Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
ON THE MARCH
Simon came up and met my folks. We walked on the moors.
He enthused about Operation Mark and offered me a place in
the Banbury household. It was like a family to me. I was very
excited with the kingdom of God and keen to learn, but I was
hot-headed, too.
At one Banbury meeting, I prophesied.
‘What did you think of that?’ I asked.
‘Not a lot,’ Simon grunted.
I was so frustrated with him when I got home that I smashed
the bedroom door down! But we had to laugh — lying there on
the door was a convicting text: ‘I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me!’
We were inspired by the New Testament image of the army of
God. The apostle Paul expected his men to endure hardship
and be fully committed. ‘No-one serving as a soldier gets involved
in civilian affairs,’ he wrote to Timothy (2 Tim 2:4).
The New Testament unveiled a spiritual war — on one side
the kingdom of God — on the other, the world, the flesh and
the devil.
‘We are the Jesus Army’ was splashed on Marquee News,
and Operation Mark took the lead. At their ‘War Council’ they
read the Salvation Army Articles of War and spoke of city
invasions and dawn raids. We wanted a strong image and felt
the church in Britain needed vigorous men on the front line.
More flak came our way as we took our Marquee over the
Midlands. But, flak or not, the army of Jesus People marched
on into 1986 with increasing determination.
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