The apostle Paul was "in the market place every day with those who happened to be present." Acts 17:17 This was one of the verses that we meditated on during our day of prayer and fasting on Tuesday, March 16th. The Holy Spirit was challenging us to go to where the people are. Well, we had our usual plans of evangelizing in the universities and with the school children, but due to the closing of the schools in this summer season all of our nearby "targets" weren't around.
So we changed our "targets". We followed Paul's example and went to the largest market in Chiang Rai at the busiest time of the day. We set up our group on the sidewalk and began singing songs and sharing testimonies. Our intentions were good, but it wasn't effective because the noise was so loud that nobody could hear our words. Along walks a blind man carrying a microphone and speaker. "Wouldn't it be great if we could use that?" I thought. I made a joke about it to another person and they challenged me to ask to borrow it. I thought it was a little inappropriate, but after some prodding I finally went up to the blind man and asked if we could use the microphone and speaker. He agreed and now our words were loud enough for all to see. We shared the gospel of Jesus Christ to over a hundred people. There wasn't a huge response to the gospel, but there was one woman who wanted to know more. I sat down with her and shared my testimony. There was no pause; she immediately wanted to accept Jesus into her life. We prayed with her and explained to her how she could pray to God herself and we blessed her. Next week will return to see her and give her a Bible and teach her more about the gospel. It's amazing how you read the Scriptures and put it into practice and results come through obedience to God's voice. May God receive all the glory for it was He who touched that woman's heart. Say a prayer for her right now; her name is Chonladam. Cy and I (Rob) went out into a small village of about a thousand people with two fellow team members who are Thai. They understand English so they could translate for us. We went out to visit the sick in this village. We arrived at a house with two sick ladies. One of them was lame and the other couldn’t walk without help. We didn’t do much because we couldn’t speak Thai, but the Thai girls were getting acquainted with the two ladies. At one point one of the ladies asked us to sing a song for them. We sang “Shout to the Lord” for them. Afterwards I took advantage of it and got the girls to translate the words of the song. I began to talk about Jesus with the two ladies. I explained to them that Jesus loves them and I told them about the things that He did in love while He was on the earth. One of the things that I mentioned was that Jesus healed the sick. After I shared about Jesus one of the Thai girls asked the ladies if we could bless them in prayer. We did. I prayed that Jesus would reveal to them that He loves them so that they may believe in Him and be saved. After the prayer, we all sat in silence for about 5 seconds. I felt the Lord lead me to take one of the ladies hands and lift her up to walk. I got up and went to the lady and put out my hand and said, “If you believe that Jesus loves you and that He can heal you, stand up and walk with me.” She took my hand and stood up. I walked her about 30 feet and then she let go of my hand and walked around by herself. We were all amazed. Then Cy came to me and said that God had spoken to her saying that the other lady is going to walk as well. I took her word for it and lifted the lady to her feet. I told her to walk in the name of Jesus. I walked a little bit with her and then the four of us stood in a square and she walked person to person. It was amazing. Jesus healed the lame before our very eyes. I almost couldn’t believe it myself. The two ladies wanted to receive Jesus into their lives and did. We were amazed at how God can use simple young people like us to heal the lame and have them believe in Him.
Days before outreach was upon them all, the DTS students and staff were waiting upon God to provide the finances they needed so that everyone would go together. They didn't want to leave anyone else behind.
After approaching the Base Leadership about the possibility of asking for an offering from everyone on base, the idea was put into practice after 45 minutes of drawing near to the presence of God. The need: 40,000 Thai Baht ($1,300 USD) There were about 35 people in the room, all depending on God for their personal finances. However, all money is God's money, not ours. We are all simply stewards of HIS money. So what do good stewards do? They ask their master what HE would like to do with HIS money. So that's what we did. Each person asked God what they were supposed to give towards this HIS cause. There was a small basket at the front where people could deposit their offerings. At the end of 10 minutes two people set out to count up the money. How much money was there? OVER 40,000 THB! How did it happen? Only the master of all money knows, but our suspicion is that HE multiplied it. The DTS shared hugs and cheers of joy as we all, together in faith, saw the faithfulness of God coming through for HIS children. And where is the DTS at this moment? In another province (LAMPHANG) of Thailand, one of greater need, serving the church and children of the community. God blesses us all to be a blessing! May HE receive all the glory! |
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