Goforth's Little Wood Pecker

17 June 2012

Dear Phyllis,

Johnathan Goforth had a favorite story about a little wood pecker that was flying through the forest. The bird landed on a huge pine tree and took a couple of pecks. Suddenly, a bolt of lightening shot out of heaven and struck the tree, shattering it in a million bits. The poor little wood pecker went hurtling end over end, landing on a near by tree, scared to death. As nothing further happened; the little bird squared himself up to survey the devastation of the splintered tree laying at his feet, and said, “Who would believe that two pecks could do all of that?”

Night after night Goforth would come home after a meeting, and say to his wife, “Well, the Lord had to remind me of the wood pecker tonight.” He would preach a simple gospel message, and the power of God would come down on the meeting. Hundreds would agonize under the terrible conviction of sin, and call upon th Lord for salvation.

I am no Johnathan Goforth, and we are not seeing revival at Gichikun's church, but good things are happening. I told you that I thought we had an unusually good service last week. I left immediately after the service and heard nothing after that. The other day I saw Pastor Gichikun and asked him what happened. I was overwhelmed to hear that five people were saved. That is the highest number I have heard of being saved in a small church in a Sunday morning service in many years.

What happened was that we had an excellent combination. The Lord has raised up a young man who usually leads the service. Fa is only 19, but he acts like he has been in the ministry for 15 years, and does an outstanding job up front. The singing was wonderful. And his prayers we something like I had never heard from him. It wold be hard to improve on what he is doing. Destiny Rescue NGO has recently been coming to church, bringing a large group of girls – most of whom were not saved. I said last week that, it is unusual to have unsaved people in a church in Thailand. That gave me a rare opportunity to preach an evangelistic message for a Sunday morning service. The Lord heavily laid on my heart a message He wanted to bring, and attended His Word with an unusual anointing. The reality that God would invite me to attend the wedding of His Son was so powerful that I was reduced to silence and tears. I didn't understand what Gichikun was saying at the end of the service, but I knew he spoke for an unusually long time. He later told me that it was an invitation, and five girls responded. He said that three were in tears. Then he asked the two pastors with Destiny Rescue to help out in handling the personal work in leading these girls to Christ. I was thrilled.

Destiny Rescue NGO recently moved into this muban (housing area) and they were very tentative about where they were going to go to church. They told me that they were coming to our church more or less as a social visit, but they had their main church in Chiang Mai. Then they told Gichikun that they were proceeding with their relationship with us gradually. It was doubtful that they would throw in with us full time. Now it looks like our relationship is firmer and they probably will make us their main church. This is extremely good news. The combination we have is quite unusual and extremely healthy.

This past week has been an unusually good one for us as a family. When I look at Annie, I am almost in tears of gratitude to the Lord. I can't imagine a more blessed, happy, little girl. This is almost heaven. The atmosphere in our home has almost been like heaven. Pammy said to me the other day, “We are the happy family.” We sure are.

It isn't always that way. The sun doesn't shine every day. We have had some horrible storm clouds. But the Lord has always brought out the rainbow. I have had my problem in being a contributer to strife. Being married has proved to be a serious challenge for Pammy. For 45 years she steered her own ship and never answered to anyone. To suddenly have someone else in charge, and having to adjust as a obedient wife, was no easy task. She also has a choleric streak that can make her as winsome and loving as a junkyard police dog. One night Annie was crying, and Pammy couldn't calm her down. I told her, “The problem is your spirit. What you are saying is right, but your spirit is more like a prison warden than a tender mother.” But the Lord is helping all of us. Annie had some security problems when she first came to us, but she is as cheerful and happy a little girl as you will find anywhere. A couple of weeks ago, I had to apply the board of education to her seat, and that has proved to be marvelously therapeutic. She has a respectful fear of me. When I speak sternly to her, I like the look on her face. She knows that disobedience can be grim business. And yet the bond between is is getting stronger every day. The other night I was hanging some cabinet doors. She was all over me like a jungle gym. That is the kind of distraction that I like.

Perhaps the Bible verse that has had the greatest, life determining , impact on my life has been the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:2. I have mentioned this to you several times, but it cannot be over emphasized. Years ago I was challenged to do an in-depth study of the Lord's Prayer. I saw that there were seven points, and it was divided into three sections. The first two sections are the three Thys and the three uses. Thy Name, Thy Kingdom, and Thy Will. I probably am wrong, but I have a total obsession on these first three points. I almost most never get past them. At the moment these three Thys are the sum and substance of life. I see almost nothing in life beyond them.

Certainly the purpose and goal in life is “Hallowed be Thy Name”. I can't imagined any other reason to live except for the glory and honor of God. If that isn't the purpose of life, what pray tell, is? To make me happy?! This humanistic message of the promotion, prosperity, and pleasure of man is nonsense to the point of being close to insanity. If we take man off center stage, and put Jesus up front, that makes sense.

