From the Journal.....

 

   I thank the Lord for His encouragement to me in Mark 6:31.  Jesus says to His disciples, “’Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’  For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.”  The verse reminds me that it is nothing new for God’s people to find the needs of the Kingdom so pressing that they cannot find time to eat.  But though I am willing to miss meals for the sake of taking care of the people God sends to me, I still find myself burdened by how far people are willing to travel to find me, and how long people are willing (?) to wait before I can see them.  Every day last week the line of people to see me in the morning seemed to get longer and longer.  Twice there were over 100 people waiting.  We had to bring in chairs from other buildings because there was no where for people to sit.  I tried to see them as quickly as I could.  People waited in line so long.  On one day we had some 80 people signed in to see me almost as soon as we opened the doors to the clinic.  As I began to try to meet their needs I couldn’t escape the burden of knowing that many of them would have to wait much of the day before I could even begin to see them.  So as I walked from 1 patient to another I clenched my fists and made up my mind that today I would not take the time to tell anyone about Christ.  Perhaps they could hear the gospel from my staff, but as for me, I had to concentrate on taking care of the physical needs that appeared to be too great to allow me to do anything else.  So I saw patients one by one and did not speak of spiritual matters.  But soon I could not take it.  I felt a pressure in my chest.  I felt this heat pent up inside me until I couldn’t take it anymore.  “Have you ever heard about God before?” burst out from me as I finished seeing a young man.  He had, wasn’t interested, and soon I was on to the next person.  After seeing them and talking about their medical needs I talked to them about Christ as well.  They were not interested and the talk was short.  But the 3^rd person I saw after that was interested.  She was afraid of demons, wanted a way to avoid making sacrifices to demons and was drawn in by the power and love of Jesus.  We talked for a while, and right there in exam room 1 she confessed her sins and asked Jesus to cleanse her and be Lord of her life.  Julie, one of my nurses, came and ushered her out to talk with her more about her next steps in walking with God.  I sat for a minute (a short minute) alone in the room and felt at peace. 

     “Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.”  But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back and I could not (Jeremiah 20:9).”  I felt this word of the Lord re-lived in me this past week.  It is such a joy to see God’s truths from so long ago still applying to our day.  God’s word called me to His service and called a young woman to His salvation at the same time.  Reading His word and seeing Him work, give me strength for today and encourage me to continue to work faithfully for Him tomorrow. 

I Peter 2:3

      if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

     Here we see the reason behind our willingness to put aside all self-serving sin as in verse 1 and crave God’s Word as in verse 2:  we have, indeed, “tasted that the Lord is gracious.”  We have knelt with Him in the mornings and experienced the wonder of his presence.  We have drawn near to Him and instead of finding a harsh judge, we have found Him gracious.  We have fallen in sin and come back in repentance and found Him graciously forgiving.  We have fallen beneath the weight of our needs and found Him graciously providing.  Yes, we have found God gracious toward us, and the thought blesses and reblesses our soul and stirs in us a longing to be holy and put aside the sins of verse 1, and fills us with a longing to know Him better and study His Word as in verse 2.  Oh how gracious God has been with our family.  May we respond rightly to the privilege of tasting His goodness by turning from sin and turning our attention on His Word. 

Faith’s Reproduction

Recently I took a trip up north to visit our TCT centers in Nan city and Chaing Klang.  It was a wonderful trip with many God planned encounters that have given me a smile in my heart and a spring in my step.   One story I just have to share.

