Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer for peace is pleasing to God, for He is not a God of war and fighting, and He delights when His children seek peace and pursue it.
Scripture teaches us to follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. The Lord Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. To desire that your family live in peace is to desire what makes us like the Son of God Himself. The apostles were told to speak peace when they entered a house, and the angels proclaimed glory to God and on earth peace, because true peace comes first from being reconciled to God through His grace. That is why Paul always begins with grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace comes first, then peace, for it was Christ who ended the long war between us and God, not by our labor but by His grace.
You ask to be kept safe from the devil and from evil. This is right to pray, for we do have a warfare against the evil spirits. Yet remember that the gospel itself is called the gospel of peace. When we are at war with the devil, we are at peace with God, and that victory has already been won for us. When Scripture speaks of evil that God allows, it often means not wickedness itself, but affliction and trial, such as famine or distress, which God permits to correct and to train us. So we pray not only to be spared from affliction, but to be kept from wickedness and to stand firm, having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, which is a virtuous life and readiness to walk in His ways.
You also ask that God would put only good people in your way and take away the bad. God does hear that prayer and He will guard your family and give you discerning hearts. At the same time He calls us, as much as it lies within us, to live peaceably with all men. Even when a brother wars against us, we are to be peaceful, as the psalm says, with those who hate peace I was peaceful. Nothing so shames one who does evil as to bear it nobly, to bless when insulted, and to remember no evil. This both frees us from sin and often benefits the other person.
There is also wisdom needed here. Not every agreement is good and not every separation is evil. Robbers can agree together, and that concord is evil. Sometimes a good disagreement or a necessary separation is for our good, as when we must turn away from those who would lead us into sin. So pray not only that God would remove harmful people, but that He would give you wisdom to know who to draw close to and who to step away from, and grace to remain at peace even with those who are difficult, while holding fast to what is holy.
May God grant this to you. I pray that the Lord will bless you and your family, keep you in His grace and peace, guard you from the snares of the devil, strengthen you to walk in righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit, and teach you to be peacemakers in your home and before all people. May He surround you with those who build you up in faith and give you courage and love to respond with blessing even to those who oppose you, so that your home may reflect the peace that Christ Himself has given. Amen.
Scripture teaches us to follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. The Lord Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. To desire that your family live in peace is to desire what makes us like the Son of God Himself. The apostles were told to speak peace when they entered a house, and the angels proclaimed glory to God and on earth peace, because true peace comes first from being reconciled to God through His grace. That is why Paul always begins with grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace comes first, then peace, for it was Christ who ended the long war between us and God, not by our labor but by His grace.
You ask to be kept safe from the devil and from evil. This is right to pray, for we do have a warfare against the evil spirits. Yet remember that the gospel itself is called the gospel of peace. When we are at war with the devil, we are at peace with God, and that victory has already been won for us. When Scripture speaks of evil that God allows, it often means not wickedness itself, but affliction and trial, such as famine or distress, which God permits to correct and to train us. So we pray not only to be spared from affliction, but to be kept from wickedness and to stand firm, having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, which is a virtuous life and readiness to walk in His ways.
You also ask that God would put only good people in your way and take away the bad. God does hear that prayer and He will guard your family and give you discerning hearts. At the same time He calls us, as much as it lies within us, to live peaceably with all men. Even when a brother wars against us, we are to be peaceful, as the psalm says, with those who hate peace I was peaceful. Nothing so shames one who does evil as to bear it nobly, to bless when insulted, and to remember no evil. This both frees us from sin and often benefits the other person.
There is also wisdom needed here. Not every agreement is good and not every separation is evil. Robbers can agree together, and that concord is evil. Sometimes a good disagreement or a necessary separation is for our good, as when we must turn away from those who would lead us into sin. So pray not only that God would remove harmful people, but that He would give you wisdom to know who to draw close to and who to step away from, and grace to remain at peace even with those who are difficult, while holding fast to what is holy.
May God grant this to you. I pray that the Lord will bless you and your family, keep you in His grace and peace, guard you from the snares of the devil, strengthen you to walk in righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit, and teach you to be peacemakers in your home and before all people. May He surround you with those who build you up in faith and give you courage and love to respond with blessing even to those who oppose you, so that your home may reflect the peace that Christ Himself has given. Amen.
