WEEK 5 - MARGINALIZED PEOPLE
The prayer spotlight falls this week on people who are often overlooked or even mistreated. Pray that the Lord will make us His vessels of love, hope, and justice. Pray for those among our Alliance family who do the important work of chaplaincy—bringing the message of Jesus to people in their most challenging times, when they need to hear that message the most and may well be most responsive to it.
DAY THIRTY-FOUR // PRAY FOR OUR MILITARY FAMILIES BY CHAPLAIN (COLONEL) KEVIN PIES
We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- 1 Chron. 29:15
Sojourning is not always fun and certainly not easy. As creatures of habit desiring established continuity, military service members and families lack opportunities to plant roots. An overlooked people group, military families nomadically sojourn by following their soldier, airmen, sailor, or marine to many global installations. Uprooted, they also make sacrifices in supporting those who defend and protect our freedoms.
In the pandemic summer of 2020 alone, more than 30,000 families were reassigned and required to move again. On average, military families will move at least eight times throughout their military service. This brings a disjointedness and the need to make new friends, enroll in new schools, seek spousal employment, and basically start all over again.
Many families are also challenged to find new places of worship. Civilian churches are often unaware of the complex needs that sojourning and serving brings. Therefore, military families do their best to fit in and enjoy a semblance of the next faith community. Throughout this process, many learn to rely on the one constant in their journey—faith in our unchanging God who reminds us that this world is not our ultimate home.
PRAYER POINTS:
1. Pray that while living a life on the go, military families are reminded that only our Lord Jesus is a constant guide.
2. Pray that they will experience continuity in their spiritual formation as they transition to new communities of faith.
3. Pray for the chaplains who come alongside our military families to announce the continuous good news of Jesus and the need to set their minds “on things above, not on earthly things” (Col. 3:2).