Sometimes we forget that God listens to the prayers
of His people. God wants us to come to Him and talk to Him about our life and
to ask Him about things and even ask Him for things that we would like to have.
God also likes to answer our prayers when our prayers are in line with His
great plans for us. I want to share with you an answer to prayer that came
after 18 months of praying. There is a short story behind it that I hope
encourages you.
God has blessed us greatly here in Northern
Thailand and given us an incredible piece of land and an awesome building that
is used as the home of Baan Athitaan Church, the home of Grace Language School,
the home of Channel of Blessing Foundation, and the home of NTIM-Thailand.
Shortly after we purchased the property and began to raise support and to plan
where we would place the multi-purpose building God on that land, I noticed
what I thought would be an obstacle for new people finding our building since
it is a little off of the main road.
The obstacle was this very large tree on another
person’s property that would be blocking the view of our building. That was
about 18 months ago. So, I began praying and asking if God would remove this
tree. I wasn’t asking for my own personal benefit. I was asking for the benefit
of God’s work being more openly exposed so that people could find our building
with greater ease. 1 month passed by and the tree was still there. 1 year passed
by and the tree was still there. Still, I kept praying. 17 months passed by and
this tree was still there. Still, I kept praying. I kept praying and asking God
to remove this tree until yesterday – October 26, 2022.
I normally come into work a little early in the
morning before the staff get there and yesterday when I turned onto the road to
go to the property, my heart jumped out of my chest as I could see the building
very clearly yesterday morning. Do you know why I could see the building more
clearly yesterday morning? Because God answered my prayer after 18 months of
praying and when I began to get closer to our property there were several
people already working on the property across the street from us. Can you guess
what they were doing? Yes, they were cutting the tree down that I had been
praying to God about for 18 months. Here are a few pictures that I took
yesterday morning and this morning.
God really does listen to the prayers of His
people. Jesus wants to be the Good Shepherd in your life. He wants you to come
to Him and pour out your heart to Him and ask Him to help you. When you seek
Him with all of your heart, He will listen to you. It doesn’t always mean you
will get what you ask for but sometimes it gives God joy to give His children
some of the things they ask for. I am reminded today of Jeremiah 29:12-13 which
says, "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen
to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Do you have some hardship or difficulty that you
are going through and don’t know what to do? May I suggest you draw near to the
Heavenly Father and seek Him with all of your heart and talk to Him about what
is on your heart. You may need to come to Him in prayer only once. But
sometimes you may have to come to Him often like I had to do the last 18
months.
But there is one thing I have learned over the 40+
years of being a follower of Jesus and that is the truth that God listens to
prayers of His people when they come to Him in faith, in humility, and in
dependence upon His grace. Another passage that came to mind was a passage I
memorized over 30 years ago from Jeremiah 33:3 that says, “Call to me and I
will answer you and will show you great and mighty things which you do not
know.”God listens to the prayers of His
people. Be one of His people who draws near to God and God will draw near to
you as the Bible declares in James 4:8.
Please remember to keep us and all the people
living in an around Northern Thailand in your prayers. Grateful and Happy to be
Serving Our Awesome God in Northern Thailand for such a time as this. Until all
of those in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to hear the good news.
From the Team in Northern Thailand, Michael Johnson
Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box
26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org
NTIM is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable
organization based in the USA. We are committed to connecting people in need
with people who care and are focused in the heart of Southeast Asia where
poverty is high, education is low, needs are great, unreached people groups (UPGs)
are all around us, and the love and message of Jesus is needed to transform
lives.
You can send donations to support God’s work to
NTIM. All donations made to NTIM are tax deductible and can be made either
online at www.gontim.org or mailed to NTIM, P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL35260
If you would like to get on our email update
listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com
One of the great joys that
should shape the way we live our lives as genuine authentic followers of Jesus
Christ is the truth that Jesus is coming again. The reality that one day - soon
- Jesus will come again to this earth and will usher in the beginning of the
countdown of the earth as we know it. The opportunity to share the gospel with
some of the least reached people groups in our world today will end. It will cease.
There will never be such a time as this again where we can join God in His
great work of Redemption before He comes again.
When Jesus comes again, He
will usher the beginning of the end of the time when men, women, and children
all over the world will no longer have a chance to believe in Jesus and become
citizens of heaven. That day is coming my friends and as for me and my house,
we want to be found being about our Father’s business and doing everything He
has planned for us to do. Amen?
Even in the midst of millions who still have never heard the message, God is at
work drawing people to himself and transforming their lives.
It is impossible to write
into words the joy it brings to my heart, when God is pleased to allow one of our
Thai leaders to be the one God has chosen to help lead a lost sheep back into
the hands of our great Savior Jesus Christ. This year we have seen many people give
their hearts to Jesus. Over the last 23 years we have lived in Thailand, we
have seen hundreds of Thai people become what we call, a first-generation
follower of Christ. Sometimes they are the first or second person in their
entire family history to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Some of them representing
some of the least reached people groups in our world today. Not only does it
give me great joy that God has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing to
expand His kingdom here in Northern Thailand, but it also gives me great joy to
say to all of you who are partnering with us and supporting us through prayers,
through finances, through encouraging messages from time to time, and through
sending teams, that God is using you to make a difference in God’s kingdom
in this part of God’s World.
