Pammy and Singha

17 November 2013

Dear Phyllis,

Not much has happened last week. There was one fairly big negative that turned out to be a significant positive. As I mentioned last week, Pammy has been suffering with a serious case of typhoid and related eye problems. She went with her sister back to Lampan to see a doctor, and was gone for most of the week. I was really looking forward to her return Friday night, but that event turned depressingly sour. Pammy was in a bad mood when she got home, and the atmosphere in the house that night was terrible. One of the biggest things in her life is “dust” (dirt). She is ultra ultra sensitive about any dist in the house, and I had made no attempt to keep the house aseptically clean in her absence. I didn't see it, but she complained about dust being on everything. Finally after an hour or more I had my fill and said, “Why don't you go back to Lampan? You are obviously very unhappy here.”; and went up stairs. Before I lost myself on my computer looking at Fox News I decided I would at least make a token appearance at prayer. I hadn't been praying long telling the Lord how bad everything was, when the Holy Spirit said a very clear word to me. “You sound just like your wife.” Oh oh! I couldn't miss that one. I was genuinely surprised at that word, but as I thought about it I had to admit it was true. I could see very little difference between what I was saying to the Lord and what Pammy had been saying to me.

There was an incident in the life of Praying Hyde of India where he was praying for a back-slidden pastor. He was telling the Lord all about how bad the man was when the Lord spoke to him a similar word. The Lord said, “I am not interested in hearing how bad he is. I want you to thank Me for every good thing you see in him.” I have known about that principle for many years, but it hasn't had much effect on my prayer life. But when the Lord told me that I sounded just like my wife; that was something I could take hold of. Negative speech is not helpful or productive, and that may apply spiritual as well as in human relations.

Later that night I saw I had been more used of the devil in destroying harmony in the house than Pammy, and went to apologize. But she was asleep. The next morning I knew I had two very important things to talk to her about, but was at a loss how to handle it. I prayed very much that the Lord would enable me to say truth to Pammy in a way that would be helpful and she could take. As she was fixing breakfast I asked, “Could we talk?” “No. Later.” After breakfast the time seemed to be better and I asked again if we could talk now. “Okay.” Firstly I apologized for my part in the failure the night before. Then I cautiously said I would like to talk about negative speech. I was surprised at the way the Lord helped me discuss the subject. What came out of my mouth was different than the way I had been thinking. I told her how terribly destructive negative speech is, and how intensely counter-productive it is. It doesn't produce a thing in correcting a problem, but only highly exasperates the situation. I was amazed how well she took what I wanted to say and thanked me for it. Since then complaining has greatly diminished in the house. A couple times I have tenderly indicated what was going on, that has been effective in turning it off.

Where I was going out of my mind with an insufferable nagging wife, the Lord was able to say something to me about myself, and then enabled me to say something constructive that has brought more of the Spirit of Christ into our home.

Singha continues to be a major blessing. It grieves me that the Lord is unable to use me more in bringing people to Christ but I do thank Him for the privilege of being a by-stander watching what the Holy Spirit is doing. If anyone asked Singha how he got saved, he would probably say, “Bill Cook”. Reality is that I have had very little to do with it. But I do enjoy watching what the Holy Spirit is teaching him daily. Along with teaching the little children English at the kindergarten, I hope to be able to teach them about Jesus soon. That could be a major issue. That has the potential of causing a major tsunami with the parents. But for the past two weeks I have been teaching them Christian songs. The school has a marching band with the children playing on their melodians. The song they have been practicing is When the Saints Go Marching In. No one had the faintest idea what that was all about. Friday I explained to Singha that that was a Christian song; the saints were saved believers; where they were marching in was into heaven; and the last part of that is a prayer – “Lord, I want to be in that number...”. No one had ever thought about that. As I explained that to Singha I asked, “Are you going to be in that number?” He joyously replied, “I certainly am!” Then I asked, “Is your wife going to be in that number?” He thoughtfully replied, “I am working on that. I want her to be with me.” Then I asked, “Will there be any unbelievers in that number?” Amazingly he responded, “No, only those who believe in Jesus.” How he came up with that is beyond me. There is only one explanation. He got that from the Holy Spirit. That is very surprising coming from a man who has been saved for only a few months, and has yet to establish a background in Bible study. Many American pastors and professors in seminaries aren't that clear.

