“Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation” (Psalm 68:18-19).

He hath destroyed the enemy that He may load us with benefits. He led captivity captive. The evil one came and took mankind captive. Jesus Christ came and took the armies of the evil one captive. He took captivity captive. There is no fear to those who look up to Jesus. Once David's wives and the wives of his followers were carried away captive while he was away. When David returned, he prayed to God and rescued the captive women and destroyed the captors. Once enemies carried away all the goods of the king of Sodom and they took Lot, Abraham's nephew, as captive. Abraham went and delivered Lot and brought back all that they had carried away. The king of Sodom was very grateful and offered Abraham much gold but he said, “I have lifted mine hand unto the Lord, I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich.” Jesus Christ came and took captivity captive. Think of Lot, how happy he would have been when he saw his uncle coming to deliver him. When Jesus Christ came He took captivity captive. Our enemies are defeated. There must be a sense of conquest in us. The final conqueror was Abraham—not Lot's captors. Just think of how the wives of David's men would have run to their husbands who freed them. We have not yet realized the victory we have got. We feel we will fall into temptations. Oh we fear so much that we will fall. No! That is wrong. In the last war when Japan surrendered, the Japanese did not break the news of their defeat to their prisoners of war. They were still given only a slice of bread every day as before. But when their planes came and dropped food to them, they got news of the victory.

Captivity is taken captive! The prince of this world who had taken us prisoners is now taken prisoner. A sense of mastery over human nature must be in us. Jesus conquered and so we will conquer too. He will infuse into us the same victory as we look to the Cross—the same spiritual victory. He loaded us with benefits. What are these benefits? Not the things of this world! They are nothing to a spiritual man. They are Christ-likeness, Christ-like nature and Christ-like hope. “But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). That is the triumphant note of Jesus’ message. As a Christian develops in the spirit, the Cross begins to fill his life. The Cross fills his thoughts.

To get any victory, he comes again to the Cross. It was there he first got a broken spirit. Here pride leaves us and the spirit of humility takes hold of us. It begins with the sense of unworthiness. We pray, “Lord, have mercy”—only mercy—only grace—there are no merits in us for a plea. It is at the Cross all our righteousness becomes as filthy rags. These are the benefits we are loaded with. First the sense of unworthiness and then the forgiveness of sins and the sense of victory. “He has overcome and I will overcome,” you should say. Why?—because His nature has come into us. We are made spiritual men to exercise God’s power. The Jews ate bitter herbs with unleavened bread; you will eat bitter herbs but they will not make your life bitter. They ate bitter herbs, but that very night they marched out of Egypt and their bitter bondage ended. Your sorrow at the thought of your sin may be very bitter. You may even come near despair. But Egypt ends there.

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17). God is trying to load us with benefits. Every thought that God brings into your heart is a great blessing to you and to those around you. As you go into God’s presence and His thoughts take hold of you, your will is strengthened and your affections are directed.

You are being shaped into a great personality. Let the Lord be your standard. That will keep you humble and make you aim higher and higher. No man who goes into His presence early in the morning and studies the Bible will be satisfied with himself. Do not compare yourself with others and be satisfied. Wherever you go, remember that the first hour of the day belongs to God, and you must be humbled there. The more you are hammered by the Word into His likeness, and your love is strengthened like the love of God, your soul-winning ministry extends. Moses’ word became power. He once trusted in his fist and was a murderer, but now he becomes the mouth-piece of God.

God says, “At that time ... I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame” (Zeph. 3:19). Don’t be afraid if people mock you, disgrace you, and drive you out. You have your rights with God. He will load you with His benefits. One day the Lord will fill you with His Spirit and sanctify you and send you out. You will not fail. Be loaded with the benefits of God at the foot of the Cross on your knees with the Bible open before you. A man with the mind of Christ is the strongest and the greatest man.

