Pray for Our Nation March 31, 2012 –  Military – Servant

Having just moved into his new office, a just promoted colonel was sitting at his desk when a PFC knocked on the door.  Conscious of his new position, the colonel quickly picked up the phone, told the PFC to enter, then said into the phone, “Yes, General, I’ll be seeing him this afternoon and I’ll pass along your message. In the meantime, thank you for your good wishes, sir.”

Feeling as though he had sufficiently impressed the young enlisted man, he asked, “What do you want?”  “Nothing important, sir,” the PFC replied, “I’m just here to hook up your telephone.”

Many in this nation including national leaders have grown proud and full of themselves.  In their quest for power they have failed to realize life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are grounded in the spirit of our creator and not secular progressive humanism.

So, you and I, we the PFC’s of faith, stand in this vacant gap together, just as our founding fathers did, when they grappled in the darkness of humanity unable to overcome the division that separated a fledgling nation.  It was only when they opened their spirits to the words of truth that flow from that higher authority and established communication with the spirit from which every right originates that this nation became a light of freedom on a mountain top the whole world recognized.

We gather here my friends in prayer at a most serious and grave moment in the history of our nation.  The spirit and forces of division seek to destroy this one nation under god, indivisible, with life liberty and justice for all.

We stand here together looking into the mirror of truth.  Knowing we must turn again to prayer to begin the journey to save our nation from itself.

Let us begin in prayer by listening to the words of Kristi Hofman, wife of a soldier and mother of four young children.  United together they served through deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan

Almighty God, Lord of Hosts, we call out to you as the One who is sovereign over all.  Watch over and protect our nation’s military members and their families.  Sustain them with your everlasting arms.

Take into your most gracious protection our service members currently deployed. May you be their comfort and their guide as they live and walk in a foreign land.  Give them reassurance that you are a shield around them, an ever-present help in time of need.  Grant our service members courage so that in all things they may serve without reproach.  Encourage them while they also encourage one another.

As they serve around the world, we ask that you guard their families and loved ones back home.  Provide them with peace and surround them with love as they mourn the absence of their loved one and long for their return.  May they find hope and strength in you for the trials of each new day.  Be with military children who endure the difficult burden of knowing their father or mother is in harm’s way for months on end.  Guard these children’s hearts and minds despite the loneliness and uncertainty of having a parent deployed.

Lord God, be with marriages in the military.  Preserve the bonds of husband and wife despite the stress that military life brings, stress only compounded by the decade of war our nation is in.  Help military chaplains in their efforts to equip military marriages with ways to stay connected and communicate effectively despite the challenge of frequent deployments.  Give husbands and wives strength and resilience to endure separations, frequent moves, and all the uncertainty military life brings.

For some, Lord, service takes their toll permanently in physical and emotional damage. For those wounded in battle, we pray you would come beside them.  Sustain and strengthen them amidst treatment, pain, and adjustments to life with an injury.  Help them to find competent care and support, and to not be afraid to reach out for a helping hand or a listening ear.  Be with their caregivers in the demanding role they have.  Give caregivers renewed energy to offer support and love as they tend to the needs of the injured.  Strengthen them as they both monitor and advocate for their loved one.

We know that war is very costly.  Some have made the ultimate sacrifice, laying down their precious lives in service to our nation. Each one of them was a son or daughter, perhaps a husband or wife, father or mother.  For all those who feel the pain and the toll of this war in the loss of their loved one, comfort them.  Be a father to the fatherless and defender of widows.  As they cast their cares on you, may they know the consolation of your love.  We thank you for the freedoms these service members fought for which we enjoy today.

For each and every veteran who has served our country through the years, we thank you for their sacrifice. Comfort those who struggle in life after war.  Help us to honor and care for those who have given so much for us.

Be with our nation’s leaders as well, and all those who make decisions for our military.  Give them wisdom and discernment in everything they do.

Father God, we long for the day when swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.  We long for your peace, for your shalom.

In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

The policy of the US Government has been discourse the use of the name of Jesus Christ in military prayer services.  Let us ask our selves this question.  Why would our public servants want to remove the name of the only perfect servant who walked the face of the earth?  Could it be our elected officials can not stand the comparison that would show through in the light of truth?  Could it be that throughout history the movement toward socialism and communism can not co-exit with true Freedom of Religion?

Let us pray that the true meaning of the word “Servant” be restored.  Let us pray that this prayer begin with one person present.  Let us pray that word Servant not be usurped by word Ruler!

Let us pray that the people of is a nation and it’s leaders remember we are a people whose rights of life, liberty and freedom come from a higher authority than the any government or any person.  Let us pray that we the people remember our founding fathers turned to God when as they groped in darkness when they attempted to define the guiding principles that created and made this nation great.  Let us pray we remember we a nation founded upon a Christian Judeo Philosophy based upon concept of one almighty God including His Son Jesus Christ.

My Uncle Butch was an Army veteran of WW II.  As a child my mother told me the stories of Uncle Butch.  He drove three tanks and all three were destroyed and in each case his partner lost his life.

Even then Uncle Butch’s willingness to serve was not discouraged.  He promptly volunteered for reconnaissance missions behind Germans lines.  Uncle Butch was awarded three purple hearts and lived to tell his family of the sacrifices made for the Freedom and rights we enjoy.  Uncle Butch had the heart of a servant leader who believed in a merciful and just God.

In 1964 I took the following Oath:  I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  So help me God.

“So help me God” has been a mainstay all of my life.  As a young man I took an oath to defend our constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.  That is why I am here tonight.  We are in a battle against domestic enemies for our most basic freedoms.  We are not the property of the federal government.

In 1995 I was ordained a Roman Catholic Deacon in Atlanta by the Archbishop of Atlanta.  A deacon in the roman catholic church tradition is defined in the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 6.  Seven men were selected to serve at table – called to be servants.  Yet the first real story we hear of one of these deacon is that of Stephen.  Stephen was found preaching in the streets with authority for which the people expelled him form the city and stoned him to death.     I stand before you this day following the example set by Stephen.  Will I be persecuted for my faith and conscientious?

Does anyone know what the word catholic means?   It is word that means universal.  The current federal administrations desire to remain in power should have been clearly reveled for us all to see in 2012 — all Christians are catholic.  This American Idol administration has created a false image of a women’s health through contraception used to camouflage the hidden agenda – it’s about power and control obtained not through service but through the division of the people of faith and undermining the peoples right to Freedom of Religious Freedom and right to form ones conscientious!

Let us pray we can discern the truth.  Let us pray we will answer the call to serve in whatever capacity the Lord has created to walk the face of the earth!  Let us pray we have the courage of Stephen to speak the word of truth even if it should place our life in jeopardy.  So help me God!