Today
I received news about the land that has been given to us that has troubled my
heart deeply and reminded me of the reality of the spiritual war that we are in
here in Thailand. Many of you know that Thailand is in the heart of the 10-40
Window in Southeast Asia and from a Christian perspective has been a stronghold
for the forces of darkness for thousands of year.
PRAYER REQUEST
DETAILS: GOD HAS GIVEN US LAND…. BUT SATAN HAS NOT RELEASED HIS GRIP YET
The
news I received today reminded me of the deep truth the Apostle Paul was
referring to when he penned these words, “For our battle is not against flesh
and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the world forces of this
darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 4:12.
As
most of our Prayer Supporters already know, God has not only given us most of
the financial resources needed to build the “Spiritual Beachhead” God has put
on our heart to build but God moved in a Thai person’s heart who then donated 3
rai (about 1 acre) of land to us to set up this beachhead. (Here is the link
where I wrote up the prayer request for the Beachhead …. http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Day-26-Lighting-Up-the-Darkness---Together-We-Build---Dec-26--2013.html?soid=1103335986076&aid=jX4lQ8PCDnE
)
Once
this land was donated to us from this Thai person, our foundation in Thailand
began to put together all the paperwork that was necessary for us to get the
land legally transferred into the name of our foundation. We then submitted that
paperwork in July 2014…… Since that time we have seen resistance to release
that land to us. We are confident that this is not a normal type of resistance
but is one that is embedded in the battle over the hearts and minds of these
precious people we are trying to reach with the gospel of our great and awesome
Savior.
The process of transferring
land ownership is not suppose to be this difficult and the bottleneck has now
been clearly identified with the information we received today. Part of the
approval process that the Government Office has asked of us is to schedule a
meeting with the village where this land is located that has been donated to
us. We have had one small meeting with various leaders who then requested that
we meet with the whole village. We have been very happy to do this, however,
the Village leader has continued to postpone scheduled meetings and not allowed
us to take the process forward.
Our
last scheduled meeting was this past Saturday, November 15. Several days before
this meeting was to take place, we got a call from the Village leader and he
says that something has come up and we cannot have a meeting on that day and
will have to postpone it for another time. We were disappointed of course but
didn’t think too much about it UNTIL TODAY! TODAY WE HEARD THE NEWS. The news
that we heard is that the village did have a meeting last Saturday and when a
question was asked about why our foundation did not come to the meeting, the
Village leader told a bold face lie and said that we had called and said we
could not meet.
ENOUGH
IS ENOUGH.
IT
is time for us to claim this land for Jesus. We are asking all of you who read
this urgent request to take this very serious matter before the throne of grace
of the Ruler over all the Affairs of Men – our Lord and Savior Jesus.
The
Bible clearly tells us in Proverbs 21:1 that “The kings heart is like channels
of water in the hand of the Lord and He moves it which every way He wishes.”
Please join us in praying that God would move in the hearts of those who are
above this Village leader. Tomorrow a few of us are going down to the
government office to bring to light what has been happening and to ask for
their intervention. It will be a tender situation but one that is clearly
necessary for us to do at this point.
Today a thought came into my
heart that had never occurred to me before today. When God gave the land of
Canaan to the Israelites, it was theirs but they had to “claim the land.” The
Israelites still have to fight for and defend their land even today.
TODAY, we have
called on our God… and we are calling on you to call on our God in our behalf. TOMORROW,
we go to claim the land and to call on the favor of the Thai Government to give
us this land with or without the support of the Village leader.
Thank
you for supporting God’s work through your prayers. God’s Word says, “The
prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16b
Until the nations in and around Northern Thailand know Him,
Michael
“Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians
15:58
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