I just put this up on Facebook…

I just put this up on Facebook. If you like it you might want to copy and paste it onto your FB page if you have one. What God did in response to prayer is quite remarkable… Enjoy the read and be encouraged 🙂

PRAYER, NEWCASTLE UNITED, O.F.T. & CORONAVIRUS AND A REMARKABLE STORY FROM OUR HISTORY (a 5 minute read but it could help….)

Sometime in the 1980’s a disgruntled Newcastle United Fan complained to the Office of Fair Trading. His complaint was that he had paid a lot of money for a Season Ticket to watch Newcastle play football – and they definitely weren’t playing football.
Sir Gordon Borrie who was in charge of the OFT wrote back to say that they were completely unable to provide an answer to the problem. The only thing he could suggest, he wrote, was to “try prayer”. So there you have it. When there is no other answer to an insoluble problem there is one avenue left to try. Who knows?

It doesn’t look like we’re going to get out of the coronavirus mess in this country any time soon. The goalposts constantly move. Even today Ministers and Sage scientists are saying that the vaccine is not the complete answer they said it would be, and are hinting at restrictions lasting till late summer; because although the vaccine will prevent serious illness and death, some people will still get the disease. There have already been statements made about the possible need for restrictions again next winter. An insoluble problem. But there is one avenue left….

In May 1940 this nation was fighting for freedom and survival. Our army, a third of a million men were in retreat in France, hotly pursued by the German army and Luftwaffe. Churchill was preparing to tell the nation that our army had been annihilated. Our King called a national day of prayer and millions of people responded by queuing at Churches, Cathedrals and Synagogues to ask God to intervene. It is my guess that many of those millions were not people who ‘went to church’ but they were desperate to see an answer. What happened was remarkable. For some reason that even now Historians are unable to explain, Hitler called a halt to his armies advance, allowing the British Army to reach the French coast un-hindered. Then a great storm blew up meaning that the Luftwaffe could no longer fly. Then suddenly on the third day there was an unusually calm English Channel which allowed an armada of 800 boats, some of which were tiny, to run back and forth ferrying over 335,000 soldiers back to safety in the UK. There had been one avenue left….

In the course of the war, which lasted nearly 5 years, the King called 6 more national days of prayer, and each time our circumstances changed remarkably. Insoluble situations were resolved in an instant…..

In August 1940 a national day of prayer called a week before the Battle of Britain. The result? Our small, unprepared and outnumbered airforce shot down 180 Nazi bombers and won the day.

In Sept 1940 another day was called as the Germans renewed their attack sending 5 Fighter planes to escort each Bomber. Against all odds, 185 Nazi planes were shot down – our Air Chief Marshall had considered victory impossible.

In March 1941 another day was called, just as Hitler was planning to invade Britain. A sub-marine earthquake in the North Atlantic caused massive waves and terrific winds which ruined the fleet of assembled invasion barges at Bremen. That same week 3 other remarkable events occurred – Ethiopia was liberated from the Axis enemy forces, Yugoslavia which had surrendered to Hitler changed its mind and organised resistance and the British Navy won a major sea battle against Italy with no damage and no loss of life.

In Sept 1942 another day of national prayer was called. The next day at Palermo the whole Italian Fleet was destroyed, and 4 weeks later Montgomery defeated Rommel in the North African desert, saving Egypt and part of the Middle East.

In Sept 1943, a 6th day of national prayer was called. At the end of that same day, Italy surrendered.

The final day of prayer was called by the King in spring 1944 just before we launched the D Day landings. The landings had been put off several times because of the violent weather. Following the day of prayer, the next day, there was a sudden calm and we were able to start the D Day landings.

SO WHAT’S MY POINT? Many many of those millions who queued to go into churches on these seven remarkable occasions probably had never been near a church except for the formal “hatch, match and despatch” occasions and perhaps Christmas too. Many probably were not used to praying at all. No different from today. For many it would have been a quick “O God, please get us out of this”. For some perhaps it was “O God, if you are real, please get us out of this”. It was the one avenue left to try…..

The Queen has not called a day of prayer, and that’s fine, but I think we are in a similar situation to that of the 1940’s. We face a problem which we can not solve, which shows no sign of ending, which is overwhelming us as a nation and is ruining lives. It’s time to stop. I would suggest it’s time to try prayer. At the moment a number of churches in the North have set themselves to pray between now and the end of the month. Something has to give and there is no sign of any relief on the horizon any time soon.

Even if you have no established belief, or have never thought about it, perhaps at some point between now and the end of the month you could join in. For you, it might just be a one liner “God, please get us out of this”, or even “God, if you are real, please get us out of this”. It might feel like an odd thing for you to do, but History is on your side.🙂