Every prayer you offer for
us is “a sweet aroma” to our Heavenly Father. And He listens to every prayer. Each
donation you send through NTIM is a sacrifice of love for all those living in
and around Norther Thailand. Your giving matters. It matters to God and it
matters to us and it matters to the millions all over South-East Asia who still
have not heard. Every message or email you send that is an encouraging word to
us provides “additional strength” to us to keep serving the Lord with all of
our heart. Thank you for your continued partnership with us that allows us to
stay and serve here in this part of God’s unreached world.
Since it is true that
Jesus is coming again, I want to first, plead with all of our Christian friends
all over the world to not fail to pray for all of these least reached people
groups mostly
located in the heart of the 10-40 window who are filled with millions and
millions of people who have never heard the message of our great Savior Jesus
Christ.
Out of the 67 million
people living in Thailand, 20 - 32 million of them (if you include the "Thai-Chinese"
from Joshua Project into the group) are from this least reached people group
called the Central Thai. The second largest unreached people group (UPG) in
Thailand is the Isaan people group that make up about 18 million people. The
third largest unreached people group (UPG) in Thailand is the Northern Thai
(Muang) people group which have about 7 million people mostly living in
Northern Thailand. So, please pray for the Unreached People groups of Thailand.
Today we also want to
bring you up to date in a few areas of ministry so that you know better how to
pray for us.
The second prayer request
would be for some of our new followers of Jesus. Please pray for Fang, Nong In,
Nong Pantawan, who have given their hearts to Jesus and were ready to follow
the Lord in believer’s Baptism on September 25. There are others who have
recently become followers of Christ but were not quite ready to be baptized. God
seems to be moving in a very special way in Northern Thailand and in a special
way at Baan Eden Children’s Home as well. Please pray for these new followers
of Jesus by name. Here is the video from our baptism on September 25.
Thirdly, please remember
to pray for our full time Thai Leaders.
One of my roles here is to
sense God’s direction for the ministry and provide vision and training to help
equip our Thai leaders and others to do all that God wants us to do. We are
very active in using English as an outreach into our community in various ways.
We are all active in many, many other ways. 5 of our 6 staff have been serving
God with us for many years and sometime last year we felt the leadership from
the Lord to really made a more significant investment in giving these leaders more
in-depth Bible training in the Central Thai language than we ever have done in
the past.
Sometime last year, during
the Covid season, I spoke with the president of our Thailand Baptist Seminary
in Bangkok, Ajaan Chaiwat, about opening up the door for our staff to study “part-time”
online and begin studying toward obtaining a Master of Divinity Degree from TBS
and he agreed that this would be very good for our Thai leaders.
Since that time, our Staff
are still working full-time but they are also taking 3 classes each week
on-line as well. We do not want our staff to have to go into debt for
this Bible training so we at NTIM believe providing scholarships for them is something
God wants us to do to invest into our Thai leaders for the future direction of
God’s work through NTIM, GLS, CBF, and Baan Athitaan Church.
If you would like to be a
part of financially supporting our Thai staff’s theological education, we would
welcome any donations that you would like to make which can be sent through
NTIM. Please also remember to pray for each of them. We have 6 full time Thai
leaders. Two are from the Khon Mueang unreached people group. Two are from the
Akha people group. One is Hmong and the other is Lahu. They are all Thai
citizens but from very different language and cultural backgrounds. The names from
left to right and top to bottom are: Ja, Jay, Ball, Boom, Bee, and Pat. Please
remember to pray for these leaders and for the ministries they are involved in
as well as their respective people groups.
Speaking of our Thai
partners, we believe in the concept of working hard and playing hard. Our Thai
leaders are what I call “all in.” They work very hard and with all their heart.
They “pull their weight.” But there are times when it is important to take a
day or two and go have some fun together or take a small retreat together. So, on
August 24th we took a day and “played hard.” We got up early morning
and met at the church at 7:00 and drove over together to the motorcycle rental
shop and each of us rented a motorcycle and then we drove, and drove, and drove
stopping at this place and that place and we just had a great time together. Boom
then put a short video of our time together “playing hard.” Here is the short
video clip.
Our Thai leaders are all growing
and we are very deliberate and intentional about building up Thai leadership.
Yes, I am a Westerner and still have a significant role to play in God’s world
here and there are still great needs for Western Missionaries to come and help,
especially in countries like Thailand where less than ½ of 1% are followers of
Jesus Christ. However, we must be intentional about building up local national
leaders where ever we go. Both Jay and Ball are growing and learning how to
preach a sermon and just wanted to give you a chance to be encouraged by Ball
as he preached and be encouraged by Kim as she translated several weeks ago on
October 2 when we were studying one of the “I am” statements of Jesus where
Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” I hope you will take 35 minutes and be
encouraged by Ball and Kim. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yUOxrw5PVQ
We also want to tell you
what a joy it is to have this new building that God has given to us through
your faithful and generous donations. We are 95% through the building phase and
it looks very clearly like we will have some funds left over from the building
project. This building is so nice and so practical. Praise God for His goodness
and thank you for your kindness in giving.