—N. Daniel

During World War Two, the invasion of Italy—an Axis power on Nazi Germany’s side—was not straightforward. If the Allies could not establish a bridgehead in Sicily or on Italy’s mainland they could be thrown back into the sea. The attack on Sicily began on 9 July 1943. As General Eisenhower, then Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in the Mediterranean, saw the invasion force go out to Sicily in bad weather, he apparently dropped his head and prayed. To his aides he then said: “There comes a time when you have done all that you can possibly do; when you have used your brains, your training, your technical skill, and the die is cast, and events are in the hand of God—and there you have to put them.” Commander Anthony Kimmins was one of those who prayed and related that, as the ships approached Sicily:

“... I couldn’t help thinking of some of the miracles of the weather which had already favoured us in this war: Dunkirk, North Africa. Perhaps three times was too much to expect ... then it happened. With barely an hour and a half to go before zero hour the wind suddenly dropped, the white horses went down, and the swell went down quicker than I have ever seen it do before. It was so sudden that it was unbelievable, and as people stared into the darkness it seemed miraculous, as if ... well, put it this way, many a silent prayer had been offered up.”

The day before the attack, the wind had reached gale force, resulting in huge breakers on the southern beaches where the Americans were to land. On the morning of 9 July, when the different convoys began to assemble in their positions south of Malta, the weather began to deteriorate. Meteorologists predicted that the weather might improve, and the landings were ordered. In fact, the wild weather had lulled the enemy garrisons along the Sicilian coast into a sense of security and they had relaxed their vigilance, believing that a landing would not be attempted in such conditions.

In the event, the weather conditions improved, and the landings were straightforward.

When Sicily was about half conquered, the decision was made to invade Italy, but the delay in the decision meant the Germans had been able to reinforce. There were a few different landing spots, including Salerno Bay; it was here that the Allies were near to being driven back into the sea upon invasion on 3 September. Salerno was a city of decisive value on the Italian front in World War II, and if this strategic location could be seized, it would help the invading forces’ aim to reach Rome.

Rees Howells, founder of The Bible College of Wales, talked about a miracle at Salerno. This is an eyewitness account of Howells’ activities that night: “We had the first evening prayer meeting as usual in the conference hall, and gathered again at 9.45 P.M. The meeting had a solemn tone from the outset. The Director, Mr Howells, voice trembling with the burden of his message and scarcely audible, said, ‘The Lord has burdened me between the meetings with the invasion at Salerno. I believe our men are in great danger of losing their hold.’”

Howells then called the congregation of Bible students to prayer. It was not any ordinary prayer time. Prayer was intense and urgent, and in the greatest sense, true prevailing prayer. Howells relates, “The Spirit took hold of us and suddenly broke right through in the prayers, and we found ourselves praising and rejoicing, believing that God had heard and answered. We could not go on praying any longer, so we rose ... the Spirit witnessing in all our hearts that God had wrought some miraculous intervention in Italy. The victory was so outstanding that I looked at the clock as we rose to sing. It was the stroke of 11.00 P.M.”

The story continues with amazing tribute to the value of persistent prayer. Several days later one of the local newspapers displayed the headline in large print, “The Miracle of Salerno.” A front-line reporter gave his personal account of the battle. He was with the advanced troops in the Salerno invasion on Monday. The enemy was advancing rapidly, and increasing devastation was evident. It was obvious that unless a miracle happened the city would be lost. British troops had insufficient strength to stop the advance until the beachhead was established. Suddenly, with no reason, firing ceased, and deathlike stillness settled. The reporter describes the next few moments, “We waited in breathless anticipation, but nothing happened. I looked at my watch—it was eleven o’clock at night. Still we waited, but still nothing happened; and nothing happened all night, but those hours made all the difference to the invasion. By morning the beachhead was established.”

One easily observes the value of persistent prayer when reading Salerno. We see God’s intention when telling Jeremiah, “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:12-13).

—See John Scriven with Tim Dieppe, Beyond the odds: providence in Britain’s wars of the 20^th century, and selected.

Amy Carmichael became a well-known missionary in India in the early twentieth century, who, together with others, cared for vulnerable children in the Dohnavur Fellowship; she was fondly called “Amma”, meaning “mother".

