How I Pray For Peace in Ukraine

And Why You Might Skip This Article

I begin with a warning and a disclaimer.

The warning: this is an article about prayer and foreign policy. Most of you are up for an article on prayer but some of you might give an article on foreign policy a big Nope. That’s cool. Just skip it this week and wait for next week when I write about something that’s not foreign policy. I may even throw in a picture of my cats or grandkids just to balance things out.

The disclaimer: I acknowledge that I have dear friends in Ukraine. But I also have dear friends in Russia. And of course, most of my friends and all my family are in the United States, “land that I love.” In short, I’m asking you to pray for an American foreign policy that is in the long-term best interest of the people of Ukraine, Russia, and the United States.

We should pray for government officials so Christians everywhere can “lead a peaceful and quiet life” (1 Timothy 2:1-6). Such a government removes obstacles to the spread of the gospel. If you care about the nations, you’ll pray for them. If you’re a church leader you’ll want to be conversant in geopolitical events and the implications for world evangelization.

[Photograph:Sergey Kozlov/EPA]

1. Pray for peace based on truth, not lies.

The prohibition against bearing false witness is a pillar of God’s moral law (Ex. 20:16). Liars are people who willfully and knowingly present as truth what they know to be false. There’s forgiveness for liars who repent and turn to Christ, but liars who don’t repent go to hell (Rev. 21:8). Every war is commenced and continued with lies. Wars only come to a peaceful and just end when truth prevails.

In 2021, Russia began amassing troops on its border with Ukraine and Vladimir Putin denied they had plans to attack. This was a lie. Putin denied that Ukraine has a right to exist. This is a lie. Putin said he invaded Ukraine to de-Nazify it. This is a lie. Putin says Ukrainian President Zelensky is not legitimate because his election term is up. This is a lie.

Unfortunately, American leaders are repeating those lies as if they believe them. Any American leader who accuses President Zelensky of being a “dictator” is playing into Putin’s hands. This is not a good sign that any peace plan formulated by the United States and Russia will be accepted by Ukraine.

Pray that the peace negotiations will be based on the truth.

2. Pray for peace built on justice, not appeasement.

In the 1930’s, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain led Great Britain in a policy of appeasement toward Adolf Hitler. Hitler claimed Germany had a right to expand its territory by invading and occupying neighboring nations. Winston Churchill sounded the alarm, but he was in the minority. Appeasement bought Britain a little time in the same way delaying a visit to the dentist avoids a tooth extraction. Britain hoped Hitler would just go away. He didn’t.

The peace that Britain enjoyed until 1939 was built on the shaky foundation of appeasement. We’ll never know what would have happened or what we could have avoided if the free world had united early to oppose Germany’s expansionism.

I don’t pretend to be a foreign policy expert, but I can pray for the world’s leaders as they craft a peace agreement. Many experts believe that even if Russia agrees to a peace plan now, Putin can’t be trusted to keep the agreement and will not give up on his long range plan to seize Ukraine and expand Russia’s territory by invading other nations that comprised the former Soviet Union.

What would justice look like? Russia would pull its troops out of Ukraine and pay for the billions of dollars of damage it did to Ukrainian infrastructure. Russia would pay reparations to families of the thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, including children, who have been murdered by the Russian military. Finally, Vladimir Putin would be tried for the war crimes he is charged with.

But I’m also a realist and know this is unlikely. What is certain is that someday, Vladimir Putin will stand before the heavenly tribunal with the rest of us and give an account to the Judge of the universe for what he has done (2 Cor. 5:10).

Pray that the peace negotiations will be built on justice.

3. Pray for peace that guarantees freedom, not persecution.

What would a Russia-occupied Ukraine look like? It would look a lot like Russia. By some definitions, Russia is a Christian Nation. President Putin is a professing Christian who was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church which is partially supported by government grants. However, there’s no clear evidence that Vladimir Putin is a genuine follower of Jesus Christ. Like thousands of politicians in history, Putin cleverly uses Christianity to gain and consolidate political power. For their part, the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church seem to be more concerned with pleasing Vladimir Putin than pleasing Christ.

There is no First Amendment in Putin’s Russia. Freedoms of speech and press are suppressed by the government and journalists who speak the truth to power in Russia risk their lives, often experiencing unusual and untimely “accidental” deaths.

Of great concern to evangelicals is that freedom of religion in Russia is guaranteed only to the religion that supports Putin’s agenda: the Russian Orthodox Church. If a priest or pastor questions or criticizes the war that Russia started with Ukraine, he can be fined or imprisoned. Evangelical missionaries in Russia are exposed to great danger, especially if the government suspects they’re supported by churches in America.

In contrast, Ukraine’s religious tolerance has created one of the most religiously diverse nations in the region with high concentrations of evangelicals. But Ukrainian evangelicals in areas occupied by the Russian military are now under serious threat. Dr. Catherine Wanner, Professor of History at Penn State says that evangelicals are “especially targeted…there is no place for Protestants in the Russian world.”

It's illegal in Russia for evangelicals to evangelize. Churches must register with the state. To persuade a Russian to worship Jesus in an evangelical church could be considered a crime against the state. Under Putin’s leadership, Russia has established “the most restrictive religious laws since the Soviet Union.”

Only the most naïve American evangelical would be optimistic that a Russia-occupied Ukraine would have more religious freedom than Russia itself.

Pray that the peace negotiations would guarantee religious freedom.

What Now?

Here’s my two-fold plea. First, beware the cunning skill directing Russian propaganda, especially on the internet. Don’t naively accept pro-Russia, pro-Putin, anti-Ukraine, and anti-Zelensky messages before you do some fact-checking. Vladimir Putin, the former KGB agent, has a long history of manipulating the masses and world leaders with disinformation. Second, pray to the King of Heaven for the peace of Ukraine and Russia. Indeed, “all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Dan. 4:37). The heart of every president is in God’s hand and he “turns it wherever he will” (Pr. 21:1).