I think we all agree what it would look like.
World Peace. At a global level it would mean no more wars.
But to what extent? No more physical wars, sure. But what about trade wars? Minor disputes? Wouldn’t it need to be no more disagreements of any kind between countries?
Again, great. That would be great.

And locally? No more gangs? No more robberies? No more violence of one person against another?
It would be safe to walk down the street, even with money in your pocket. Alone. At night.
But again, it would have to be no more hatred. Not just physical violence. No more anger. No more yelling. No more disputes with anyone.
And again… wow. Yes please. That would be amazing.

So is this what you’re praying for?
Is that what you want?

Do you think God is going to answer you?

Would you be allowed to stay if he did?
Or are you assuming he would take control of you and stop you being angry, selfish, greedy, proud?
Would we all have to become little robots for world peace to work?

And what does the Bible say about world peace anyway?
Yeshua was pretty blunt about it towards the end of his life.
You’ll have wars, rumours of wars. These will continue until the end.
Along with earthquakes, storms, other natural disasters. (But that’s another kind of “world peace” too).

Towards the end, towards the return of Yeshua, all the nations of the world will gather in war against Jerusalem. Yeshua himself will return to save them with just a word from him mouth.

Either that’s not true, or world peace can’t come until after that.

Is that what you’re praying for? The world to go to war against Israel and for Yeshua to come back and save them?
The Bible does say that after he does, there will be world peace for 1,000 years.

But this isn’t the world peace we usually pray for is it.
We just want a peaceful world. Now.

Why do we pray for world peace?
Are we afraid of war?
Do we see ever escalating tensions between the nations around us and worry about what will happen if one of them loses their patience?
What will happen to our comfortable lifestyle if someone launches a nuclear weapon against someone else?
Will we even be able to find work after that? Or even food?

I think in reality, it’s not actually world peace that we really want. What we want is personal security.

Have you ever played one of those computer games where you fight mythical creatures, but you can find extra armour, or magical rings which make you impervious to a certain thing, like fire. So if you know for sure you can’t burn, you can courageously confront a dragon without any fear. You know you will win because the dragon can’t hurt you.

What we really want, is to be impervious to what the world can do to hurt us.

And that is something we can have. Something we can pray for.

When we read the story of Paulus in the Bible, we see a man who endured all sorts of violence and difficulties. But when I read his story I definitely get the feeling that he was never afraid. He knew that Yeshua was looking after him all the way through. Whatever he faced, he knew he could do it in the strength of the spirit of God.
He knew that even if he died, everything would be OK. In fact, better!
Paulus was impervious to the world because he knew it was temporary, and that his real purpose had nothing to do with what happened to him physically. His real purpose was unshakeable. His future was 100% secure because he had trusted it to Yeshua.

That’s the path to “world peace”. Or at least to you feeling like you have world peace.
No more fear. No more anxiety.
Is that what you’re praying for?
God will answer that one.
Ask him.