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Weekly Prayer Posts from Thailand

Letting God Be Our All-Sufficiency

November 5, 2020

Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

A new season is most definitely upon us! The terrain we are entering is clearly going to be uncharted territory. All of us will have to learn how to navigate this new reality. We will need to make the transition from an achievement-based self-sufficient existence to that of a faith-based God-dependent life. This does not mean that there is no merit in hard work, and the rewards that come with it. It does mean that everything that we create has a limited shelf life. Whatever we put into motion will inevitably slow down, start to wobble, and keel over. There is just so much spin we can put into things!

So what’s the takeaway from all this? It is this — the sooner we can wean ourselves off of what the world is trying to foist on us, the sooner we will be able to free ourselves from being disappointed for the millionth time. Then and only then, will we be able to fully put our trust in the Lord, so that we can join up with God’s caravan — and go where He is going! This is the only way we will be able to bring ourselves to be content with what God has prepared for us.

“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

Psalm 16:5-6

Let us remind ourselves that in God, every life matters! It takes every grain of sand to make a world — and it takes every drop of water to fill up an ocean. Sometimes we are lulled into thinking that bigger is better. This may cause us to think that if we can just kick our problems upstairs, somebody at the top will take care of them for us. Somehow, it never works out this way. Yet we are slow to learn, and we keep on setting ourselves up for disappointment!

The time has come when we will need to tear ourselves away from this sort of faulty thinking. From here on out — the participation of every individual is going to be required to work on the blueprint that God has drawn up for us. Every hand will be needed to work on building the community that God wants us to establish.

“ … you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

– Ephesians 2:19-22

This idea that we are all needed on God’s job site is spelled out for us in more detail by the apostle Paul. God is building something the likes of which no one has ever seen before. This new community of the “called out ones” has been gathered together to showcase something magnificent to a weary world.

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

1 Corinthians 3:10-17

And yet, in spite of all the good that has been done by God’s people over the centuries, there still are people who see the Church as being irrelevant, or non-essential. How can this be? Well, we will just have to sprinkle the world with more salt — and illuminate the world with more light!

We are going to have to prove God’s promises through our personal lives. We will need to not only — talk the talk — but also — walk the walk. Our prayers are going to have to move the needle on the dial. We will need to deliver the goods to a skeptical world. This can only be accomplished if we allow ourselves to become conduits of God’s love. We ourselves can do nothing through our own strength — but we can be powerful connectors. Introducing people to the One who is able to meet their needs is the invaluable service that we can provide as followers of Jesus.

In His Service,

Joni & Nangsar

🙏 Prayer Requests 🙏

  • Please join us in praying for a new ministry door that God is opening.
    • Over the past few months we have received repeated requests for us to visit a Lisu village that is located in a remote corner of Thailand. The village has been in desperate need of clean water for the past fifty years. We will be making a trip to the village this week to assess their situation, and to see what can be done. Please pray for travel mercies for our team.
  • Please pray for Myanmar— as their elections will be held on November 8th.
    • Elections can become very complicated and contentious. Please join us in praying for God’s best for the people of Myanmar.
  • Let’s continue to pray for America.
    • Let’s pray that God’s Will will be done in this year’s presidential election.
  • Let’s continue to pray for the countries seeing an increase in the Covid virus.
    • May God’s mercy be granted to all the countries that are struggling so heroically to contain the spread of this deadly virus.