Today is Day 2 of our 36 Day Spiritual Adventure of getting to know and then actively praying for Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM) and all of the various unreached people groups in and around Northern Thailand. Please join us and invite your friends to join us for this great time of seeking the face of God on behalf of millions who have never heard the message of our Lord Jesus.
When
God is about to do something extra ordinary, He looks to see if He can find
some ordinary person 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. I will be the first to tell you that I do not think of
myself as anything special or having anything special to give God. But for
whatever reason was in the heart of God, I believe that God extended a special invitation
to me (Michael Johnson) and my family some 18 years ago while I was on a
business trip to Thailand for Sharp Manufacturing Company of America. I am an
ordinary guy from Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the USA and do not have anything
special about me except that I have given my heart to Jesus and been touched by
an extra ordinary God and am willing to be used for God’s purposes. I was only
in Thailand for a few days on that business trip some 18 years ago, but I was
in Thailand long enough to realize that the message of Jesus was not reaching
most Thai people.
On
that short business trip, I did not meet one Christian. I did not see one
church. I did not see any evidence that the Thai people had a chance to hear the
most important story of Jesus ever told. That realization broke my heart and
God began to speak to my heart about joining God in bringing this message of
hope to the Thai people. Shortly after that trip, following many confirmations
that God was leading 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 in
Thailand since that time. Below is a picture of our family before we left for
the field while we were at the missionary learning center in Virginia.
God
truly wants to use ordinary people like you and me, but we must be willing to
make our lives available for Him to use them. God isn’t interested in us coming
up with some great thing we want to do for God. No, God is more interested in
us being willing to embrace the great plans He already has for our lives. It
reminds me of when Isaiah said to the Lord, “Here I am Lord, Send me.” In other
words, “Lord, if you want me to go, I am willing. Whatever you want from my
life, I am willing to do that because I love you and because I recognize that
your plans are better than my plans.”
Prayer Example:
“Oh, Heavenly Father, thank you for placing a little of your love for the Thai
people in the hearts of the Johnson family. Please continue to lead them and
guide them as they seek to lead the work of NTIM on the field. Help them to
understand your plans for reaching the nations in and around Northern Thailand.
We ask you to help them to follow your plans and to encourage others to join
you in what you want to do through NTIM in the days ahead. We also pray that
you would be pleased to call out others to go and serve You through NTIM. The
fields are ripe for the harvest but the laborers are truly few. Please raise up
others to go and join you in what you are doing in and through NTIM and their
partners. We pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.”
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