Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels. The angels were around the throne, the four living beings, and the elders. There were thousands and thousands of angels—10,000 times 10,000. – Revelation 5:11
Given current American culture wars and our recent history of visits to the Middle East due in part to 9/11, Americans should pray that her next war if inevitable occur within the next 5-10 years. Although this thesis seems like warmongering it is more accurately a desperate and timely observation. A key objective of any enemy is to break their opponents will to fight. Even if America were somehow brought into a moderate size war or conflict today our will to fight would be the number one issue.
A moderate war would require a level of recruiting not seen since Vietnam. The reason being? A moderate war carries with it a threat of larger scale war so efforts would be made to over compensate just in case. In effect, we may at that point be looking at reopening the draft and this time to women as well as men. Our only refuge maybe drone warfare but any war strategist can tell you that wars are won by boots on the ground, period! Drones or not, we are moving toward a point of desperation regarding readiness of our forces.
Forget recent cut backs in troops size, or the lack of financial incentives to retain young soldiers, or the lack of raises beyond the mandatory 1% yearly, or the aging equipment of our Air Force in particular, simply consider today’s fighting age person (commonly thought to be 18-25 years of age) and you will quickly realize we are in serious trouble.
Hence the prayer. Without revival which is a much more noble prayer to pray in this regard, in 5-10 years multiply serious trouble by 5-10 and what do you have? An open draft! Furthermore, given our lack of birthrate and our dependency on creature comforts, American civilians would be hard pressed to agree with Congress that we need to go to war. Then what?
The way I see it, we have three choices:
- Pray for America to be brought into war sooner than later.
- Do nothing and watch America implode.
- Pray for revival and the hasty return of Christ.
A fourth one would be to re-establish a since of Patriotism within our borders that is currently rarely seen outside those who served and are serving this great country but that one is too far-fetched. We as a country and a society are so far detached from who and what our military are and do that even if we could make it past the surrender of our creature comforts and honor and support our Soldiers, Marines, and Airmen it maybe too little too late.
Now, some reading this may think I am being a “negative Nancy”, and that may very well be but I challenge any reader to prove my hunch (read as Thesis or first sentence) wrong. And just to drive my point home even further, consider for a moment the fact that once U.S. forces pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan by declaring the wars over, numerous universities that educate our fighting age men and women opened their doors to veterans for the first time since the 1960’s. Today we have more veterans attending Ivy League schools than ever before in our history. Now, imagine what would happen when the next POTUS declares war, or we as a country are asked to join others in war, or Congress declares war for some unforeseeable reason. Exactly! It would be the 1960’s times 10 and whatever comes after “serious trouble” would be where we would find ourselves.
The silver lining is God! With us these things may seem impossible but with God all things are possible. We sometimes forget that all things are moving toward His will. So regardless if we pray or not, have revival or not, or Jesus is delayed in His return, we are His workmanship created in His image and we need not be afraid but it would be a good idea to be more prepared. Thus the prayer! Not only are we moving as a nation to a point of desperation but we are also and simultaneously at our core incredibly strong.
Now imagine if we were somehow brought into war in say the next 1-10 years. With the current number of Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines; we have more war-time experience in our ranks due to 15 years of a two front war than ever in our history. So, we have the exact people in place needed to train those who would be brought in to fight our nation’s wars, instill a greater since of Patriotism, and win. We could go pick a fight to generate these outcomes, which would make American Contractors and ½ our politicians happy. Or we could reframe our prayer. For example we could do what the scriptures tell us to do, specifically:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14
But, that also maybe too far-fetched. Not only does re-establishing Patriotism seem unfathomable, so does hearing from God in heaven, forgiving us and healing our land. It appears our will to fight is already broken and our will to pray to our God the creator fragmented.
I for one think that God is greater than our hopelessness, our enemies, and our meager attempts to solve the world’s problems. Now imagine an aging group of God fearing, Faithful followers, which are prayer warriors lifting up today’s young people in prayer. What do you have? You have an incredibly strong core of spiritual warriors that get it and a God that is faithful and just! They know that “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world” and even though the enemy “prowls around like a lion seeking whom he may devour” that Jesus has already won the war of wars.
I will take a little flock of faithful followers of Jesus Christ who know how to fight and win God’s battles that are made up of both Soldiers and Civilians over a large motley crew that has no clue any day of the week. Do you remember the opening verse of this entry? Revelation 5:11, that is one of the many reasons why. Let’s start with a since of Godliness and by fighting with knees on the ground and if war happens then we will be ready.
Even if today’s times seem hopeless, and bleak, God is not surprised nor helpless. If we make God our refuge, our goal, and our audience we will not fail. As Americans this may be a tough thing to ask, but nationalism is NOT our savior. Jesus is! As Christians this makes perfect sense because prayer is in part warfare. Those who pray, have a will to fight the most important of battles, the spiritual ones. As Abraham Lincoln so wisely observed: “The question is not, Is God on our side? It is, whose side are you on?”
