Prayer for Iraq & Afghanistan

Every morning I receive The Daily Office online from Josh Thomas. If you are looking for a new way to add more prayer to your life I highly recommend this site. Today's topic was the plight of Christians in Iraq - a topic that doesn't receive as much coverage as one might think it would.

Prayer concerning War in Iraq and Afghanistan
by Josh Thomas

Almighty God, we look with grieved distress on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; we watch human beings murdered, decapitated, burned alive. All we can do is think of Jesus and behold your shameful Cross.

Give us the courage to look at your Son’s gentleness on Calvary, Lord. Give us the courage to look.

We beg you to bless our soldiers, granting them every humanitarian victory, saving them from all harm and bringing them home with your fastest godly speed; that they may be swiftly reunited with their loved ones and received with grateful thanks.

We pray humbly, guiltily, earnestly for all the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq; for an end to violence and murder and the restoration of order, prosperity and peace. We pray you to enlighten your servant George, the President of the United States, and all the members of Congress with their advisers, generals and critics, that we may obey your divine demand for justice; and enact, with your beloved peoples of all lands, your lasting peace.

We pray for Israel, O LORD, your Promised Land; for your dear Palestine and all its neighbors; for Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. And yes, dear God, we pray most heartily for these United States.

We raise our hands and hearts to you, O YHWH, and to your Son Jesus Christ, knowing and respecting that other peoples may call you by a different name and discern you in a different light; even as we proclaim your majesty, your sovereignty and your permanent, magisterial blessing, from your holy city Jerusalem to your entire far-flung universe of earthlings, saints and stars:

One true GOD, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.