Peace within the walls

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
‘May those who love you prosper.
May there be peace inside your walls
and safety in your palaces.’
For the sake of my relatives and friends
I say to Jerusalem, ‘Peace be with you!’   (verses 6-8)

Read Psalm 122

The Bible frequently refers to a Christian’s responsibility to pray for others. However, it can sometimes be difficult to know just what to pray for.

The writer of this psalm provides a model that Christians today can also use as they pray for others: ‘May there be peace inside your walls and safety in your palaces’. Peace in this context means more than the absence of conflict. It suggests completeness, health, justice, prosperity and protection – a peace that can only come from God.

No matter who I think of – friends, acquaintances or unknown Christians in the family of God – the prayer that they may experience peace within the walls of their homes and peace within their hearts is a prayer that encompasses the fundamentals of the Christian faith. For whom would you like this to be your prayer? Take some time to name them before God now.

Lord, grant peace within the walls of the homes of the people that I name before you. Amen.

by Anne Maczkowiack in ‘Renewed Hope for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2000)

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