In a perverse way there is another thing about Singha that is an encouragement. Every Sunday something has been coming up that keeps him from church. I am not endorsing a schedule where church gets 2^nd palace to other activities. I hope the day soon comes where he says no to anything that challenges church on Sunday. But he clearly has taken hold of Christ without going through religion. I didn't get saved in a church. I had been saved and serving the Lord for a year and a half before I got baptized. I had been a missionary for six years before I joined a church. My roots have never been in a church. I have acquired 90% of what the Lord has given me personally from the Lord, rather than being fed through a church. I hope Singha gets baptized and becomes a faithful member of a church soon, but I am greatly encouraged that he has laid hold of Christ directly and has established a personal walk with the Lord on his own.

Andrew Murray continues to dominate my morning devotions. I have laid aside the Covenants at the moment, and gone back to With Christ in the School of Prayer. Amazing! Fantastic! Incredible! I don't know how a man got so much material for talking about prayer. The other day I read the chapter on Whose is this image? AM said with that remark Jesus foiled His enemies who had set a trap for Him over the issue of tribute money (Mt. 22:20). Then he went on to say that this principle has universal application that is nowhere seen more clearly than in creation when God said, “Let Us make man in our image (Gen. 1:26). The image he bears decides his destiny. Bearing God's image, establishes the fact that he belongs to God.

Sin has so degraded man, that, from what he is now, we can form no conception of what he was originally intended to be. To understand God's purpose, we must turn back to the record of what God said at creation. It was to fill, to subdue, and to have dominion over the earth and all in it. All three expression show us that man was intended to be Gods representative to have rule over the earth. As God's viceroy he was to take God's place; himself subject to God, and to keep all things in subjection to Him. Prayer was the means of communication where God's viceroy had access to His heavenly King for all that he needed to accomplish his assigned task. Any viceroy has unlimited access to the resources of the government that has sent him to a distant land. If he needs troops to quell rebellion, they will be sent to him. If he needs supplies, the government is under obligation to see that he gets those supplies. We saw this in Benghazi – except God is more faithful than Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. Man was, of course, expected to do his assigned task, and it is safe to say God would be faithful is supporting His representative.

This puts prayer in its proper position and light. Prayer isn't some means where I have access to a well-stocked warehouse and I have an unlimited expense account. Prayer is not an open-ended ATM card. Prayer isn't some party card so I can have a million dollar home, drive a Lexus, and a new pair of cowboy boots each week. Prayer is the means where we stay connected with heaven and have access to Deity to asked for such things as we need to accomplish what he has asked us to do. The whole thing is a vertical structure where we have our place in the Kingdom of God to see that the will of God is being accomplished on our area of responsibility.

Man being created in the image of God, refers not only to some external appearance, but, more importantly, with the corresponding inner likeness. Being in the image of God does not mean that someone has blue eyes, but that his heart bears the image of the One who created him. In order for there to be that harmony between God and His created man there must be that sameness of inner character that both have the same image. Without that there never could have been the unity, love, and fellowship that man was destined to enjoy.

When sin came in, that image was destroyed. Instead of man representing the image of God, he became more like the devil; and the earth, that was supposed to be under man's dominion, became the territory of satan. It was no idle boast that the devil made to Jesus when he offered Him the world and all its glory if He would fall down and worship him (Mt. 4:8,9). The Lord acknowledged it was his to give. It appears that the devil has been trying to transform man into his image ever since the fall in the Garden. And with the open nakedness, the horrible tattoos, the body piercing, an all that decorates people today we must give the devil credit for doing a good job in his sculpturing. Not only is the outward appearance of people today weird, but his inner character is becoming more like satan than anyone thought possible. The butchery of millions of babies and the most disgusting forms of sexual perversion are now accepted as normal.

Fortunately, the story didn't end with the sad event in the Garden, or what we see on CNN today. Man lost his position as the bearer of the image of God, but what the first Adam lost the Second Adam more than recovered. In numerous places the Scripture tells us that Jesus is the expressed image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15, Heb. 1:3). By this we understand that this wasn't referring to how tall Jesus was, but what He was inside. This is the image God intended with His first man in the Garden. Four thousand years past before this planet saw the Second Adam who again bore that intended image. And the wonderful thing is that His work today is conforming us to that same image (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18). Oh my goodness, that means He is making us just like Jesus inside.

And with the restoration of that image we are brought back to the place where prayer has given us an open access to heaven. Oh the assurance we have that the Father will honor those request that are made in Jesus Name to enable us to accomplish His will here today. Can you see why I get a little excited every morning as the Holy Spirit continues to open my eyes to see the unfathomable riches Jesus has made available to us. Oh to spend more time in the treasure house – not to examine the bracelets and ear rings that might be there – but to be with the One who has created us that we should bear His image.

Oh my goodness God is good. I haven't told the 1,000th part.

See you next week,

bill