JERUSALEM, Israel -- Hundreds of Christians in Jerusalem and millions more Christians around the world gathered for a global Day of Prayer for the peace of Jerusalem, Sunday.

Some local Israelis joined the Christians who came from near and far for a televised broadcast of the event overlooking Jerusalem.

"The battle for Jerusalem is not a battle about land. It's not a battle about ethnicity. It's a battle about the God of love versus a god of hatred and violence," Eagles Wings founder Rob Stearns said. Stearns also served as the co-chair for the Global Day of Prayer effort.

In participating in the day of prayer, Christians are following the biblical injunction in Psalm 122: 6 to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

"It's a privilege for me to be here today and it's a privilege to see so many Christians praying for the peace of Jerusalem, which really means the peace of the world," Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat said.

"It's written in the Bible - if you bless Israel, you get blessed," said Randi Rosenstiel of Norway. "We are supposed to stand on the walls of Jerusalem to pray for peace."

At a time when Israel is under increasing international pressure, organizers called on Christians everywhere to be watchmen on the walls.

Still, some say it's the Lord that stands for Israel.

"Yes, the pressures are enormous, but the security of Israel is and always has been with the Lord," Englishman Geoffrey Smith said.

"That's why it's important to come here to pray for the peace of Jerusalem rather than simply writing to Mr. Obama or writing to Mr. Netanyahu," he continued. "It's the Lord who is sovereign. This is His city, and we need to come here to pray to Him for the peace of Jerusalem.