On the evening of 30 January 1921, a group of eight stood looking over the plain; villages and temple towers could be seen, and a fortress of Islam lay beyond the hill. There was no medical mission then in this part of British India that was especially seeking to reach those practically unaffected by the Gospel.

As they looked upon the plain, now in shadow, and thought of the pain that existed there, hidden away in little shut-up rooms in little shut-up towns, of the need of those Christless hearts, it was as though there swam into their view a Place of Healing. The place would be served by people who loved their lord and served the sick; they would love one another fervently, and money would have no power over them.

The thought was not entirely new. Yet that evening, they put their hope of a Place of Healing into words and wrote it in their log-book, and signed their names to pray for its fulfilment. “The vision is yet for an appointed time: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come; it will not tarry,” was the word when, again and again, it was delayed. Through a certain feeling, they knew it was a spiritual vision.

Prayer was also offered up for a man for the general leadership, one to whom the same heavenly vision had been shown so that he could not be turned back from it or caused to doubt what he had seen. There were times when they seem to be asking for too much. What often helped was what Andrew Murray had once stated: “I am full of confidence that God is, in His own way and time, step by step, going to unfold to us the blessing He has in store, and the kindness He is going to show us. So you can think with such a prospect, I feel as if I have but one lesson to learn better, and I am learning it, just to sit and adore and say to Divine Grace, that there is nothing I cannot expect His wondrous kindness to do.”

The Lord Jesus did provide for a hospital; first, however, He led them to build a house of prayer. “When my House of Prayer is finished, I will provide for the hospital.”

Dates can be worth regarding; so also can the words that came in their ordinary reading of God’s word on those dates. On 30 January 1921, they were led to pray in a new way about this new work. Exactly five years later, he who, unknown to himself or to them, was the answer to prayer for the new work, arrived for a visit. He came and went, and they continued to wait on God, but the word reached on those two evenings was, “I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

On 25 August of the next year, a gift of £100 came for the building of the new hospital, and the word waiting for them was: “No good thing with He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

On 30 January 1928, they moved forward. One or two had already experienced a clearness of direction that allowed for no hesitation. Enquiry had begun to be made about land suitable for a hospital. However, it was important that unity in the Fellowship be reached so that together they could go through whatever might come, in peace and confidence. Rushing ahead without this could end up in disaster. A solemn time was held of considering what had already been shown and seeking to know the mind of the Lord, with a burning sense of being searched and purged too. Had the habit of the soul been so careful up till now, that it was trained to recognise the voice of the Beloved? In the overshadowing of His Presence they found rest to their souls, and in His book they found sure direction. God granted His word and they rose from their knees pledged in faith; sometimes that plunge of faith, led by the Lord, must first be taken, as when the Israelite priests had to enter into the river Jordan before the waters parted en route to the promised land. On 20 January a letter had come from a friend, and Amma read it to the whole Fellowship. The writer suggested that the word “dipped” in Joshua 3:15 means “plunged”: “We too have so often to make a plunge, not just the slow, cautious step but the plunge in faith, and then things happen.”

A gift large enough to cover the purchase of the land required was the first confirmation of that afternoon’s leading, and by faith the required plots of land could be purchased over the course of time.

Moreover, according to God’s promise, a doctor was provided to lead the hospital work.

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.”

One day at the bazaar in a Hindu town, a burly bazaar man said, “You are going to have a hospital at Dohnavur—so we hear,” and he smiled all over his face. “You will make it Paradise.” To the two who heard it, it was so unexpected that they must have looked their surprise and pleasure. “Yes, a paradise,” he stated emphatically.

Through prayer, faith, and guidance, the Lord provided doctors, land, a leader, and useful employment for some of the children in the medical ministry of Dohnavur. It was to be to His glory and for the physical and spiritual good of those whom it would serve.

Taken from Amy Carmichael, Gold chord: the story of a fellowship (London: SPCK), www.archive.org.

“Reality Check”

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:10-11).