Utmost June 4th

What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? “For He Himself has said, ’I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ’The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” ( Hebrews 13:5-6 ).

“I will never leave you . . .”— not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.

“I will never . . . forsake you.” Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful— just the everyday activities of life— do I hear God’s assurance even in these?

We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing— that He is preparing and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.

Utmost June 3rd

What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done” ( Matthew 6:10 )— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives. “Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” ( Psalm 25:12 ). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”

The Lost Generation: Southern Sudan [Episode of the Week!]

Episode 4 – “The Lost Generation: Southern Sudan”

From the South of Sudan Tim and Will fly via a 1940’s Buffalo aircraft, that nearly crashes, to the destroyed lands of the Dinka tribe.  Story after story tells of the Islamic Jihadist campaign of rape and death that the Dinka’s have suffered for two decades.  Famine, diseases and war give little hope for a future, but with a strong message of the coming kingdom of Jesus many dedicate their lives to Christ and hope is found in those who were once hopeless.

[vimeo=11907286]

Who is the man that fears the Lord?

Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, “No, by nothing,” but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to “live and move and have our being” in God ( Acts 17:28 ), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives. If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.

“He himself shall dwell in prosperity . . .” ( Psalm 25:13 ). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. “God is our refuge . . .” ( Psalm 46:1 ). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.

Utmost June 1st

Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” ( Ezekiel 37:3 ). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.” It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.

“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves . . .” ( Ezekiel 37:12 ). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” ( Romans 7:18 ). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.

Utmost May 31st

Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God. Put God’s Will First. “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).

A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.” But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, “. . . tarry . . . until you are endued with power from on high” ( Luke 24:49 ). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will. Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.

Put God’s Son First. “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” ( Matthew 18:5 ).

God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.

Utmost May 30th

Lord, I will follow You, but . . . —Luke 9:61

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.

Utmost May 29th

Untroubled Relationship

In that day you will ask in My name . . . ,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but—”You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. “. . . for the Father Himself loves you . . .”— the Father’s love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.

“. . . whatever you ask the Father in My name . . .” (John 16:23). “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship—”. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” (John 17:22).

“. . . He will give you” (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation—to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name—in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “. . . whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statements.

Utmost May 28th

In that day you will ask Me nothing —John 16:23

When is “that day”? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. “In that day” you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, “In that day you will ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone— you don’t seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren’t you?

“In that day” there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. “In that day you will ask Me nothing”— you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature— that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”

Episode 3 – “The Returnees of Sudan: The Southern Jungles” [Episode of the Week]

Episode 3 – “The Returnees of Sudan: The Southern Jungles” In a back room of a Ugandan printing house Tim and Will follow the trail to the make shift office of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army.  It is their only hope for entry into the country where war has kept outsiders away for 21 years.  With permits in hand and contacts lined-up the missionaries cross the border regions into a danger zone.  Once inside the remote jungles they visit a field hospital where the sick come to die.  It is a terrifying sight as they witness an operation performed to save a man’s life.  As they journey deeper they come across a mass population of displaced Returnees and witness the devastations of war.

[vimeo=11890366]

Utmost May 26th

Pray without ceasing . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:17 Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing . . .”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time. Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “. . . everyone who asks receives . . .” ( Matthew 7:8 ). Yet we say, “But . . . , but . . . .” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer? The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.

Utmost May 25th

If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left —Genesis 13:9 As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice. Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing. Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “. . . walk before Me. . .” ( Genesis 17:1 ).

May Newsletter

Season Three Episode 2: Episode of the Week!

Episode 2 – “The Path We Choose: South Africa” In a land where the history of the apartheid has torn a country apart, the mission becomes an education in the unity of the gospel.  From the Wild Coast regions, where bandits beat a hapless couple, to the townships of Johannesburg the team witnesses the dangers and struggles of South Africa.  Speaking in tent revival meetings from a bygone era Tim and Will see many give their lives to Christ Jesus.  It is a mission of hope and healing in a land desperate for both.

