Welcome to Jesus Land!

10 February 2013

Dear Phyllis,

Last week I had a vision that is probably the greatest challenge of my life. I would like to make a beautiful sign and hang it over the gate to our property – JESUS LAND. I can't imagine a more wonderful declaration. Oh if this is possible it would be heaven right here.

There is such a thing as spiritual atmosphere. We see it clearly in the world of darkness. Consistently, Christians say, when they go into Buddhist temples they can feel the darkness in there. I have been in some bars where you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Conversely, there are places where Jesus is so present, that it is like walking out of a freezing cold day into a warm room.

There was a great saint of God living in Beijing not too long ago. My good friend Vidar Aronsen knew her well. Mable had been a medical doctor, but during the cultural revolution in China in the 1960s, she got promoted to being a street sweeper. At another point she had the prestigious job of cleaning public toilets. Public toilets in China are the most wretched places I have ever seen. They are simple concrete trenches 45 cm (18”) wide that you straddle to relieve yourself. Mable said when she had that job of scrubbing those filthy places, they were sparkling clean. She wanted to have a clean heart, and scrubbed those vile things as clean as she wanted Jesus to clean her heart. My friend, Mark, had the opportunity of visiting Mable's home one time. He said when he walked in the house he burst out, "Waaa!” It was something like he had never sensed in his life. Another brother said to him, “If you think the atmosphere in here is something, you should have been in her last house. This place is new.”

One of the most dramatic illustrations of spiritual atmosphere I ever experienced was with Ron Blough at Yokota. I was just passing through Yokota one night, and stopped at the chiurch, slightly late for service. I hadn't been there long when Ron said to me from the pulpit, “Bill, would you check outside. There is someone looking in the window.” I went out and saw a man slumped over a motor bike. I went back in the church and told Ron, “I need some help. There is someone outside that I must take to your house.” Another brother went out with me, and we loaded this GI in his car. He was clearly in a trance. His eyes were open, and he would respond to question, but he flat was not there. This was Ken Shu who was demon possessed. Everything was normal until we got to Bloughs house. Ken was like a drunk. I was helping him walk from the car to the house. His head was down but walking normally until we got to the front door. Suddenly, he balked. He looked up and declared, “I can't go in there.” It took a couple of minutes of persuasion before I could get him the house. I wasn't aware of it, but he could intensely sense the presence of the Holy Spirit in Blough's house.

When my boys were growing up, the time came when I decided to make them a world- class swing. I cut down three 10 meter trees and stuck them two meters in the ground. That was an honest 8 meters (25') in the air. Then I made a tree house 5 meters above ground. It was so good I thought, “This is mottainai (a waste) for the boys. I'm going to make this for myself”. Then I realized it was too nice for myself, and decided to make it for the Lord. I called it, my prayer tower. It was fantastic!

We lived on a hill, and it was perched on the edge of the bank. Being on the porch of that thing was like being in space looking off into the distance. I vowed I would sanctify that place and never allow anything up there except that which was totally Christian. I would only take my Bible or Christian books there. I would not sing anything but Christian songs. And I disciplined myself to never think anything unworthy of Jesus while I was up there. If I wanted to allow myself the luxury of a dirty thought, or an argument I with someone, I would put it off until I got down. I kept that place absolutely holy. And I never went up there that I didn't meet with Jesus. Those early mornings up there was like being in heaven. On three different occasions I had wild birds sit on me. Two landed on my knee, and one sat on my shoulder. I never had that any other place in my life.

This is what I want to do with our house in Chiang Mai. I want to make it Jesus Land. I am not sure if this is possible, but it is a worthy challenge. The thing that got me into undertaking is the Lord's Prayer. There is nothing that grips my heart more intensely than what Jesus told us to pray for. There are seven points in that prayer, and I am convinced it is not intended to be a liturgical “Hail Mary full of grace”. The first three points are three Thy s and the next three points are three us s. Thy Name, Thy Kingdom, and Thy will. I can't get past the first three Thy s. Why would Jesus tell us to pray for this if He didn't mean that it would be answered? And yet it is so high, so wonderful, it seems utterly out of reach. Even if it is out of reach, it is still a good goal, and something we should strive for daily.

I tell the Lord daily, if my life is not a credit to the worthy Name of the Lord – if the Lord is not honored through my life daily – I would rather not live. I plead, if the Kingdom God is operative any place on this planet, please let it be done in my heart. And there is nothing I desire more intensely than the will of God to be done in my heart, just like it is being done in heaven.

