Pray KNCSB

War has been the way we, human beings, gathered as nations, have settled our differences with other nations. Individually, as our forefather Cain did, we violate our way out of conflicts, real or imagined. One day we anticipate that war shall be no more as the Prince of Peace teaches us how to lay down weapons of death and pick them back up again as pruning hooks. One day the lion of war shall lie down with the lamb of peace. Meanwhile, back at the farm, war is a reality we must contend with. Contend we must and a way we contend is to pray.

Our nation is in the throes of wars and peacekeeping and peacemaking. More starkly, our young men and women are sacrificing precious lives in the belief that freedom is worth dying for and for the sake of justice rolling down like streams, that right must prevail over wrong, that self-sacrifice is oppression’s answer whether on our own soil or on foreign soils.

It’s true that nations have no friends but only interests. But interests can be the greater common good (of our nation and of the rest of the world). So we fight in the hope of gaining ground over the forces of evil. But we must not only fight. We must also pray. Long ago, God instructed his people to pray and work for peace. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And pray also to become peacemakers.

So let’s pray.

Dear God, we confess that our dependence is on You who sees humanity as the object of his love.

Dear God, we pray that Your kingdom of peace will be established upon the earth as You promised.

Dear God, we pray that Your will prevail on earth as it is in heaven.

Dear God, we pray that the hope of doing good by young men and women will not give way to despair.

Dear God, we pray that the loved ones of fighters would be able to lay their anxieties at the feet of the Prince of Peace.

Dear God, we pray that those who enlist to achieve dreams of goodness in the world, would have their dreams come true.

Dear God, we pray that those who give up their lives in the fight for freedom and against oppression would be convinced that greater good occurs when we engage the enemies of goodness and justice rather than when we are indifferent to the plight of humanity.

Dear God, we pray that we learn war no more as we sit at the feet of the Peacemaker.

Dear God, we pray that the work our soldiers do in the name of justice would not go in vain.

Dear God, we pray that in our brokenness we are relieving the greater brokenness of the world.

Dear God, we pray that American soldiers would fight with dignity and preserve the dignity of others.

Dear God, we pray that the hand of Him who is our Peace would heal the damages and ravages of war on the soul of men and women, children, and parents.

Dear God, we pray that the nations and men of war would cease to roar and wage war.

Dear God, we pray that every opportunity for peacemaking would be thoroughly exhausted and humility prevail.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.