We thought you would want
to see our Building Dedication that we had on July 3rd. We were
blessed to have a special singing group called the “Worship Room” that our
daughter Liz worked with to sing during our dedication. It was also a great
blessing to have a special song from Baan Eden Children’s Home to sing during
our dedication. We were blessed to have Doug Piper and his family with us for
the ribbon cutting ceremony. They are from a great partner church called Crosspoint
Church in Mississippi where Pastor Israel Cox serves as Pastor. Here is the full
length video of the ceremony if you would like to watch it. It is only about 33
minutes long but a very significant time for us.
There are three more
prayer requests that we want to ask you to pray about.
The first prayer request is
for our upcoming Thanksgiving Celebration where we are putting on a “Worship
Night” or “mini concert where we will have a night of giving thanks to our Lord in our New
building. Please pray for us that God would bless our “Worship Night of Giving
Thanks.” Here is a poster that we just put together. Following the poster is a
short 2-minute video clip link
The second prayer request
is for our upcoming Christmas Outreach events.
Now that Covid is behind
us, we can now do the Christmas outreaches that we love doing at Christmas time
and it looks like we will be having at least one partner church from FBC
Florence, MS coming during this time and possibly another church. Please pray
for us as begin to put our plans together for this wonderful season of reaching
out into our communities with the Gospel. We are asking the Lord for about $4,000-$5,000
additional resources for our outreaches.
The third prayer request
is for 2 or 3 additional missionaries who are willing to come and serve in our
platform as English Teachers and serve the Lord in a variety of ways. God has
been using Grace Language School (GLS) for a very long time but we are in need of
some new folks to come and serve with us. These folks need first and foremost
to be growing in their walk with Christ but secondly need to have at least a
B.A. degree in any field and thirdly need to be folks who see the value of
working in an educational type platform of teaching English to provide an
opportunity to build the kinds of relationship with lost people that lead down to
the path of evangelism and discipleship. God is moving and we are in need of a
couple of God’s servants to come and help. Please pray for God to send workers
into His fields that are white and ready for harvest.
Grateful and Happy to be Serving Our Awesome God in
Northern Thailand for such a time as this. Until all of those in and around
Northern Thailand have a chance to hear the good news.
From the Team in Northern Thailand, Michael Johnson
Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box
26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org
NTIM is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable
organization based in the USA. We are committed to connecting people in need
with people who care and are focused in the heart of Southeast Asia where
poverty is high, education is low, needs are great, unreached people groups (UPGs)
are all around us, and the love and message of Jesus is needed to transform
lives.
You can send donations to support God’s work to
NTIM. All donations made are tax deductible and can be made either online at
www.gontim.org or mailed to NTIM, P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL35260
If you would like to get on our email update
listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com
“Urgent
Prayer Request Amidst Mass Killings in Thailand” - A NTIM
Field Update -October 06, 2022
Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,
As I begin writing
this update, I am sitting at my desk in Northern Thailand, and deeply troubled
about something that happened earlier today that left at least 35 people killed
and many others injured at a preschool daycare center in Thailand. It has been
confirmed that at least 23 young children have been killed some as young as 2
years old.
As I understand it,
the shooter was a 34-year old former police officer who had been relieved of duty
about 1 year ago because of drug use and this early this afternoon barged into
the daycare center and opened fire.
All of our hearts here
in Thailand are broken and hurting. If I could summarize how the people of
Thailand feel at this moment, I would say “they are shocked and deeply
disturbed.”
I would like to call
on all my brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world to please join us
in praying for this situation and for all of those that are involved who have
lost loved ones in this horrible development.
Please pray for all
those who are hurting and for Thai Christians living in and around this city
where this happened to reach out and love their neighbors who are hurting and
need the comfort that can only come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Pray for us to be the
salt and light of Jesus during these troubled times and to provide comfort and
to point others to The One who can comfort their troubled hearts like no other!
We will be doing an
update on the ministry soon but just felt led of the Lord to stop everything
for a moment and write up this urgent prayer request to all of our family, friends,
and prayer partners. God listens to the prayers of His people. Please take the
Thai people before the throne of grace at this time.
May God richly bless you.
Thank you for your kindness and generosity and for sending us to Thailand.
Until the People in
and around Northern Thailand know Him,
Michael for the team
“For we do not preach
ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for
Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5
Northern Thailand
Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham,
AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org
NTIM is a
non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed
to connecting people in need with people who care and are focused in the heart
of Southeast Asia where poverty is high, education is low, needs are great, unreached
people groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love and message of Jesus is
needed to transform lives.
You can send donations to support God’s work to NTIM.
All donations made are tax deductible and can be made either online at www.gontim.org or mailed to NTIM, P.O. Box
26115, Birmingham, AL35260
If you would like to get on our email update
listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com
