Prayer for Courage

This poem was written as the dedicatory prayer for my senior yearbook in high school. The theme was based on the battle banner's history, its importance, and its relevance for us today. 

During the Colonial Period and the American Civil War, the company banner was one of the most essential elements in battles. During the mayhem and chaos of a charge, with smoke blinding and cannon shocks confounding the senses, a soldier could look up, locate his army's standard, and know whether to charge or retreat. The job of the standard bearer was to lift the flag as high as he could and lead the charge into enemy fire. Both armies knew that if they wanted to disorient the other side during a charge, all they needed to do was kill the standard bearer. This was relatively easy to do because a soldier could not lift the banner while carrying a rifle or ducking the oncoming fire, so taking on the job was an almost certain injury or death sentence. 

There is one historical account of the 26th North Carolina regiment losing fourteen men who bore a single flag during the Battle of Gettysburg. During another battle, one man began carrying the standard into an enemy volley and was shot down. The man behind him, without hesitation, laid down his weapon, bent down, and picked up the standard from the hands of the dying soldier. This man had only taken a few steps before he too was shot down. Another soldier further back saw this and, knowing what was at stake, said a quick prayer and rushed over to pick up the flag, knowing he was about to become a much more valuable target. On and on, soldiers chose death rather than retreat or defeat for their army.

When thinking of this story, I am reminded of the words in Isaiah 59:19, "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." This "standard" that will be lifted up against the enemy's charge is the blood-stained banner of Jesus Christ. He paid the ultimate price for our sins by dying on the cross. But He now calls us to lift that precious truth, that all men may be drawn to Him (John 12:32). 

But, just as the standard bearers were high-priority targets during the Civil War, so do we become high-value targets for the devil when we choose to lift Christ's standard. So the question is, are we willing to count the cost and still choose to stand up and be different? Do we have the courage to "choose poverty, reproach, separation from friends, or any suffering, rather than to defile the soul with sin?" Are we willing to make "Death before dishonor or the transgression of God's law," the motto of our lives? I have not always been willing to do this, so I've written this as a prayer for me to claim every day.  I ask that the Lord gives me strength to stand up when other fall by the wayside, and lift up His standard until the final day.