United Prayer



This abandoned church sits on a dusty county road. My ancestors were church members. Each Sunday, they’d hitch up their wagon, bundle up with blankets in the wintertime, and spend the morning in prayer, listen to a sermon, share a meal, and then head back home before the livestock needed tending.


As I’ve been seeing all the prayer requests for Ukraine—I’ve thought about this old church and my ancestors who were such prayer warriors—for their new homeland, for their family, and for one another. Life wasn’t easy, but they had freedom.

 

This week Dr. Jim Denison shared how prayer changed the course of World War II. The King of England called the people to pray together seven different times.

 

Here’s what happened:

 


The first National Day of Prayer was called on March 27, 1940 when 350,000 British soldiers were trapped at Dunkirk. In the week following, the English Channel was incredibly calm, allowing thousands of private boats and yachts to cross over to Dunkirk and help rescue 338,000 of the men. History records this as “the miracle of Dunkirk”. 


The second and third calls to prayer were in response to relentless Nazi air attacks. Afterwards, a small contingent of British Spitfires and Hurricanes amazingly shot down 180 Nazi bombers over Southeast England.

 


During the fourth National Day of Prayer, Britain was bracing for Hitler’s invasion. Call this another miracle, but a great earthquake caused mighty waves and gale force winds that blew Nazi ships eighty miles off course.

 

On the day after the fifth National Day of Prayer, the entire Italian fleet was sunk.

 

On the anniversary of the fourth year of the war, September 3, 1943, a sixth National Day of Prayer was called. That night, Italy surrendered to the allies and Mussolini, the Italian dictator, was murdered.

 

The final National Day of Prayer was in 1944 just prior to D-Day. The terrible weather improved just enough for the great invasion to proceed. Even U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower admitted, “If there was nothing else in my life to prove the existence of an Almighty and Merciful God, the events of the next twenty-four hours did it.”

 

Perhaps in this new century we aren’t as religious or as prayerful as we once were. But God still waits to hear our prayers. Evil is at work, let’s have united prayers and ask God to do some miracles for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.



Lord, you have heard what the poor people want.
    Do what they ask, and listen to them.
18 Protect the orphans and put an end to suffering
    so they will no longer be afraid of evil people. Psalm 10:17-18


Photo Credits: Duncan Kidd (Dunkirk), John Adams (Spitfire) Max Kukurudziak (Ukrainian flag).

Popular posts from this blog

Counting the Cost

Image
Something big is missing in this photo. Let me explain. Here in my hometown, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe prepared a parcel of land for a new hotel. Plenty of planning and architectural designs were evaluated. A gemstone of a hotel would be built across from the waterfront—a beautiful, restful place welcoming travelers. A true four-star facility.   They cleared the aging brick structures that had been fading away between Front Street and Railroad Avenue. Then the pandemic hit, shortages of labor and supplies, add in the costly inflation that followed. Everything stopped.   But this is what I admire about the Elwha Tribe: they have counted the cost. They didn’t want to move forward and take on tremendous debt. They would rather move slowly and be financially ready, rather than begin building and then letting it sit unfinished.   Counting the cost is something I should have done earlier in life when I didn’t know what high interest rates would do to our farming cost...
Read more

Summertime Music

Image
During the summer months, in an outside seating area, a delightfully painted piano sits with a sign that says, “Play me”.   It was just before 8 pm as I walked past the piano. My bus would be arriving soon, and I still have another ten minutes to walk before reaching my bus stop. But no one is around. It’s a beautiful warm evening. I pulled out the piano bench and sat down. The sun was behind me, and the piano keys reflected its glow. I had no music in front of me, only the songs within me. Notes drifted into the air.  In those brief moments, the magic of music and summer came together. Isn’t that how it is? Summertime music has a way of lingering in our minds and lasting a lifetime. As I stood and grabbed my things, I heard distant clapping—I guess I wasn’t alone, after all.
Read more

Planting Good Seeds

Image
Harvest will always depend on what we plant and how well we care for our crop.    Looking over my seed packets, I notice they’re different than the ones I planted before. One package is called Word seeds. The directions say that each of my words is a seed, so it cautions me to think before I speak. Harsh words don’t produce sweet, nourishing fruit. These seeds will require thoughtful care in the garden. I see some Volunteer seeds. Those extra hours I tend to fritter away are going to be planted in a useful project.   It looks like time isn’t wasted in this garden plot. Next are some Love seeds—the directions are interesting: get up each day and love others. No specifics are given—just do something for someone every day. The seed package shows pictures of smiling faces. I smile back. As I’m ready to head to the garden with my seeds, a package falls to the ground. I open it. Inside are the tiniest seeds I’ve ever seen—but the directions s...
Read more