[vimeo=11884431]

Full Length Travel the Road Episode!

Episode 1 – “Age of Discovery: The Zambezi River”

A daring 450km journey down the Zambezi river brings Tim and Will to the majestic sight of Victoria Falls.  But before they can reach Africa’s largest cascade of water, they will face territorial hippos, alligators with a taste for human blood, treacherous jungle rapids, and witch doctors who despise their mission.  It is a journey of discovery, both of a remote river and the heart of man, as death is faced everyday and the message of the gospel is preached with every breath.

[vimeo=11697674]

April Newsletter

Gift of the Month

Haiti Trailer

7 Days in Haiti: Part One and Two is coming soon to TBN!  Watch the first look trailer here. [vimeo=10315405]

Gift of the Month

Shelter the Road: Helping Haiti NOW!

Donate Now On January 12th, 2010 Haiti was devastated by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake,

and as the news reports slowly trickled out of the capital, Port-au-Prince, Americans watched and prayed for the people of Haiti.  Stories of miraculous survival and determination were aired nightly on network broadcasts and many everyday Americans decided to go to Haiti and help.  Now, in the weeks that have followed, massive airlifts of water, food and medicines made there way to the devastated country to avert more casualties. Christian NGO’s and the US Military have spearheaded the effort, and people everywhere continue to pray for Haiti.

But what happens to Haiti now? One of the largest crisis facing the Haitian people is the fact that most families are now homeless.  When we traveled to Port-au-Prince 12-days after the earthquake, the whole of the city was living outdoors.  Most homes in the city were either destroyed or structurally unsound to live in, and as a result, massive tent cities have sprung up throughout Port-au-Prince.  These tent cities consist of any material people scavenge from the rubble (wood, metal, bed sheets, ect…), but in their entirety, these tent cities are NOT proper shelters.  The biggest problem is that most of these makeshift tents are covered simply with cotton sheets. What is needed is water proof tarps to protect families from the coming rainy season. The basic needs of any human is water, food and shelter.  Water and food have been a focus of most NGO’s in the first weeks of the disaster, and delivered in rapid order, but now proper shelters are the most important need!

[Vimeo 9356874]

Recently, a medical team, upon entering one of the tent cities to do a free clinic, was rushed by desperate Haitians.  The Haitians were happy to have the medical support, but were desperately asking for any plastics sheets they might have.  “We need a place to live,” was consistently the request.

Everyday on our journeys to Haiti we visited the worst hit sections of Port-au-Prince, and witnessed large groups of people digging and clawing through rubble to get any pieces of wood or debris, to have something to sleep under at night.  Desperation ran so high Haitian police ignorantly assumed these everyday Haitians were looters and began shooting people.  We personally witnessed three shootings and saw one man killed for scavenging. This could be avoided, is all we could think!

[Vimeo 9358570]

So what do we do? Upon seeing the looming crisis, with the approaching rainy season, we want to help by giving shelters to the people of Haiti.

What kind of shelters can we give? For $30 we can give one family a waterproof tarp system.  This system will house a large family and protect them from the coming rainy season.

How many do we plan to give? Our first allotment is destined for 300 families at local church we visited in Port-au-Prince.  These families all currently live in tent cities and to give this gift would change lives! So if we give 300 families a waterproof tarp system, it will cost $9,000.

What happens if we give more than $9,000? Then more people get tarps!  There is no lack of need in Haiti for shelters, and to give $30 means a family will have shelter.

How do I give for Shelters? To give to the Shelter the Road campaign all you have to do is visit our website at www.traveltheroad.com or Call 1-866-397-5673. For the next weeks all giving notated as Gospel Expedition via the website will go to the Shelter the Road campaign, or if you send in a check to Travel the Road, please notate Haiti, and we will add that amount to Shelter the Road.

Travel the Road

PO BOX 92444

Los Angeles, CA 90009

We can all make a difference, and through your prayers and support, Haiti will recover!  Peace be with you.

In Him,

Tim and Will

From the Frontlines of Haiti