“But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, on these we bestow greater honour; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honour to that part which lacks it. that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Cor 12: 20-26)

If I have trouble with my feet I am going to care for them as much as I am for my eyes or my ears: the fact that my feet are further from my brain, the decision-making centre of my body, does not affect the attention I give to them. So it is with the body of Christ: those members who are further away geographically are no further in the Spirit than our brothers and sisters at our local church. Since the days of John the Baptist, the “violent” – that’s us – have been forcefully wresting the Kingdoms of this earth back from the one who stole it in the Garden (Matt 11:12), and that enemy has been resisting our advance. The battle has never stopped raging.

During World War 2,  the enemy was visible: not in the German nation and its allies, but in the occult-bound cabal headed up by Hitler who led them. He was opposed by the flawed prime minister of a small island who led the nation in prayer every morning. On 4^th June 1940, less than two weeks after Dunkirk, Winston Churchill made his most famous speech: “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…” What about us: how much are we fighting?

Now the battle is no less intense; the enemy may just be harder to see. But the USA, established by the Pilgrim Fathers to be a nation where Christian principals would be enshrined in the constitution, is a focal point. The enemy is using  liberal legislation and cultural pressure from “woke“ groups to rip up those principals. For example, the state is moving aggressively against the pro-life movement. Led by a strong Christian voice, Texas has passed a law banning abortion within the state as soon as cardiac activity is detectable, which is at around six weeks; but the federal government is attempting to legislate against it and deny Texas its constitutional right to make its own civil laws. Trump-supporting Republicans are being systematically bullied and victimised in many quarters because of their conservative views. The first amendment to the constitution, which protects freedom to worship, is under attack.

Unless you know your UK political history well, or have stumbled – as I have – on the right pages of Wikipedia, you may not know that Churchill’s famous speech was not initially broadcast publicly to the nation, but was made in parliament and was, at least in part, a plea to the USA to come to our aid in the war. Eventually they did. Now the Holy Spirit is calling us to go to the aid of America, and pull down the strongholds that the enemy is trying to establish with our spiritual weapons of warfare. There are members of the body many miles away but joined to us in the Spirit who are suffering, so we suffer with it.  Ask the Lord if he wants you to join the flotilla of small rescue ships that He is gathering for this new Dunkirk (see the post “Join the Flotilla” if you haven’t already) and if He wants you to tell others.

If you want more detail on how the battle is unfolding in the USA, two good and very different places are Dutch Sheets ministries – https://dutchsheets.org,  and the Thomas More Society – a not-for-profit, national public interest law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty: https://thomasmoresociety.org. There are obviously many other places where the enemy is at work and where the Body is hurting, and the Holy Spirit is directing more missions throughout the world than we can count at any one time: this is just one of them.