PRAYING FOR THOSE IN HARM’S WAY

Memorial Day Weekend

1 Samuel 12:21-24

Presidential Prayer Team, Modified

Tomorrow, Memorial Day, is a national holiday set aside to honor American servicemen and women who gave their lives in our country’s defense.

This is not just a day that we get off for being hard workers, or students get off from school just to barbecue or go to the beach.  The freedom we presently enjoy in this land cost many their lives down through our history.

That’s why our national leaders set aside one special day each year for us to show our gratitude.  It’s why groups like the scouts and fraternal organizations march in parades and take part in Memorial Day services. 

In 1971 Congress made the last Monday in May the official national holiday. 

This same weekend, ex-service men sell small artificial poppies to help with the care of disabled veterans.  Veterans are people who used to be soldiers.  They could have fought in World War II, in Korea , in Viet Nam , the 1^st Gulf War, even in Iraq .  How many veterans do we have in our church service today?  Could I ask you to stand please?

So Memorial Day is a day about remembering—not only remembering those who have given their lives for us, but also remembering those who continue to serve.

My message today is about praying for those whose lives are in danger, especially our servicemen and women who are serving their country.  Our text is from 1^st Samuel.  Let me lay out the context.  For many years this great man Samuel was a prophet in Israel .  Quite a busy individual, he also served as a priest and a judge.  Samuel was married and had a family.  Added to that, he sometimes even got himself involved in military situations.  

What I want to do is pick up on Samuel’s story, and a verse in chapter 12 which is about his farewell speech.  The reins of power have now been transferred from Samuel to the young and untested first king of Israel , much against Samuel’s and God’s wishes.  But even though the people were doing something that Samuel did not agree with, he still acknowledged them as children of God. 

As we heard in our scripture reading, Samuel tells them:

“As for me, far be it from me” declared Samuel, “that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.”

So this venerable retiree would not sin against God by depriving the nation of his prayers.  Loyal to the last, he would continue interceding on Israel ’s behalf.  Of all people, Samuel knew how important this was, and to fail to pray and to play his role would be displeasing to God.

On this Memorial Day weekend 2006, I chose Samuel as a mentor from whom I believe all of us can learn, especially at this time when our nation is involved in a new and confusing and dangerous kind of warfare – a war on terrorism.

It’s not my intent to make any comments whatsoever as to how that war should be fought.  My single point is that now, more than ever in most of our lifetimes, our country needs the prayers of those who know the Lord.  We may not all agree with policies, but in this day when our top leaders go out of their way to ask for such support, one might even call it a sin against the Lord not to rally to that request.

And as we all know, there are also thousands upon thousands of military personnel who literally put their lives on the line carrying out their duties.  Many of these men and women also desire our prayers.  If you were in their position, you would no doubt ask to be prayed for, too. 

However, to be present-day Samuels, the problem which most of us need to solve is knowing for whom to pray and what to pray about.  Well praise the Lord, because God has raised up gifted people to take care of these kinds of matters.  Our own Lynnette Frascella works with the Soldier’s Angels ministry.  And one of the other ministries I have come to deeply appreciate is called the Presidential Prayer Team.

That’s not the Presidential Prayer Team meaning just George Bush.  It’s the Presidential Prayer Team that’s been built to support every president, regardless of their political affiliation.

The information and web site is listed in your bulletin so you can reference it later, but would you believe that there are over 3 million active members in this ministry?

Each week specific prayer requests for our President and National Leaders and Armed Forces are detailed in their eNewsletter.  For example, one of their most recent weekly prayer update included the following request:

Pray for the President and national leaders as they gather with leaders of religious groups and ministries from across the nation to observe the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 4. Pray that God will be exalted and glorified, and that all Americans will be inspired to turn to Him in repentance and obedience.

Best of all, you can even go to a link on the site called “Adopt Our Troops” where you can do just that – adopt a member of the military service for targeted prayer.  Because of security reasons, you can’t write to this person, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pray for him or her.

To date there have been well over a million such prayer adoptions!

I look at it this way.  As our troops are stationed worldwide to protect our freedom, so can I faithfully stand by them as I pray for their protection, just like Samuel.  Does that make sense?

Did you know that at this time there are more than 350,000 members of our Armed Forces on active duty around the world?  There are many more, of course, stationed here at home.  As these men and women put their lives on the line, just be reminded again that so many have requested our prayers to surround them. 

I don’t want to fail them.  What about you?

Let me see if I can get you to better picture what it is I’m talking about this Memorial Day Sunday. Take a look at this.

(Play PPT video)

These pictures grab your heart, don’t they?  From the first time I saw this presentation they did mine.  And I’m glad.

And so, if I were to sum up what I want to you remember, it is this:  When those whose lives are in danger ask for our prayers, it would be a sin to fail them.

Hopefully, there’s some of old Samuel’s big heart in all of us, to realize that it would be a sin against God and his people if we didn’t remember and pray for God’s children, saying “Bless your people Lord.  Be merciful to them.  They need you now more than ever.”

Now, the challenge is that over the long haul I really don’t think most of us are going to make it praying consistently for service men and women without a little help and guidance.  Was Samuel busy?  No doubt about it!  But in his day there weren’t all the distractions with which we contend.  He didn’t get a morning paper, or early phone calls, or grab a minute here or there to check his email, or worry about what was happening nationally and around the world as he listened to his radio or TV while he shaved and showered.  There weren’t little leagues, or orthodontists, or karate classes for the kids to be taken to.  Church family programs weren’t fully functioning yet.  You get the idea.

So this Sunday I’m not wanting an emotional high that before long disappears through the cracks of our lives, and when Memorial Day comes around again in 2007 we find ourselves standing at the barbecue grill, feeling guilty.  And that is why we as a nation, but more specifically, as God’s children, need to become involved in ministries such as Soldier’s Angels or the Presidential Prayer Team.  If they tell me what to pray about, that’s easier than me trying to figure it out on my own.  If they provide me the name of a soldier who is asking for prayer, that sure beats me trying to find one on my own.

To know what needs to be done and to fail to do it can be as much a sin as willfully doing what we know we shouldn’t.  It’s very possible that in this day when our nation is obviously struggling, the fervent prayers of God’s people are what can turn the situation around faster than anything else.  The world needs our help!

Lets not be a generation that talks with one another about what’s going on in places like Iraq and Iran and Israel without talking just as often with the Lord about it.

And let us not sin against him or our nation’s past, present and future by failing to remember and to pray for those whose lives even today are in harms way.

So this Memorial Day, between the parades and the barbecues and the beach, take time to remember to pray for those who serve us while in harm’s way, and remember those who have given their lives so that we may live in freedom.