Now change your mind and attitude to God and turn to him so he can cleanse away your sins and send you wonderful times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19
In 1934 construction began on a fort by the Delaware Bay for protection, it wasn’t completed until 1941 just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It wasn’t the Bay itself that needed protection, it’s what was at the end of it. Up the Delaware River was a Naval Yard where many of our war ships were along with refinery’s producing much needed fuel for the US and the war effort.
The threat didn’t come from Japan however, it came from Germany and Fort Miles was prepared to take on their warships. Installed within the Fort were some of the largest guns and cannons we ever produced. It also had watch towers to see the ships coming and relay their positions to gunners for precision hits. Everything was in place and ready to go. Except for one thing, the Germans weren’t sending warships that could be seen. They were sending U Boats that could come close without visible detection.
For a little over 5 months the Germans sank over 600 of our ships with the loss of some 5000 soldiers and sailors. 18 of those ships were off the coast of Delaware. At night the explosions could be heard, the fires seen and in the morning the oil slicks confirmed what the locals thought they were seeing. The Government knew that had to change their thinking and tactics and laid a mine field in the waters around the Bay, leaving an opening for ships to go in and out. Although the U Boats were never seen from the watch towers, the mines did their jobs and in May 1945 the U Boat Wolfpack Seawolf surrendered to the forces at Fort Miles.
We can learn a lot from the history of Fort Miles. It reminds us that it’s not always what we see can destroy us, or what we are even prepared for. Usually the most destructive forces come from places we least suspect and if we refuse to see the real threat, the enemy will use the opportunities to hinder and destroy us. That’s why it’s so important for us to constantly seek Holy Spirit to reveal to us areas in our lives that we are not aligned with God’s precepts and principles of His Word. When they are shown to us, we then need to admit our sin, thank God for His forgiveness and turn to Him so we can be refreshed and restored with the mind of Christ.
Behavioral change is not enough, for without allowing Holy Spirit to change our hearts and minds it will never last. And if we don’t allow our thinking and hearts to be transformed there will not be an outpouring of revival. It’s time for all His blood bought children to have a mind to seek to work out our salvation with fear and trembling by seeking repentance continually, so we can rid ourselves of all the hidden enemies that are seeking to destroy us and being used of God.
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