Memorial Day Prayer May 27, 2024

Triumphant God Of Heavens’ Armies,

O God, you are our God; earnestly we seek you; our soul thirsts for You; our flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1). Gladden the soul of Your servants, for to You, O Lord, do we lift up our souls (Psalm 86:4).

Almighty Lord, with confidence we draw near to the throne of grace on this somber day of reflection to remember and honor the dead of our wars. We thank You for their valor and their sacrifices. We remember they gave their lives so that others might live. We pray that no other heroes will be added to the distinguished roles of our honored dead.

Since 1950, by a joint resolution of Congress, a proclamation has been issued calling upon Americans to observe Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and also as a time when Americans unite in prayer. We thank You for putting it within the hearts of the Congressional servants of May 1950 to do this. May it ever stand in honor of our dead, and to Your glory.

Today we commemorate the brave Americans who paid the highest price for their commitment to the ideals of peace, freedom, and justice. Our debt to them can be paid only by our own recommitment to preserving those same ideals. But our recommitment cannot be for ourselves alone. It must also be for our children, for their children, and for the generations yet to come. Peace, freedom, and justice are not things that were won for us one-hundred sixty years ago or seventy-five years ago; they must be won again and again by each successive generation.

And so, we pray for peace—permanent peace. Help us remember those who gave so much for peace that the ideals of the West may survive.

Father, it only seems right and fitting that as we pray for permanent peace that we ask You to put a stop to those who are preventing it. In the Name of our Prince of Peace, providentially intervene to remove the greed that permeates the hollowness of Democrats and RINOs who sit in Congress and various DC offices—puffed up, fat, thick, plotting how to get another dollar in their pockets from weapons manufacturers. Only because of the honored dead, interred not only in Arlington, but throughout the United States and Europe, and some still missing in sweaty Vietnam jungles, only because of these heroes can the DC grifters sit in air-conditioned Congressional chambers and DC offices. Yet, they have the audacity to lie to the public, deceive the enlisted, their parents, their spouses, plot, plan, and connive to gain a few dollars from another endless war. Lord, we pray for these people. We ask You to deliver them from the evil one.

Father, on this day, as we remember and honor our fallen, help us resist becoming enraged at those who have, and are, allowing these wars. Comfort and console the hearts of Americans who cannot understand this unbelievable evil. Show us how to pray for the grifters who have been in Satan’s grasp for so long. The sacrificial service to our nation by the honored dead stands diametrically opposed to the self-service of our nation’s so-called ruling elite—yet another manifestation of the age old battle of good versus evil.

“So we look upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory” (Psalm 63:2). And ask You to keep our eyes and hearts turned toward You so that frustration and disgust of the ruling elite do not overshadow this day’s sacred purpose of honoring our remarkable patriots.

On this Memorial Day, Lord God, we humbly honor these remarkable patriots and firmly renew our commitment to uphold the principles for which they laid down their lives. We are a free people, the only free nation in the history of the world. And our freedom was bought with a price. Freedom must be defended, for even today, we see how easily the corrupt and immoral, those “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12) will try to sweep it away, and how there is no depth of evil to which they will not stoop to steal our freedom.

Therefore, help up to maintain our sacred duty to remember the courageous warriors who have made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that our great country would endure. Help us to carry out our responsibility to make sure that their noble acts of dedication to our country and the cause of freedom were not in vain and to comfort the families they have left behind, who bear the heartbreak of their loss.

Sovereign Lord, help us from this day forward to make our lives count for something and to use the time we’ve been given in a way that honors the sacrifice of so many who have sacrificed everything for our nation. And what better way, than to triumph over the very same ideological enemies domestically, that they fought against on foreign soil. With Your Providence, and by Your Spirit, we know we can be victorious!

We also ask You, Father, to give all of us who remember and mourn on this day an eternal perspective on these events, along with the faith that these brave men and women are resting in true peace with Jesus Christ.