  In Chaing Klang I have a small group of women working on some sewing projects like hand bags and weaving projects.  About a year ago, Wanpen, my group leader was pouring her soul into witnessing to a very distressed neighbor who had begun doing some piece work for us.   Wanpen felt Khun E (we will call her)  needed more time to hear the Good news.  She asked if we could hire Khun E to work at the center all day instead of doing piece work at home. This way her husband would allow her to be there longer.  I dug up some special work for her and we put Wanpen’s evangelism  plan into action.  Soon after, Khun E gave her heart to Christ.  Her husband would not allow her to go to church at first but she was hungry to learn as much as she could so she sometimes snuck out to go to church.  She came to our storying seminar this past January and began learning how to study, tell, and find the treasures in God’s word.  Her heart began to change in many ways.  She stopped being so frightened and timid.  Her whole countenance changed.  Then she began to pray for her husband at night after he was asleep.  Sometimes she  even lays her hands on him and prays for his ailments.    God used those times to make himself real to Khun E.    Soon her husband’s attitude began to change and he allowed her to go to church.  Last weekend he allowed her to attend a training event for evangelism in Chaing Mai with Wanpen.  One day we hope Khun E’s husband will know God too.

 Sitting next to Khun E every day at the center is Khun Nan.  Now she is sharing her faith with Khun Nan and her heart is slowly softening toward the Gospel just like Khun E’s did. 

 It has been several months since I visited the Chiang Klang center.  When I got to the center a few days ago, I hardly recognized Khun E.  She met me with a bright smile and a beautiful Sawadi.   I thought she even looked younger. (maybe from so many of her burdens being lifted).  What a joy to see God make such a difference in this woman’s life.  I am so grateful to have the venue of TCT to reach people for Christ.  I am praying her husband will find Christ through the quiet loving touch of his wife’s prayers. 

 

Walking in the Way

Walking in the Way

Isaiah 30:21
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

Isaiah 42:16

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

Isaiah 48:17
This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.

   I’m just your average, everyday ordinary woman, who humbly serves the Lord with her all. (most of the time)    I’m not perfect, I mess up a lot, but in that moment, when I really let go and let God take me to the paths he has set for me, incredible things happen.  

  Doug and I were looking back over the things that God has done in just my ministry opportunities this past year.  Storying at TCT, writing the song for Becky’s wedding, the Humming Choir, the business side of TCT and seeing God bring us more women and more orders, English camp ideas and evangelism opportunities.  Each event had a common theme.   When the task was before me, I had no idea where to begin.  I started by walking down that road God put before me and as I walked He showed me what was next. 

  I did not know when I heard God say, “Make my Word real to them.” and I began my research and training for the storying method I chose, the impact it would have on my staff and later Doug’s staff.  I did not know that I would see revival happen in the hearts of so many of my staff.  I did not know it would revamp our Gospel sharing time with our home workers at TCT who are not Christians.  I did not know the joy I would see or the elation I would hear from so many that realized the amount of scripture they were memorizing.

 

 

  I did not know when I started writing Becky’s song, if I would be able to finish it before the wedding.  I did not know what a treasure it would turn out to be.  What I did know was I didn’t have the ability to write it, but as I walked down the path, God gave me the song.  Wow!  What a joyful event!

 

  I did not know when I started the humming choir if that crazy idea would work.  I did not know that we would eventually sing in front of people -- until last Wednesday when practice was through and I thought we should go next door to sing for the patients at the clinic.  I did not know, as our evangelist introduced us and talked about how Christians love to praise God for the great things He does for us, that our humming Choir could be used as an evangelism tool.

 

  I did not know as we accepted a higher volume of orders from our British client at TCT, how we would accomplish such a great volume.  But God sent us more women from places where we already have Christian groups meeting and He gave us more ways to reach people with the Gospel. Wow! What ways God works!

   I did not know when I hired a young man who grew up in my yard as a child,  that the combination our our storying, singing, and sharing times together would lead to his   salvation and a baptism within two months.  

 

  I did not know when I kept being assigned the, “children’s English program”, on mobile clinic weeks that I would develop a curriculum using  The Creation Story  for young children and a curriculum about The Good Samaritan for teens. I had no idea that I would write numerous songs for these mini English camps that would be used over and over again. 

 

  All these things and more accomplished by this simple ordinary average person when my God whispers the way for me and I walk in it. 

