The prayers I carry for the conflict in Israel can somewhat weigh me down. I have to set aside a lot of chatter in media and social media. Thankfully, my Scripture reading now has me in Isaiah and I am drawn in by these words:

Isaiah 2:4 (NLT)

⁴ The Lord will mediate between nations 
and will settle international disputes. 
They will hammer their swords into plowshares 
and their spears into pruning hooks. 
Nation will no longer fight against nation, 
nor train for war anymore.

The way of the Kingdom is not war. It is not oppression. It is not violence. When I was growing up under the teaching of what I learned so much later was a lot of contradictions, my theology was one of these things wouldn’t happen until Jesus had come back and the final reign would begin. (It was a mishmash of pre-tribulation rapture theology, which was dispensational, and Pentecostal practice, which wasn’t dispensational. Thus, the contradictory theology of my life early on.)

Since it was for the “sweet by and by” in my broken theology, we just had to put up with war and conflict. Then, the American Christian way (along with the German Christian way in the 20th Century way) became, “Well, since we’re going to have war, we might as well win it.” Now we just live by the sword God wants us to beat into plowshares.

This isn’t about some future hope in the “sweet by and by.” This is the purpose of God’s Kingdom now. He wants to train our hands for peace. Now.

We need our prayer to be like Isaiah 2:3. We need to pray that the Lord may teach us his ways so we can walk in his paths.

THIS is the Kingdom of God. And it is for our training and development now.