Again, there was another Day of Prayer called on Sunday 8th September, during the Battle of Britain. This was, as Im sure you know, the decisive battle for us in Britain. Again, defeat appeared to be inevitable we were hopelessly outnumbered. Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to destroy the Royal Air Force in order to gain air supremacy as a prelude to launching Operation Sea Lion, his planned invasion of the British mainland.
By July 1940, the Luftwaffe had closed the English Channel to merchant shipping. In August, an operation was launched against RAF airfields in southern England. By the first week of September, they had turned towards the strategic bombing of cities. The attacks began on 7 September 1940 and reached their daylight climax on 15 September.
On Sunday, 15 September 1940, the Luftwaffe launched its largest and most concentrated attack against London in the hope of drawing out the RAF into a battle of annihilation. Around 1,500 aircraft took part in the air battles, which lasted until dusk. All fighters were airborne and the situation appeared utterly hopeless, Churchill asked "What other reserves do we have?" The reply was none. I know for a fact that he personally telephoned the Christian Science armed forces minister to let him know that the situation was desperate and to please pray.
As an aside, I was thrilled a few years ago, when a friend gave me a small leaflet with words and music on it, titled, The Airmens Song of Praise. 3d (thats 3 old pennies for you young ones) It was a hymn from our hymnal and the author, Violet Hay had given it to the chaplain of the RAF, who had had it printed as a leaflet. Knowing how often I had prayed with it during my flying days I just felt so grateful that those young men had such a beautiful and powerful prayer to take with them to the skies.
This is the third verse and the link to the whole hymn is below. (Mind, or divine Mind, is a synonym for God)
I climb, with joy, the heights of Mind,
To soar oer time and space;
I yet shall know as I am known
And see Thee face to face.
Till time and space and fear are naught
My quest shall never cease,
Thy presence ever goes with me
And Thou dost give me peace.
Back to Sunday, 15 September 1940, during the Battle of Britain, when again, most of the UK (and certainly everyone near London) was praying.
After wave after wave of Luftwaffe formations had swept in, suddenly, the enemy planes started to turn around and head home. The weather again had played a part - a large cloud base had obscured London and they had failed to inflict severe damage on the city. That was the end of daytime raids (though night bombing carried on for several more months) and more importantly, that was the end of Hitlers plans to invade the UK.
Theres a bit more historical info here: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/24725/12931-Battle-of-Britain.pdf
And finally (for today) I was looking at some of the many experiences pilots have had when death seemed inevitable, but prayer made all the difference.
This pilot had a complete flame-out he lost all power. He kept trying to start his engines to no avail, while all the time he was losing height. He wrote:
All of this time I could hear excited chatter over my radio: emergency calls going out and a nearby base being alerted to stand by with rescue equipment. Well, this wasn't helping my thinking any; so I turned off the radio and forced myself to sit back and earnestly pray. I became conscious of the nearness of God to man the nearness that comes because of man's spiritual relationship to God. In other words, I knew that the real man is the expression of infinite Spirit and is therefore spiritual and can never be separated from God's loving care .
I tried to start the engine the third time, and this time it responded. I got almost full power and climbed to 30,000 feet. I flew back to the air station and made a safe landing.
The maintenance men found that through an oversight one of the two fuel boost pumps had not been hooked up and that the other pump had burned out while I was flying. They said that under these conditions it might be possible to get the engine re-lighted, but it seemed pretty unlikely I would have gotten back as much as 95% power and that I was able to climb to 30,000 feet. There was a general feeling in the squadron that something extraordinary had happened. [url]Confidence in God Brings Assurance in Emergencies" [/url]
And here are three other really inspirational experiences:
[url]"As a Navy aviator during the Second World War,..." [/url]
[url]"During the Second World War, I was a United States Navy pilot..." [/url]
[url]"The understanding that man lives in..." [/url]
A thought for today:
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in your faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, your whole life and outlook may be radiant with hope" (Rom. 15:13, J.B. Phillips NT).
Love and peace,
Judy
But its not only with protection when faced by the threat of enemy invasion, that prayer makes a huge difference. I started a thread on Weather, here on HP, a few years ago, sharing many of my experiences flying, when severe weather was forecast, as well as facing up to thunderstorms, knowing that God, good is in control of the weather and watching in awe as the blue-black clouds (with thunder and lightning) turned to grey, then white, then just dissipated.
http://www.healthypages.com/community/threads/weather.5142/#post-715993
A few years ago, I was helping supervise a church youth holiday in Cardiff. We hired a couple of yachts moored in Cardiff Bay tidal harbour. My cousin Peter was the skipper of one of the yachts and he forgot to take the keys with him one day, with the result that by the time we had found a dispatch rider to rush them down and everyone got into the boat, they were too late for the tide. (You have to get in and out during high tide.) It was already below the level that they could sail out and receding quickly.
Everyone stood on the deck and prayed, knowing that omnipotent Mind, God, was in control. The sea, which had been going out, turned and started to come back up again until they were able to sail out. Peter said it was amazing watching the sea level rise against the dock when it was supposed to be going down and he wouldnt have believed it had he not experienced it himself.
Heres something that happened in response to the prayer of Mary Baker Eddy (the founder of the Christian Science church.)
There had been no rain in the Concord area throughout November. The farmer who delivered Pleasant Views milk told the cook that his well was empty and his cows were beginning to go dry. When Mrs Eddy was told about this, she smiled and said, Oh! If he only knew, Love fills that well. The next day when the farmer came, he was overjoyed to tell the cook that that morning he had found his well full of water. And what was amazing to him was that there had been no rain to fill it.
(From Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer p 157)
But its not only with protection when faced by the threat of enemy invasion, that prayer makes a huge difference. I started a thread on <a class="go2wpf-bbcode" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="Weather">Weather, here on HP, a few years ago, sharing many of my experiences flying, when severe weather was forecast, as well as facing up to thunderstorms, knowing that God, good is in control of the weather and watching in awe as the blue-black clouds (with thunder and lightning) turned to grey, then white, then just dissipated.
A few years ago, I was helping supervise a church youth holiday in Cardiff. We hired a couple of yachts moored in Cardiff Bay tidal harbour. My cousin Peter was the skipper of one of the yachts and he forgot to take the keys with him one day, with the result that by the time we had found a dispatch rider to rush them down and everyone got into the boat, they were too late for the tide. (You have to get in and out during high tide.) It was already below the level that they could sail out and receding quickly.
Everyone stood on the deck and prayed, knowing that omnipotent Mind, God, was in control. The sea, which had been going out, turned and started to come back up again until they were able to sail out. Peter said it was amazing watching the sea level rise against the dock when it was supposed to be going down and he wouldnt have believed it had he not experienced it himself.
Heres something that happened in response to the prayer of Mary Baker Eddy (the founder of the Christian Science church.)
There had been no rain in the Concord area throughout November. The farmer who delivered Pleasant Views milk told the cook that his well was empty and his cows were beginning to go dry. When Mrs Eddy was told about this, she smiled and said, Oh! If he only knew, Love fills that well. The next day when the farmer came, he was overjoyed to tell the cook that that morning he had found his well full of water. And what was amazing to him was that there had been no rain to fill it.
(From Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer p 157)