 

Saturday Night Devotions

I Peter 2:2

    as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,

     Often we are called upon to be like children (Matthew 18:3), and here we are encouraged to be like children and crave milk, to “desire the pure milk of the word.”  As a hunger for milk in the life of a newborn is evidence of life and health, so a hunger for God’s Word in the life of a new believer is evidence that they have been truly born again.  Without milk a newborn baby cannot grow, and similarly, without the milk of the Word of God, a new believer cannot grow in his faith.  This is essential for us to understand.  We cannot grow in Christ unless we regularly take in the pure milk of His Word.  Drinking in God’s Word helps us not sin (Psalm 119:11); it makes us wise (Psalm 119:98); it cleanses us (Psalm 119:9), and strengthens us (119:28).  Clearly God’s Word provides us with the spiritual nutrients we need to grow. May this verse rekindle our commitment to our soul’s dietary health and fuel us to maintain a healthy hunger for the milk of God’s Word. 

I Peter 2:1

     Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,

     In verse 4 of this chapter we will be invited to come to Jesus.  This invitation is fantastic; we cannot afford to take it lightly.  We are invited to come into the presence of the Maker of the universe.  Who could hope that such a thing was possible?  But we cannot “draw near to God” as James puts it (James 4:8), or come to the Messiah, as our Savior says it (Matthew 11:28), and bring our sins along with us.  We must check our sins at the door if we are to hold audience with God.  Certainly we must abandon all sins in order to come to God, and Peter here lists 5 specific sins that we must “lay aside” in order to take advantage of the offer to come to Jesus that we see in verse 4.

     We must first of all lay aside “all malice.”  We cannot hate the people around us and be allowed intimacy with our loving Father.  “He who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness (I John 2:11). 

     We must also lay aside “all deceit.”  There is no deceit in God (Isaiah 53:9) and he will not tolerate deceit in anyone who wishes to come near to Him.  Psalm 101:7 says, “He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in My presence.” 

     Next we are to put away hypocrisy.  It is not difficult to fool men – especially kindhearted men who intentionally think the best of people.  Hypocrisy, then, is tempting because people see how easy it is to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin and still maintain the admiration of godly men.  This sin deeply offends God, however, and casts us out of His presence.  Men can be easily fooled – but it is not possible to trick God, and trying to draw near to Him when one’s heart is far from Him, and one’s actions are disobedient to Him is highly offensive to Him and will move Him to drive the hypocrite away.

     We must also lay aside envy.  Like the 3 previous sins, envy is a silent sin, a sin easy to keep hidden.  Perhaps Peter points out these sins specifically because their quiet nature may cause people to overlook them.  But it is not just the visible sins of stealing, murdering, and adultery that keep people from God.  These silent sins of the heart keep us just as far from God as the notoriously naughty things we do.  Here we are taught that we cannot draw near to God and enjoy His fellowship and envy someone else at the same time.  Envying their possessions, their position, or their abilities will kill our walk with the Lord and prohibit the intimacy with God we crave.  We must put envy from us!  It is a quiet sin.  It is possible to hide it from the eyes of men.  But it is murderous.  It kills our walk with God.  God says in Hebrews 13:5 that rather than coveting and envying what others have, we must be content with what God gives us because, “I will never leave you.”  The relationship is clear – we walk with God in wonderful communion, content with what he supplies – or we walk in bitterness and envy of what others have that we do not.  We cannot have both.  We cannot enjoy God and envy others.  In wonderfully picturesque language Psalm 68:16 says, “Why do you fume with envy you mountains of many peaks?  This is the mountain which God desires to dwell in; yes, the Lord will dwell in forever.”  God offers to dwell with us. How can we envy anyone when we have God?  Envy is rottenness to both the bones and the soul (Proverbs 14:30).  Let us not envy sinners, but let us zealously and gratefully seek the presence and provisions of the Lord – which is such a far greater prize than what anyone else can possess. 

