Concentration

I git thar fustest with the mostest.
-Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, War Between the States

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.
-Jesus Christ, Matthew 18:20 (NIV)

General Forrest was neither a West Pointer nor a War College graduate, but he knew the principles of war and he knew how to apply them. Although it is doubtful that he used the double superlatives in the above quotation, the statement does emphasize several truths. In this one short sentence we find four principles of war, and others are implied.1 The one word mostest leads us to the subject of this chapter: Concentration.

Neither Alexander the Great nor Julius Caesar could have conquered the then known world if he had neglected concentration.

Occasionally in the history of warfare a new method comes to light that seems so effective or is such a surprise to the enemy that its users are strongly tempted to depend upon the new method (which is temporary) and forget the principles of war, such as concentration.

This tendency was evident when the airplane made its advent on the Western Front in World War I. It glamorized the war; men became air aces and heroes. The use of the airplane did not, however, have much effect on the final outcome, for no one used it in concentration.

Major General Claire Chennault, when a young Army Air Corps aviator, noted this lack of application of principle. In his Way of a Fighter , he wrote:

For four months we flew and fought all over the Texas sky in the fashion of the Western Front flying long patrols in formation, looking for a fight, and then scattering in a dive on the enemy into individual dogfights. As sport it was superb, but as war, even then, it seemed all wrong to me. There was too much of an air of medieval jousting in the dogfights and not enough of the calculated massing of overwhelming force so necessary in the cold, cruel business of war. There were no sound military precepts that encouraged the dispersion of forces and firepower that occurred in dogfighting. 2

This failure to apply the principle of concentration continued through the Spanish Civil War and into World War II. Chennault himself put an end to these individual tactics with his American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers. When he went to Burma and China, his pilots stuck together. Outnumbered in the air and on the ground, in planes, pilots, and parts, they destroyed 217 enemy planes and probably forty-three more with a maximum of twenty operational P-40's in thirty-one encounters. Chennault's losses were six pilots and sixteen planes. In order to accomplish this, Chennault used concentration. He simply had two aircraft firing at one enemy aircraft. Even if outnumbered in the air ten to one, Chennault's two always outnumbered the enemy's one. If each Flying Tiger had taken on ten of the enemy, probably we would not remember the Flying Tigers today.

In 1956 while on the staff of Commander Carrier Division Five aboard the aircraft carrier Shangri-la in the western Pacific, I watched the Carrier Air Group in practice maneuvers. The F9F Cougars came down from the sky low over the waves, firing machine guns or rockets at the target simultaneously, then pulled up together to disappear into the blue. One evening I asked one of the pilots how he could fly wing on his leader and still aim at the target. It was easy, he said. He did not aim; he just flew wing. "When he shoots, I shoot." This is concentration.

Now let us see how the principle of concentration applies to spiritual warfare.

After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest (Luke 10:1-2).

In the chapter on the "Offensive" we concluded that the offense in winning men to Jesus Christ is carried out by preaching and prayer. In the Luke passage we see that Jesus sent his disciples out to preach in concentration. He also told them to pray in concentration:

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:19-20).

This is effective warfare.

Paul, one of the greatest of preachers, had a "wing man" with him in most cases, and when alone he does not seem to have been nearly as effective. For instance, in Acts 17 we find Paul going to Athens alone but asking that Silas and Timothy join him with "all speed" (17:15).

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily (17:16-17).

Paul could not wait to concentrate his forces; so he took the city on alone and had neither an awakening nor a riot. Silas and Timothy did not join him until some weeks after Paul had arrived in Corinth. Here also he preached alone with no recorded results.

And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks (Acts 18:4).

When Silas and Timothy arrived, there was a marked difference in the power, the content, and the results of Paul's preaching.

And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ (Acts 18:5).

That was the power and the content; the results are recorded in succeeding sentences. There was opposition, blasphemy, and many conversions.

And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city (Acts 18:8-10, italics added).

Paul remained in Corinth among these many believers for another eighteen months teaching the Word of God among them.

Concentration was so important to Paul that he wrote on one occasion:

When I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia (2 Corinthians 2:12-13).

Paul passed by an open door for lack of help.

Many of us wish we had an Apostle Paul to travel with, not realizing how much the leader also needs the close follower. Without his helpers, Paul was not greatly used in Athens or Troas. When the earthquake occurred at midnight in Philippi, it was not Paul alone who prayed, but Paul and Silas. There are many other instances in the Bible where concentration proved important to the gospel ministry.

