COMBATANT CHAMPION’S PRAYER
The official PRAYER of the S.C. Military Veterans Hall of Fame

ALMIGHTY GOD – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – the radiantly righteous Light overcoming all darkness, Your Name alone is a Strong Tower, Your mighty arms a place of refuge, Your Light, “a Lamp unto my feet.”

Far beyond what I might deserve, you have equipped me – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – for the fight: For You are, and have always been, my Rock, who “trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.” Though I am but a mortal man (or woman), you have emboldened me with Your spirit when my very flesh, bones, and breath have at times cried out in near-soul-crushing angst and despair. Neither asking nor suggesting, YOU HAVE COMMANDED me “Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble nor be dismayed, for the Lord [You] my God is with me wherever I go.”

Your words, Lord, not mine.

Indeed You have surrounded me with unseen angels, warriors in their own right who have delivered me from my enemy in moments both recognizable and not, both physical and spiritual. As the prophet said to Elisha: “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Remind me always of that truth in my own life now and forevermore. As I pray – as did Elisha – open my eyes, so that I may see “the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around.”

Lord, make me a standard-bearer of encouragement to others, a guidon-bearer of sound reason and direction – whether I be a combatant leader, commander, chief, pathfinder or private soldier. Please ever-stiffen my spine and steel my heart for every fight, present, potential, and fated to come. Thank you for my comrades in arms – some still with us, some no longer – who have mutually shouldered the burden of military service (and life beyond our service) in peace and in war on land, at sea, and in the air.

For together we have found refuge under Your wings and found Your faithfulness to be as “a shield and a buckler.” We will not fear, nor have we ever, feared – as we read in Psalms – “the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day.” Why? Our faith.

Deliver me always from shame, dishonor, irrevocable defeat, dread, and injustice.

Make me selfless and merciful, forgiving my defeated foes and those who have wronged me as You have forgiven me.

Remind me now, Lord, that my being enshrined in this hall of fame, this veritable hall of champions, is but a trust held for and enjoyed by my fellow soldiers, sailors (including Coast Guardsmen), airmen, and Marines without whom I would never find myself in this lofty position of supreme honor and military virtue.

Lord, make me mindful of these things and always remembering my blessed forebears.

Let none of these truths and appeals to You escape me, Lord. I thank You for blessing me and I ask all of these things in Your precious Name.

– Amen.