But the next two points are the thing that has me captivated at the moment. The second point is THY KINGDOM COME! Amen! I can't imagine anything more wonderful. His Kingdom and government are one and the same thing. And may I throw in a third noun – administration. I don't care what you call it as long as Jesus is in charge. You don't want someone incompetent running the show.

In the Air Force, pilots get special flight pay, but they must fly a minimum of 4 hours a month to qualify. Unfortunately there were a number of former pilots who have long since lost their ability to fly, but still come in four hours a month to draw flight pay. One night, one of these chair-borne old men, who had done little else except elbow bends at the O Club bar, came in to get his flight time. I had flown all day, but they asked me if I would go up with him. He couldn't start the airplane, and I had to start it for him. He could scarcely taxi, but, miraculously, he did get the bird airborne. As soon as we got in the air he said,“Cook, do you want to fly it?” For the next hour and a half we just bore holes in the sky with me at the controls in the back seat. But he had to land the bird. His landing pattern was terrible, and we lost a lot of altitude. I knew we were very low when he rounded out on final approach. There was a little country rail line that went right past the north end of Yokota runway. They had built a tunnel over the tracks to keep smoke from steam engines out of the way of landing aircraft. The tunnel was about 30 feet high. The visibility from the back seat of the T-33 is poor, but I was taking an intense interest in his flying. Suddenly the runway lights and everything in front of us went black. I knew that we had fallen below the level of the tunnel. There is a hard rule among pilots that one pilot never takes over the controls when another man is flying. But this was no time for protocol. I jammed the throttle forward to come in on power, grabbed the stick, and hauled back. Suddenly the runway lights and everything in front of us came on again. I landed the bird from the back seat. He never said a word as we shut down and went home. An incompetent man at the controls nearly cost my life that night

After 55 years of failure, I have learned that the only one qualified to run my life is Jesus. I don't want to be in control. This business about surrender is ridiculous. It isn't a matter of surrender with me, but pleading with Jesus to take control of my life. If only His Kingdom is operative in me, that is the best possible situation. Oh how earnestly I plead – “Thy Kingdom come! PLEASE!!!”

And when this is true in a family, it makes the home like heaven. I don't want it to be my kingdom; I want it to be His Kingdom. If this is true, then everyone is blessed. The determining factor that distinguishes His Kingdom from somewhere else is that His Will is done. If the will of God is not being accomplished, it certainly isn't the Kingdom of God. The thing that make heaven heaven is that everyone is on the same page, and the will of God is being perfectly accomplished all the time. Oh the unity of it! There are no tug of wars or political maneuvering in heaven. Oh the harmony of it is wonderful! There are no discordant or sour notes in the choir of heaven. Everyone is on key. There are many different parts but everyone is singing the same thing and in the same key. It was reported that one of the great composures of years past had a pre-death peek of heaven. When he revived he exclaimed, “I heard them! I heard them1 I heard the choir singing. I counted 16 different parts. There were more but that was all I could count.”I'm sure that is true. There are many different parts to sing in a family, but when everyone is doing what they should, and in the same key, that makes the heart sing for joy. Who could want more?How could you improve on that? Everyone is doing the will of God. And the central theme is the Song of the Lamb (Rev. 15:3). Hang counseling! Hang seminars! Hang all these books on family relationship! All you need is the operative Kingdom of God where everyone is doing the will of God.

But why in the world is this so unusual? Surely the answer must be that vertical line “I”. This is what made the Son of the Morning into the devil. When Lucifer said in his heart “I will”, he was all done (Isa. 14:12-15). That was the first time that voice was heard, but it has been repeated untold billions of times in the hearts of unregenerate humanity ever since. And this is what can turn a heavenly home into hell, When that clash of “I will” takes over, then the Spirit of God is grieved and the devil takes over.

I see this as the most desirous thing possible. But how do you produce it? I don't know. The only thing I do know is that Jesus taught us that this is the first thing we should pray about and earnestly seek. I have trouble enough trying to keep Jesus firmly seated on the Throne of my own heart. How do you get Him enthroned in the hearts of others? Oh how I wish I knew that secret! The only answer I know is that perhaps it is by the Holy Spirit. But why isn't He more active? This thing is making me desperate to plead, “O Father, Hallowed be Thy Name. Lord, please let Your Kingdom come here. And, at all cost, may Your will be done in me and others.” There seems to be some evidence that the Lord is doing this, and our family is getting to be more like heaven.

One of the brothers from Destiny Rescue said that he is teaching the five girls who responded to the Gospel last week and getting them ready for baptism Oh, praise God if Jesus has truly come to the hearts of five needy girls. Perhaps if the Kingdom gets operative and the will of God is being done in their lives, that might bring the others also. Jesus started His ministry by saying that the Kingdom of God was at hand (Mt. 4:17). Praise God! That is wonderful news!

bill