatians that:

“For [if we are] in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but only faith activated and expressed and working through love.”
‭‭Galatians ‭5:6‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Your proactive faith in forgiving and loving others is activated and ready to be expressed, the moment you make the decision to forgive.

Forgiveness opens your heart to love difficult people and not hinder the flow of God’s blessing into your life as a Christian.

And if the seed of Christ is in you, you can do it.

The way of Jesus is the way of love. His faith works in your life with love.

Faith will never work in a heart that is unforgiving. You have to let the anger and bitterness against others go away.

Those are the seeds of Satan that are designed to destroy you, which you must get rid of completely so that the light of Christ in you may shine brighter through you.

Begin today by seeking God in Spirit and in Truth. Also live at peace with all men:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You can do it. Keep yourself in the love of God towards everyone and begin to rejoice every day in your abundant blessing.