If you find that you are scattering your witness in "dogfights" or if the enemy is using concentration on you because you insist on taking the whole ship or base or city alone, then you need a partner. You may be partly effective in your lone witness, and you may think you have no need for a wing man. Perhaps you do not, but maybe the wing man needs a leader. Remember that in warfare it is not enough to be faithful but only partly effective. We are after the objective.

You may wonder where you are going to find a partner. Start by asking God to send him or her along. You may have to lead the person to the Lord. Once you meet him and before you minister together, you need to be one in purpose and as complementary as possible. Study together, pray together, talk together, and reprove one another in the Lord. There should be openness and honesty between the two of you and no unconfessed sin to hide. Then you can meet the enemy with combined fire-power.

A few years ago aboard a carrier in the Pacific, two junior officers met every afternoon to offer concentrated prayer for the ship. Soon one other officer received Christ; this increased the concentration 50 percent. In two months ten officers and over thirty enlisted men were reached for Christ through this concentrated prayer and witness. The witness continued.

Concentration also plays a vital part in mass evangelism. In the chapter "Offensive" it was brought out that when the army on the offense does not possess an overwhelming superiority it is not feasible to launch an attack along the whole front to take the objective. In such a case a decisive point must be selected against which to strike a decisive blow. An overwhelming superiority must be gained at the chosen point. This superiority is obtained by transferring forces from the rest of the line to the decisive point. This weakens the rest of the line, but enough should be left in order to keep the enemy occupied. Even if minor defeats occur along the weakened portion, this is not crucial, because in the meantime you have served the decisive blow at the decisive point that defeats the enemy.

An excellent example of this is found in Montgomery's preparations for the first battle of El Alamein. In his own words:

Then from the bits and pieces in Egypt I was going to form a new corps, the 10th Corps, strong in armour; this would never hold the line but would be to us what the Afrika Korps was to Rommel; the formation of this new 10th Corps had already begun.

Montgomery concluded that Rommel would make his main effort on the south or inland flank. This was the Alam Halfa Ridge. Since Montgomery weakened his northern flank in order to concentrate on Alam Halfa, he strengthened it with mine fields and wire so it could be held with a minimum of troops. At Alam Halfa, the decisive point, he concentrated two mobile armored divisions, the 44th Infantry Division, and his newly formed armored division of 400 tanks dug in behind a screen of six-pounder anti-tank guns. From August 31 to September 6, 1942, the Afrika Korps pounded against this line, all the while being hit hard by the mobile and dug-in tanks and by the British Desert Air Force. Rommel retreated on the 6th with a decimated Afrika Korps. He had been defeated, and Montgomery had won a decisive victory. Thus, concentration achieved the turning point of the war in Africa.

Non-Christians and the powers of darkness outnumber us along the whole front in the spiritual warfare. We can make advances along this front by using two-by-two concentration. This is necessary; however, it may not bring a decisive victory. In order to win a decisive victory we must seek the will of God to determine the decisive points. Then Christians along the whole front will:

  1. Concentrate on prayer for the decisive points.
  2. Transfer temporarily or permanently to the decisive point for concentrated preaching and testifying.

The physical transfer could be made by taking time off and traveling to the decisive point. This would weaken portions of the front temporarily, but no more so than when Christians take leave under ordinary circumstances.

When Jesus gave the Great Commission the apostles were not sent immediately to the uttermost parts of the earth. They were told to remain together in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Notice the elements of concentration:

  1. They were all together.
  2. They all continued together in prayer.
  3. They were all in agreement.
  4. They all preached the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11).

As a result of concentrated prayer and preaching, 3,000 were won to Christ in one day.

The same sort of concentration is practiced in the Billy Graham campaigns. Thousands of Christian people pray for him, the team, and the city for weeks and months in advance of the crusade. Hundreds more concentrate in the city as counselors, choir members, and assistant missioners weeks in advance and during the crusade.

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest (Luke 10:2).

Questions:

  1. Study Acts 16:11-40.
  2. Do you have a partner with whom you can pray? Who is he?
  3. Do you have a partner with whom you can witness? Who is he?
  4. What can you do to be involved in a larger group in prayer?
  5. What can you do to be involved in a larger group in proclaiming the gospel?

I recommend Behind the Ranges (now out of print, but your local library should carry it) by Mrs. Howard Taylor (Moody Press) and Mountain Rain, two biographies of James Fraser (Overseas Missionary Fellowship). These are stories of concentrated prayer.