God Is Looking For A Few More Ordinary People - DAY 30 - January 1, 2014

Thank you for joining us for this Season of Prayer. This is our last update for this Season of Prayer but we will be doing updates from time to time and need to do a family update soon. During this Season of Prayer we have tried to give you an understanding of the awesome work God is doing here in Northern Thailand. We have tried to give you both a good glimpse of the work and of some of the people who are deeply involved in this work so that you will know how to pray for them. Yet please do not forget to pray for all those “behind the scenes” people that we have not specifically mentioned that are deeply much a part of everything that we do and that is: the Johnson family.

We will do a family update for you soon. But with today being our last day of this Season of Prayer we wanted to end it much like it began… with an extra ordinary God giving ordinary people the adventure and journey of following an extra ordinary God. 

God Is Looking For A Few More Ordinary People

As I shared with you in our update on Day 2, God is in the business of using ordinary people. When God is about to do something extra ordinary, He looks to see if He can find some ordinary person or people whose heart belongs to God and who will be obedient and do the thing God wants to be done. We see this when we look at the life of Abraham, or the life of Noah, or the life of Moses, and the lives of many men and women God used in the Bible.

God’s Word says, “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His....” 2 Chronicles 16:9.

When God finds someone who is willing to do what God wants to get done, God extends an invitation to that person to join Him in what God is doing. God extended that invitation to our family some 16 years ago.

After many confirmations that God wanted us to move to Thailand and serve the Thai people, our family sold our home, cars, etc. and boarded a plane bound for Thailand. We landed in Thailand on January 13, 1999 and have served the Lord here since that time. In 12 more days will be the anniversary date of when my family arrived in Thailand. Here is a picture of our family around that time. Our oldest, Jessica (now Jessica Davenport), was 9, Elizabeth (now Liz Vaughn) was 6, Joshua was 1&1/2 and Hope was 7 months pregnant with Caleb. The journey God has brought us on has been an awesome journey. If we had to do it again, we would choose to follow God’s plans for our lives again with no regrets. We are truly ordinary people but let me say very clearly to you today that we serve an extra ordinary God who has great plans for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Has God been speaking to you about coming to serve the Lord here with us? We could use some long term people as well as some folks who would be willing to commit to serving for 2 years or more. If God is extending an invitation to your heart, then the best thing you can do is answer His invitation with “here I am Lord, send me.” If that is not what the Lord is saying to you, would you pray that the Lord of the Harvest would send out laborers for His harvest fields here. The fields are ripe for the harvest. Please take a moment and watch this short 4 minute clip on “Go into the World.” Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivGlqzgWI5o&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL60AB52A43BDA2CE7

 

There are many roles and “ministry” opportunities but the first step is saying “Yes, Lord, if you want me to go, I will go.” A second step would then be to write a personal note to NTIM at pray4ntim@gmail.com Let’s go to the Lord in prayer together.

Prayer Example: “Oh, Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity you give ordinary people like us to serve you for your extra ordinary purposes. We see, Lord, where you are at work in and around Northern Thailand reaching many of the least reached peoples in the world but we also recognize that the laborers are few. We ask that you would raise up people who will go and serve You. We pray for those reading these updates that you might call out some to go and that you might use them to tell others about this great need. May you be pleased to call out others to go and serve You through NTIM who are willing to let You use them in extra ordinary ways to reflect your love and mercy to millions who have never heard your message. We pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.”