God gave Adam a Garden to keep. I believe this same principle and responsibility applies today. If God places us anywhere, I believe it is incumbent upon us to cultivate that place for the Lord. Of course it starts in our individual hearts. But then the next parameter is our family. This is what I desire for my family. I have pleaded with the Lord to please establish His Kingdom under my roof. There was a war going on in Japan for four years. But when MacArthur landed, the country was under new management. Factories started producing goods – not guns. The curriculum in schools was different. Prisons were emptied of Christians and political dissidents. Everything was different because the government was different. This is what I am asking the Lord to do for us. If the Lord would actually do this for us – in very reality – His Kingdom would be functioning in our home; then the sign would be true. The place would really be Jesus Land. Oh Lord, please hear this prayer and let Your Kingdom come to our home!

But I don't know if I have nerve enough to do it. I don't want to put up that sign if it is not true. So much of the time this place is more like the devils nest than Jesus Land. In Jesus Land the devil is run out of business. But we have had a great deal of agony with the devil having frequent access here. I have talked with Pammy about this idea. She is all for it. But it will take an unprecedented amount of cooperation to bring it about. There is no way I can make it Jesus Land. If the Lord doesn't do it, there is no way it will happen. In Jesus Land the devil is unwanted, unhosted, and not permitted. I have trouble enough keeping him out of my own heart, and I sure can't do it for anyone else. I can't change Pammy's heart.

In Bunyan's classic, The Holy War, when Prince Emmanuel breached the wall of the town of Mansoul, the mayor, Lord Willbewill knew he was in deep trouble.He had been a strong ally of King Shaddai's enemy, Diabolus. When Prince Emmanuel hailed that scoundrel before His judgment seat, he fell down as dead knowing he only deserved the death sentence. But much to his total astonishment, Prince Emmanuel freely forgave him, and reinstated him as mayor of Mansoul. I don't want that. If there is any way to get out of it, I do not want to be the governor of Jesus Land. If the Lord makes me governor, there is no way I can keep the devil out and keep peace here. My only hope is what Isaiah 9:6 says that “the government shall be upon His shoulder”. And that “of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end.” If this is true, we will make it.

I don't know the balance. I don't know the difference between my being responsible for my own heart and Jesus being King on the throne of my heart. I don't know the difference between me being responsible for the plot of ground the Lord has placed me over, and Jesus being the governor with the government upon His shoulder. Yet somehow I know that both are true. I don't want to touch the wheel. I want Jesus to drive the car. I want to ride in the back seat. But I know that somehow the Lord has still made me mayor of my own soul.

Realistically it seems a little ridiculous. Is it possible that the Lord might establish His Kingdom in our home? There are two things that encourage me. The first is that Jesus told us that this is what we should pray for. But secondly, because, it looks so impossible. When I look at my own life there is only one reason I can see why Jesus laid His Hand on me 56 years ago, and has kept me ever since; 1 Cor. 1:27 – “God has chosen foolish things”. That is the only possible explanation.

I have found life to be very difficult. It has taken me years to try to figure out why. I have finally come to the conclusion that the reason must be missing parts. I believe the most compassionate thing that many of my friends could say is, “Poor fellow. Bill is a nice guy, but he just doesn't have a full deck. He is just a few cards short of having a full deck of 52.” I had a great passion to graduate from my fathers alma mater of the University of Michigan. It was a miracle that I got in, but probably a mistake. I was just out of my class at Michigan. Once I had to have a letter of recommendation for the ROTC program. I asked my favorite professor to write one. Unfortunately, he gave me the letter in an unsealed envelope, and I took the liberty to read it. He wrote, “Mr Cook is not too intelligent, but he probably is adequate for military service.” Gong. But he was right. And that qualified me for salvation by Christ.

It is hard to imagine a more ridiculous candidate for having the Kingdom of God than my family (marriage). It is more like a war zone than the Kingdom of Peace. But if God delights in foolish things; if He specializes in weak things; if he chooses impossible things to manifest His power and salvation, we might be at the front of the line. This is a tremendous encouragement.

Oh wouldn't that be wonderful?! I don't want it for my own sake. I want it because Jesus told us that this is what we should ask for and strive towards. Why settle for less? Why tolerate the devil in the home? Some people feel the answer is to remove the warring elements, but I feel it is more honoring to God to see salvation than subtraction. Isiah promised, “Of the increase of His government there would be no end.” I don't see that as subtraction. I don't see the working of the Holy Spirit as that of removing so much as He converts.
Tonikaku, that is my vision and prayer,
bill