Today I say a prayer of thanks for you—you who are serving in our nation’s military, whether you are stationed stateside or overseas.

For you who are the spouses of those who are serving in our nation’s military. For you who are the parents of a child who serves in our nation’s military. For you who are children of those who serve in our nation’s military.

I also say a prayer of thanks for you who have served and continue to serve in other ways. I say a prayer of thanks for you today because you are so bold and so willing to share the faith that you have in Christ and the hope that you have in heaven, especially in a military culture that is not always friendly to Christianity. You show it, and you share it. And you have this willingness to invite people to come and see the hope that you have in Christ, the sure certainty that you have in heaven and in a resurrection from the dead. I thank God for you and for that willingness and that boldness.

And in my prayers, I thank God for you that you trust that the Word of God is going to do what the Word of God promises it’s going to do. When you share that Word, when you live that faith, you trust that that Word of God is going to plant a seed of faith in someone’s heart. You trust that Word of God to grow that seed or to preserve that seed of faith in someone’s heart. And so I thank God for you in my prayers for those things.

I’m going to say a prayer of thanks for you today, and I’m unashamedly going to use a prayer that was written by another Paul, the apostle Paul. And why not use this prayer? It’s been used by the Christian church for millennia, and it invokes the will of God.

This is Paul’s prayer from his letter to the Colossians in chapter 1: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace” (Colossians 1:3-6).

Prayer:
Dear Father, continue to cause that gospel message to bear fruit and to grow all over the world as our warfighters and their families scatter its seed into the hearts of their family members, their friends, and neighbors. Father, I also thank you for our U.S. Army, which celebrates its 249th birthday today. Raise up faithful men and women to lead and plan and execute the mission of the U.S. Army. Keep our soldiers faithful to their creed, to be disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in their warrior tasks and drills. Keep them ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America so that we may always remain free and live in peace, and so that we, your people, may advance the mission of your Church. In your Son’s name, I pray. Amen.