     Finally, Peter calls on us to put away “all evil speaking.”  It seems obvious that we must put away all sins in order to come to Jesus.  But Peter specifically lists these 5 sins that we must put away.  The 1^st four are all hidden sins – sins of the heart that might be unnoticed by others and so more liable to be left unchecked in a believer’s life.  This last sin of “evil speaking” is well noted by others, but is easily overlooked by the sinner himself.  For some reason, even good men who would be horrified by the thought of committing the sins of theft and adultery will speak evil of their fellow believer without the slightest remorse.  Peter is emphasizing sins that tend to be overlooked and he here lists evil speaking (NKJV), backstabbing (NLT), and slander (ESV) as one of these.  We must be reminded that harsh language that degrades others is sin and is only done by those with a “debased mind” who “do these things which are not fitting (Romans 1:28-30).”  It appears that if we would draw near to God we must 1^st of all guard our heart and then secondly guard our tongue, for an evil tongue can keep us from God just as well as a wicked heart.      

 

Saturday Night Devotions a bit late!!!!

I Peter 1:24-25

     Because “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.  The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”  Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.  

     Peter continues His discussion from the previous verses pointing us to the power and eternal nature of God’s word.  Without the eternal word of God in us man is like grass.  He springs up quickly and dies quickly.  The “flower” of our lives, our accomplishments and various merits may look good for a while, but soon enough we wither and our successes fall away.  It is only when the word of God dwells in us richly (Colossians 3:16) that we can look forward to accomplishing any truly long term goals.  Without God’s word planted in our lives, the best we can hope for is to make plans that will last us a lifetime – a very short-sighted goal.  True long range planning involves eternity – and to plan well for eternity we must have the word of the Lord in us, the eternal word of the Lord – guiding our decisions, turning us to holiness, and assuring us that Christ’s blood has saved our soul for eternity.  Without the word of the Lord in us we wither and die, let us then “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21).”                      

Saturday Night Devotions

 

I Peter 1:22

     Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

     Once again we are faced with a short verse which teaches a series of remarkable truths.  First we are told that by “obeying the truth” we have “purified” our souls.  When we think of the regrettable things that we have thought and said and done, the idea that we could actually be purified from these things amazes us!  How can anything be made pure after it has become impure?  In the physical world, this can be done – but only after a deliberate process, and here in this verse the soul’s purification process is given a simple name: “obeying the truth.”  We can be pure!  What an amazing hope!  Our soul, our inner self, the real us, can be cleansed from all the sinful, stupid things we have done and contemplated doing.  What a fantastic hope!  This was Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17:17: “Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth (NLT).”  Quickly, however, we come to another dilemma when we find ourselves incapable of obeying the truth.  If we are purified by obeying the truth, but can’t seem to help ourselves from sinning against the truth, we find that the purification process doesn’t help us much.  Once again, the answer is provided: we obey the truth “through the Spirit.”  On our own we fall and fail and mess things up, but by the inner presence of the Holy Spirit, we are able to experience His sanctifying work in us – His work to make us pure.  It is not just will power that allows us to obey the truth and purify our souls – it is by the inner working of God’s Spirit who both gives us the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him (Philippians 2:13).      

     Then we come to the climax of the verse – and it takes us by surprise.  What is the intended outcome of the purification of our souls?  “Love one another fervently with a pure heart.”  The purification of our soul is not the intended end – as glorious as that is.  God intends to purify our heart so that we can take our pure heart and “love one another fervently.”  Being made pure is glorious.  Our soul loves it.  But God has more in store for the godly man than just being sinless.  He wants us to be holy and pure as He is holy and pure, but He also wants us to love one another just like He loves us (John 13:34).  This was the failure of the Pharisees.  They had a passion for holiness, but no heart to love their fellow man – and in that they fell short of God’s plan for us spelled out here in I Peter 1:22.