Day 01- God's Heart for the Nations - Season of Prayer
November 24, 2020
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We at NTIM want to invite you to join us in a deeply spiritual adventure of getting on our knees and seeking the throne of grace and praying each day for 30 consecutive days for the Unreached Living in and around Northern Thailand. 
Today, as I write this first prayer update for this Season of Prayer, we want to ask you to join each day and read our updates and join us in seeking the throne of God on our behalf. In each of these updates we will share with you some aspect of how God is using Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM) and its partners to engage some of the least reached people groups in and around Northern Thailand. It is absolutely incredible what God can do through ordinary people who open their hearts and lives to be used by Him in amazing ways. 
IT ALL BEGINS WITH GOD ….. 
AND HIS HEART FOR THE NATIONS
Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we find a consistent thought pattern that communicates the message that God loves all of the peoples in every part of God’s world. We also find passages like Eccl 3:11 that says, “He (God) has set eternity in their hearts (hearts of humans everywhere)…” God truly has placed in the heart of every man, woman, and child, in every place on the earth a desire to know the true and living God. But not everyone in God’s world has heard this great message.

When we look very clearly in the original Greek at the great commission as seen in Matthew 28:19 we find that the great commission has a specific target audience that is on God’s heart and mind that need to be engaged, and specifically that is the “unreached people groups” of the world. Jesus said to go and make disciples of “all the nations.” “All the nations” is the English translation from the Greek “Panta Ta Ethne” and “ethne” is the Greek Word where we get our English word “ethnic.”
In a very real since, what our Lord Jesus was saying was “Go and make disciples of all the people groups of the world.” Jesus wasn’t thinking in terms of geo-political countries, no, He was thinking in terms of ethnic and linguistic people groups. You see, the great commission is all about God and His heart for the unreached peoples of the world.
Each of us has a story that God is crafting into your life. This our journey in following God’s leadership to move our young family from the USA to begin new pioneer work among the unreached peoples in Northern Thailand. My family responded to that commission from God shortly after I took a business trip to Thailand in February of 1996. I will share a little of our story as we go through these prayer updates but what we want you to know today is that God is in the business of looking for people like you and me who are willing to join Him in what He wants to do to make sure some of the least reached peoples in our world today have access to the message of our Lord Jesus Christ. My family landed in Bangkok on January 13, 1999. We were blessed to have been originally sent out through the International Mission Board. We have lived the last 22 years in the heart of Southeast Asia where millions of people have never heard the message of Jesus and have been trapped in thought patterns and ancient traditions that have kept them from the light of the gospel for thousands of years. This breaks God's Heart and it breaks our hearts even today. But God is on the move. We personally have seen hundreds of people become the first persons in their entire families to become followers of Jesus. God is truly transforming lives but there is still so much work to be done.

According to Joshua Project today, there are over 113 different people groups with their own distinct language and cultural background. Of those 113 people groups, there are 78 groups that are classified as unreached people groups meaning that less than 2 percent of their people group population are evangelical Christians. The whole country of Thailand has about 68 million people and 99 out of every 100 Thai people are lost with no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Lost… you just can’t get more lost than 99% of the population. That is where you and I come in. God has commissioned us to reach and make disciples from all of these unreached peoples.

Your heart and your prayers are needed. Your donations and your coming to work with us are needed. But for now, we are asking you to join us in seeking the mercy and grace of God to penetrate this darkness with the light and love of Jesus through ordinary people like you and me.

This SEASON OF PRAYER is really a 30+ day spiritual adventure of learning about and battling the forces of darkness – through informed and fervent praying - on behalf of all the peoples living in and around Northern Thailand including all the unreached people groups in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, and China. This SEASON OF PRAYER is a significant adventure we are asking you to go on with us.

As we begin this 30 Day SEASON OF PRAYER for N.T.I.M (Northern Thailand Impact Ministry) and all of the peoples in and around Northern Thailand, we want to begin this spiritual journey by seeking the face of the Almighty God and asking Him to give us the Nations that are in and around Northern Thailand. The Psalmist wrote this, “Ask of Me, and I Will Surely Give You the Nations….” Psalm 2:8.
Prayer Example: “Oh, Heavenly Father. We know that You have set eternity in the hearts of the millions of people including hundreds of unreached people groups living in and around Northern Thailand. We see on the map how Northern Thailand is strategically located to reach many other nations and people groups in that part of Your World. We pray and ask that You might be pleased to use NTIM and those who partner with NTIM to take the gospel and message of Jesus to the hundreds of Unreached People Groups living among them especially in this upcoming Christmas season. Help them to be your salt and your light and to continue breaking down the barriers of resistance that have kept them for over 2,000 years from opening their heart to our great Savior Jesus. We pray this in Jesus name and for the expansion of His Kingdom. Amen.”
Financial support can be given through NTIM
Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org

NTIM is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed to connecting people in need with people who care and are focused in the heart of Southeast Asia where poverty is high, education is low, needs are great, unreached people groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love and message of Jesus is needed to transform lives.