You ask for peace and healing, and rightly so, for peace is the mother of all good things, the very foundation of joy. But understand what true peace is. It is not merely the absence of outward trouble. Many cry "Peace, peace," when there is no peace, for the world gives a peace that ends in ruin, a calm that masks the disease within. The peace you seek must first be peace with God, bought by the blood of Christ, who came not to give a cheap truce but to cut away the sin that wars against the soul. Sometimes that sword must sever what is diseased, even if it brings temporary pain, so that heaven and earth may be united in you. Do not then ask only to be spared from evil, but to be delivered from the love of evil itself. For what good is it if your body is healed and your passions remain untamed, if your family is shielded from enemies outside but torn by strife within? There can be no true peace while any part of you is at war with God’s will. The peace of God must stand as umpire in your heart, silencing the clamorous thoughts of revenge, greed, or lust, and crowning instead the quiet voice of endurance and love.
Pursue peace with all men, but not the peace that comes from compromise with sin. The peacemakers are called sons of God because they imitate Him who reconciled the world to Himself, but He did so by destroying enmity, not by coddling it. If then you seek peace, make it your aim to be holy, for without holiness no one will see the Lord. Let your household examine itself: are any of its members at war with one another, nursing old grievances, speaking slander, or envying? Such things rend the Body of Christ worse than any spear. How can you receive the blessing "Peace be unto you" in the assembly and then carry a sword against your own brother? That peace is not a mere form of words; it is Christ Himself who deigns to speak by His servants. When you say, "And to thy spirit," mean it, and let no bitter root defile you. The angels themselves minister to those who will inherit salvation; do not despise even one little one, for their angels always behold the face of the Father. If you would have deliverance from evil, then put away the evil within, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
So pray for healing, yes, but even more, pray for the grace to cut off every lust, every proud thought, every spark of discord. For when your soul is thus amputated of its festering parts, then health truly springs up, and the Spirit descends gently like a dove, bringing not an olive branch merely, but adoption into the family of God. That is the peace Christ left us: not as the world gives, but a peace that makes you stronger, a peace fixed and steadfast because it rests on God alone. Return no evil for evil; let the peace of God rule in your hearts, and you will find that He who delivered the world from the flood of wrath will deliver you from every storm. Amen.