I live near a busy super-highway and know where I am at any given mile by the signs I regularly pass along the way. One billboard I frequently pass 9 miles up the pike says, “A world at prayer is a world at peace.”

Really?

If the whole world would just pray for peace, would we never have another war? That doesn’t ring true. Maybe the sign implies a meaning beneath the surface. Maybe if the world would be full of people who pray, then no matter where we were or what was going on, our core would be at peace. That makes more sense.

One of the most impressive examples of this kind of peace is recorded in the Bible, the story of the first person murdered for his faith in Christ. His name was Stephen, and as he was being tried in a kangaroo court filled with false witnesses swearing to crimes he didn’t commit, Scripture describes his face “as that of an angel.” (Acts 6:15) How could that be? Amidst the venom, accusations, and lies, how could his face be radiating inner peace?

Immediately after that, as he was dragged out of town to be killed, his prayers continued and so did his peaceful demeanor. It lasted from before the first stone hit him until he died of the wounds they inflicted. This kind of unflappable calm defies logic and can only be explained as supernatural.

But that’s thing about prayer. If we’re communicating with Almighty God, we are linked with the supernatural. Once we admit that, anything can happen, even an experience of supernatural peace while being murdered.

To pray for this kind of peace is a good idea for all of us, even though our stress can’t compare to Stephen’s, and the Lord invites us to ask for it with gusto. In both the Old and New Testaments he says, “Seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14, 1 Peter 3:11)

We’re not just told to look for it casually, glancing left and right in hopes we’ll get some, but to steadily and hotly pursue it. Both Bible passages also say that seeking this kind of peace from God is a key to “loving life” and “seeing many good days.” And who doesn’t want those?

Sometimes turmoil seems to dog us and be lurking around every corner. When it takes us by surprise, our first natural response is to frantically work to rearrange the mayhem around us rather than breathe a prayer for God’s peace. We wonder how whispering a few gentle words into thin air could do anything significant to bring calm in a crisis. But there is a reason why it can work: it’s God himself waiting at the listening end of our prayers.

So I guess that highway sign had it right after all.

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer.” (1 Peter 3:12)