By Craig Finley
The Battle of Normandy was described thus by Adolf Hitler: “In the East, the vastness of space will... permit a loss of territory... without suffering a mortal blow to Germany’s chance for survival. Not so in the West! If the enemy here succeeds… consequences of staggering proportions will follow within a short time.”
“May 1944 had been chosen at the conference in Washington in May 1943 as the time for the invasion. Difficulties in assembling landing craft forced a postponement until June, but June 5 was fixed as the unalterable date by Eisenhower on May 17. As the day approached and troops began to embark for the crossing, bad weather set in, threatening dangerous landing conditions. After tense debate, Eisenhower and his subordinates decided on a 24-hour delay, requiring the recall of some ships already at sea. Eventually, on the morning of June 5, Eisenhower, assured by chief meteorologist James Martin Stagg of a break in the weather, announced, “O.K. We'll go.” Within hours an armada of 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vessels—escorts and bombardment ships—began to leave English ports. That night 822 aircraft, carrying parachutists or towing gliders, roared overhead to the Normandy landing zones. They were a fraction of the air armada of 13,000 aircraft that would support D-Day”
Churchill feared that it might cost the allies 20,000 lives just to gain that beach at Normandy. But the risk was taken, and, as Hitler had suggested – consequences of staggering proportions were realized.
There are times when faith requires a risk and the cost will be great. Not only that, but there are times when the risk of inaction is greater. The cost of staying still, remaining comfortable will mean eventual defeat spiritually.
We have recently been called to step out in faith regarding prayer. This is something that makes the enemy of our souls tremble as Hitler did in speculating about the Allies. Pastor Wayne has been stirred to gather together some “prayer warriors” and to rally our church to be a praying church.
This is all perfectly agreeable, but why do we (the church) have such a hard time getting to the “prayer meeting”? Those who’ve tried to rally such a thing know the difficulty of attempting it. It’s not that it’s physically or logistically difficult. But the lack of a thriving, ongoing largely attended prayer meeting attests to it’s difficulty. The difficulty then is in the spiritual realm, the spiritual battle and the cost to the fleshly life that it entails. The flesh doesn’t like prayer meetings. But the difficulty is deeper than that. It’s not only our carnality that we’ve got to fight against. There is a larger war going on that we engage.
More than anyone, the devil hates prayer meetings. And he, like Hitler knows that if the church “here succeeds, consequences of staggering proportions will follow within a short time.”
