As the number of global conflicts increases and we see an uptick in violent images from across the globe, it’s easy to look out at the world and wonder — can peace possibly grow here? How do I respond to a world where peace seems to be lacking? Today, we’re sharing a series of prayers to help you pray for peace in the world.
We hope these prayers are a welcome invitation to step into the peace that God has already made abundantly available to you through the work of the Holy Spirit.
If these prayers encourage you, consider sharing them with a friend, family member or coworker.
Prayers for Peace To Quiet Your Heart
If we want God to usher peace into the world, we must first allow God to cultivate peace within our own hearts.
Writer, teacher and spiritual director, Ruth Haley Barton has written about the time her spiritual director compared her soul to a jar of shaken-up river water.
“Ruth,” her spiritual director said, “you are like a jar of river water all shaken up. What you need is to sit still long enough so that the sediment can settle and the water can become clear.”
Many of us can likely relate to this feeling of our insides being shaken up, clouded by anxieties and fears, expectations and self-doubt. Our to-do lists get longer, social media louder, the news cycle faster and the number of crises — both globally and in our personal lives — keeps adding up. We want to be people of prayer, who stay engaged and make a difference. But sometimes, it feels like we’re barely keeping up.
The good news is Jesus himself was familiar with such circumstances. He had a full life filled with teaching, discipling, healing, friends, family and thousands of people who expected so much from him. And yet, he made time to withdraw to a solitary place. He made time to sit and be with God, to let the sediment settle so he could hear the voice of the one who called him.
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35
Here are two prayer practices to help settle your heart and open up to God as you pray for peace in the world.
Silent Prayer
Find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted. Put your phone on do not disturb. Set a timer for five minutes — ten minutes if you have it — and let yourself be. Don’t worry too much about the thoughts that walk through your mind or the feelings of unease that may arise.
Trust that the presence of God, which is already all around you, is holding you and all the other needs around the world.
Breath Prayer
Perhaps sitting in silence without any guidance feels too destabilizing right now. If that’s the case, try one of the breath prayers provided below. Or, spend a few moments in silence as mentioned above, then notice if a word or phrase arises that you can repeat and pray with the rhythm of your breath. Allow that phrase to ground you in the presence of God.
Inhale: In your steadfast love
Exhale: I am anchored
Inhale: Peace of Christ
Exhale: Fill my heart
Prayers for Peace In Your Community
As you continue cultivating peace within your own heart, the Spirit will move you to extend that peace to others — to your family, your friends, your church, workplace and broader community. But sometimes, bringing peace to your relationships and communities can feel tricky. Loving each other, with all our flaws and imperfections, can be hard to do.
For years, World Relief has facilitated peacebuilding programs in places like South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. Peacebuilding promotes societies and communities where people live in unity and experience restored relationships with God, themselves and others.
Peacebuilding efforts, whether in Democratic Republic of Congo or your local community, start with a mindset change and a desire to live at peace with others, even if it means refraining from our own self-interests.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…” Philippians 2:3-5a
Here are two ways to pray to help you cultivate peace in your community.
Borrowed Prayers
Sometimes, it’s hard to find the right words to pray. When that happens, it’s helpful to turn to prayers that Christians have prayed throughout history. The following prayer, known as the Peace Prayer or the Prayer of Saint Francis first appeared in 1912 in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette.
Use these words as a prayer to ask God to cultivate a spirit of peace in you and your community:
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.
Communal Prayer
Building peace is a communal effort. Call a friend or schedule some time with your small group to pray for your community. Make a list of relationships that need to be restored, the needs and challenges in your community as well as the strengths. Commit to praying for this list together and celebrating when a prayer is answered.
There is something powerful about praying together and/or writing our prayers down as a tangible way to see God’s faithfulness.
Prayers for Peace In the World
As we look beyond our local communities to pray for peace in the world, we are often confronted with the daily reality that many people across the globe are in desperate need of peace and security.
While we cannot personally solve every conflict or crisis around the world, we can turn to God in prayer and trust that he sees all, holds all and hears the prayers of all those who call out to him.
Igor Gluschenko, Program Manager for World Relief Ukraine, has worked in the non-profit sector for more than a decade. He currently oversees our programming in Ukraine as we support those dealing with the effects of war. When asked how he might invite others to pray for peace, he said he often turns to scripture, using a passage from Jeremiah 17 as a prayer:
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
Praying scripture is a powerful way to connect with God. We invite you to use this scripture as you pray for peace in the world. You can simply recite the verse as a prayer to God, or use the prayer adaptation below. Or choose another scripture that resonates with you and pray it over the world
Prayer:
God we trust you and we put our confidence in you. As we look out at this world so full of conflict and disruption, violence and chaos, let us be rooted in you and let the waters of your peace flow out to all who are experiencing conflict.
We pray that your people would be like trees planted by streams of water. We do not fear when heat comes. We do not fear when violence erupts around us. Instead, may our leaves always be green. May we always bear fruit. By your grace, may we stand firm. By your grace may peace come. Amen.
Pray for Current Crises
At World Relief, staff like Igor work and pray in places experiencing war and/or conflict across the globe. Would you consider learning more and praying for these specific crises? Click on the links below to learn more and join us as we pray for peace in the world.
Pray for the Humanitarian Crisis at the U.S. Southern Border
If these prayers encourage you, consider sharing them with a friend, family member or coworker.
Rachel Clair is a Content Writer at World Relief. With more than 10 years of experience creating content and leading creative teams for churches and non-profits, she is passionate about connecting people to their creative gifts and developing content that helps people see the world in new ways. She holds a BFA from Stephens College and is currently participating in a spiritual formation cohort through the Transforming Center in Wheaton, IL.