During the years of World War II, the pastor of a church in Dallas, Texas called each deploying soldier forward and prayed Psalm 91 and other protection verses over them at the altar. That protection was powerfully impacting to Spencer January, who served in the Army’s 35th Infantry.
In 1945 his division had just been ordered to take the town of Ossenburg, Germany where a war factory supplied Hitler’s troops. Forcing his way through the dense German forest, Spencer was plagued with the thought that they might never make it back home alive. His group had been fighting for hours to get through the thick jungle-like terrain when suddenly they came to an open space with a large stone house. They did not know that the large stone house in the opening was concealing the bodies of soldiers who had tried earlier to cross the clearing, but soon three nests of German machine guns suddenly began blasting away, but it was impossible to take them out since they were too far out of range. It was sure death to cross the opening, but it was the 35th Infantry’s only avenue since every other passage into town was secured by the Germans. The team was in a quandary. They knew there was no way to live to tell the tale if they tried to push on through the clearing. It was impossible for Spencer not to think of his wife and five-month-old son he had left back home. The odds were a thousand to one that he had seen them for the last time. Pain surged through his entire being with that thought. His only hope was a miracle from God. It is amazing what thoughts bombard one’s mind in moments like this. Spencer began remembering elderly Mrs. Tanersly—a faithful prayer warrior from his church back home. He had never before even thought of his need for a prayer warrior, but now she was all he could think about. “What if she was for real?” “What if those prayers she prayed were for a divine purpose?” Time was running out, and at any moment his group would be running right though a barrage of open fire. Before he even knew what he was doing, he found himself on his knees, praying passionately, 'God, you’ve got to help me! Please, do something!’ Spencer barely had time to finish his desperate prayer when the group was ordered to advance. Memories of home and family crashed down on him as he gripped his rifle and made his way across the clearing to the other edge of the forest covering. The painful thought that he would probably never see his family again stayed with him every step of the way. Suddenly a huge white cloud materialized in what had been, only moments before, a totally clear sky. The cloud dropped down and shrouded the clearing, almost like an eclipse. There was no way for the Germans to see where to fire. Instantly Spencer and his fellow soldiers took off like runners in a race—this time competing, not for a metal, but for their very lives. Almost beyond belief, Spencer found himself across the clearing and into the thicket. Many more of his group were making it across. The ones in the very back were having to pull some of the wounded to safety, but even those were making it. No one had to tell him that what he had just experienced was God. As quickly as the miracle cloud had appeared, just as the last soldier made it across the cloud vanished miraculously. Then suddenly, the earth literally shook in convulsions as the Germans launched a bomb that blew the stone house into tiny pieces. It became obvious that they did not realize Spencer and his group had already crossed the clearing in obscurity. All the way to Ossenburg, Spencer kept thinking about that cloud. He was used to the smoke screens that were used to hide the troops, but this was entirely different. This was not a man-made covering. He and the other men knew it was a supernatural intervention. And to continue His miracle, God helped them overtake the war factory in Ossenburg. A short time later, Spencer received a letter from his mother that had finally caught up with him. In it she told him that Mrs. Tankersly, the very woman who had been so heavily on his mind the day when they were under attack in that open field, had called to tell her about a spiritual visitation from God. It had come in the night when God told her, “Spencer January is in trouble! Get up right now and pray for him!” Mrs. Tankersly said that she had prayed until time to go to work, and the last thing she remembered praying was: “Lord, whatever danger Spencer is in, just cover him with a cloud!” She told Spencer’s mother that she had finished praying at 6 a.m. By the time he finished reading, Spencer was shaking so hard that he could barely see to read the letter. He realized there was a seven-hour difference in time, so Mrs. Tankersly had been praying just as his group came upon the German ambush. Her prayer for God to send a cloud covering would have been prayed at one o’clock in the afternoon in Germany—just when they were ready to dash across the danger zone. God’s supernatural protection made such an impression on Spencer that he dedicated the early morning hours every day for the next sixty years to pray for friends and relatives. After the miracle intervention in Germany, no one could have taken away his faith in the difference that prayer can make. He was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the prayer of that one faithful woman back in 1945 had not only saved his life, but also the lives of the other soldiers with him as they ran unseen through the cloud covering. After his time of serving in WWII, he continued on as a soldier, but, this time, as a faithful soldier in the Lord’s army. There is no way to know all the miracles that followed the wake of those fervent prayers that Spencer January prayed. Although some people might call happenings like these a coincidence, the negative situations that we encounter can become God-incidences when we trust His Word. ****** I would like to give testimony of a miracle God preformed for my son Lcpl. Mikhail Quijada and Gunnery Sergeant Todd Bryd Ocober 5th, 2005 in Iraq. They were in convoy when the LAV they were in ran over a IED (land mine). The mine didn't go off when the first set of tires went over it. If it had, it could of killed or seriously injured my son and his sergeant. It exploded when the second set rolled over it destroying the vehicle but without harming Mikhail or Todd. Mikhail's loving wife has been reading Psalm 91 over him morning and night. She has a copy of your book that I had sent her. We are so grateful to God for His Word first of all, but for you also for making Psalm 91 more than just writing on a page!! God Bless, Jane Ouijada, Proud mom of a US Marine Get a Military Edition Psalm 91 book for your friends and family that serve our country! Use code 15%OFF at checkout to get 15% off. Blessings!
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