The Greatest Generation

They crafted an ambitious plan. An invasion to be remembered 74 years later. To send troops across the English Channel by boat and plane to invade Nazi troops in France. On June 5th General Dwight Eisenhower, who commanded the Allied Forces, gave the thumbs up to start the invasion. Boat motors revved, plane propellers twirled and troops boarded. Thousands of troops. Some just boys. They had marching orders. Confront evil and defeat it.

6,000 landing crafts and ships raced toward the enemy carrying 176,000 troops. On top of that hundreds pf planes dropped off some 18,000 parachuters into the night with another 3,000 aircraft providing air assault. It was the largest amphibious invasion ever.

 I think about those men boarding the boats and slipping on parachutes before loading into planes knowing they were headed right into danger and hostility. They also understood the stakes. Freedom.  Bullies like Adolph Hitler had to be confronted. So bravely they embraced their duty knowing some would never return again.

The ride over the channel must have been long and short at the same time. Long in length of time to reflect, to pray, to prepare mentally for what lay ahead. Short in that the ramps lowered all too soon to storm the beaches of Normandy. Surrounded by buzzing bullets and bomb shells those ramps lowered. Some only made a few steps before getting wounded or killed. Those storming Omaha Beach got the worst of it. 2,000 soldiers died on that beach June 6, 1944. Before the day ended around 9,000 Allied soldiers died in the cause of freedom.

Some 18,000 brave soldiers jumped out of the safety of their planes to parachute into hostile territory.  Floating down must have been both peaceful and terrifying at the same time. Peaceful in the slow drifting descent downward. Terrifying in seeing the gunfire and skirmishes below. Some were shot and killed before ever hitting the ground. Those brave soldiers jumped to their death. Still they jumped.

The waters off the coast of Normandy turned red with blood that day. Lives were lost. Limbs were severed. Gruesome injuries occurred from enemy gun fire and mortar shells. In the middle of that chaos and carnage brave soldiers pushed forward. At great sacrifice they refused to retreat even when comrades fell all around them. They had a mission. A cause to fight for greater than themselves. A duty to fulfill.

Historians often refer to these soldiers as the Greatest Generation. June 6, 1944 is a day that should never be forgotten. I'm humbled that my grandfather fought in that war so that I could enjoy my freedom. To sit in this office and write this came at a price. I am not censured. Later tonight I will enjoy worship and teach God's words to a small band of believers. We will gather without fear of being discovered. Just the opposite. We advertise openly that we will gather for study of the word of God without fear of harm. I enjoy this freedom because my Papaw and many others like him fought. They invaded. The confronted evil.

I cannot fully comprehend the sufferings and sacrifices made during WWII. They stood bravely and today we enjoy freedom. Saying, "Thank you!" is not enough.

It has me wondering. What if God's people got seriously minded and decided to invade enemy territory to take it back? What if the church grew tired of religious gatherings and hungered for kingdom impact in their communities? What if the church prayed, planned and executed a God ordained invasion of darkness?

Where would it start? In the prayer closet. With millions of believers interceding. Dropping prayer missiles on strategic targets in the kingdom of darkness. Prayer bombs breaking up bunkers, softening enemy strongholds and weakening hostile defenses.

Next, would come an invasion. An intentional invasion of gospel saturated and Holy Ghost anointed men, women and students invading dark places to speak the name of Jesus boldly. To walk the streets, to share the gospel, to minister to physical needs as well as spiritual needs. to intentionally uproot and move to areas where Jesus is needed. If the people of God would adopt the same mentality as the disciples in Acts 4 soeaking the name of Jesus boldly how would God honor and bless those efforts?

What if the church really turned their gaze outside the walls to identify real needs in the community? What if they gathered resources to meet those needs? What if the followers of Jesus gave their money and time to serve? What would God do? What kind of transformation would take place?

If we in this generation were part of a spiritual D Day would historians remember us as a generation that God used to turn the morale tide of a society like He did with John and Charles Wesley? Could our lives have a similar impact as that of William and Catherine Booth who founded the Salvation Army? Might God be pleased to bless the prayer labors of some today as He did with Evan Roberts for the nation of Wales in the early 1900's? Might God once again use His servants to invade the darkness like He has used Jim and Carrol Cymbala in Brooklyn, New York?

We need another Great Generation. Only this time we need spiritually great people to be unfettered to fear in the face of our evil and wicked times. I recently saw a survey where 65% of the population will never darken the doors of our religious buildings under any circumstances. If those will not come to us we are commanded to go to them. May God raise a spiritual D Day all over the land with resolved and anointed people sent on mission for Him.

Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
19  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Mark 16:15 (NKJV)
15  And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Acts 1:8 (NKJV) 

8  But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."