Jackie's Journey "Run...Fire!!"

Fires can be devastating!  In the jungle there is no 911, no 

Fire Department, Fire Fighters or fire hoses and trucks…no place to run…

 One afternoon the entire village stood on the riverbank and watched across the rivers swift moving waters as a raging fire approached our settlement.  Like a tornado it swept across the forest floor consuming everything in its path.  The entire area was a patchwork quilt of gardens planted with bananas, rice, yucca, corn, and sugarcane… 

 Many of the new believers had fields laden with produce, as did their unbelieving neighbors.  Shocked at what we were watching, the believers began to pray.  My thought was…could that fire jump across the river?  The blaze began to pick its fields to blister as it “zigzagged” toward us. 

 To our utter astonishment the fire leaped over the believer’s fields and consumed the others. Not one field of a believer was touched! God’s demonstration of Sovereign control over the elements was undeniable. 

God was in that fire!

“And I myself will be a wall of fire around it, declares the Lord, 

and I will be its glory within.”Zechariah 2:5

 Since time and memorial, the Darien jungle and its unpredictability had ruled!  Whether it was the fluctuating weather, the epicenter earthquake, the remote isolation, the absence of communication to the outside world, the challenge of transportation or the miscellany of wild animals, poisonous creepy crawlers, army ants, snakes and vampire bats…we were captive to the jungle around us. This was one of those days when my mind concurred with the reality.  

 We all stood amazed at God’s presence in that most obscure place.  He had been there all along.  The boldness of His Sovereignty was magnified in that raging fire. The assurance that regardless of the circumstance we were experiencing we were “…shielded by God’s power…”(I Pet. 1:5)was our pre-eminent thought as we stood “shaking in our boots”.  The promise that “the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all day long” was as real that day as it ever would be.  We surely sensed that covering as we surveyedHishandiwork! 

 While buried in the jungle, I often sang a song taken from Psalm 32:7. “You are my hiding place. You will protect me from trouble and you surround me with songs of deliverance, whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You…”  Delivered and protected, standing on the edge of the Pucuro River, I was reminded of the truth “God makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants”! Psa. 104: 4 

Ralph, my husband and God’s servant, teaching in our Kuna house with our daughter, Christina listening in.

 We are saved to serve, called to be “flames of fire”.  

Alive, dancing through life, consumed with the burden on His heart…

controlled by His sovereign will.

 “HE makes his ministers a flame of fire…”Psalm 104: 4

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey: Revival...Who Needs It? Part 2

If there was ever a need for Revival, today is it!

“An evangelist reaches your emotions.  A true prophet reaches your conscience.” Leonard Ravenhill

God had brought us to Arnold, Nebraska and He had a Plan…

Something alive was stirring in Arnold!

He used the people living in those sand hills to reveal His heart and our need.  He used the warmth of the Nebraska heartland and its very special inhabitants…

Nebraska Sand Hills

God used this community to introduce us to genuine hospitality and throughout all these years of ministry we have purposed to practice what we learned there.

This is the town God used to reveal the possibilities of God using us in Panama, in a remote village on the Colombian border.

This is the town God used to give us an opportunity to first know His faithfulness to us through His people.

In this community, “everyone knows your name” and everything about your family, for at least three generations!  Californians pride themselves in their independence from the need for community life and this is found in their perpetual church hopping!

Downtown Arnold, Nebraska

God’s plan was about to shatter any preconceived ideas about revival…

This was it…after months of prayer and preparation…the day had arrived!  The Crusade was packed!  The school auditorium was filled with people from every denomination, all walks of life, people who would never enter a church…the turnout was phenomenal. 

God had a plan that would advance His kingdom!

A revival flame had been ignited!  Hearts were challenged all over that auditorium! Many young people responded to the truth of God’s Word and would go on to serve the Lord in missions all over the world, most of them with New Tribes Mission, reaching into tribal regions.  Many of them are still on the field.

A few weeks after the crusade, on prom night, the police wanted to know why the streets were empty.  The only explanation was that the young people were back in the auditorium watching a Christian film!  A number of couples, including Smokey Kellner, a quadriplegic, and his wife entered missionary training and served as missionaries in Mexico for 20 years or more.  

Lives were changed that night in homes all over the town of Arnold.  There was no age discrimination when it came to God ministering to needy souls…  Young and old were confronted with sin, God’s provision and their desperate need.

“A revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness and making God and His love triumph in heart and life.”  Andrew Murray

God had a plan and allowed us to be a small part of the moving of His Spirit in the hearts and lives of those He had already prepared to harmonize with His will.

R. A. Torrey gave a prescription that never fails to bring revival:

•  “Let a few Christians get thoroughly right with God. (No unconfessed sin or anything between another person and yourself…totally repent!).
• Let them bind themselves together to pray for revival
• Let them put themselves at the disposal of God for His use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ.  That is all.  It never fails.” 

It worked in Arnold! 

Billy Sunday was asked: “When is revival needed?  He answered:  When carelessness and unconcern keep the people asleep.” 

…Please, Lord Jesus…

“Will you not revive us again, that your people will rejoice in you?” Psalm 85: 6

For those of you in Arnold who read this, time is a witness to the strength of loyal and eternal relationships.  Your community has abundantly blessed the Ralph Johnson family and we are indebted to each of the families and individuals who invested in us and trusted us with your hearts…

~Jackie Johnson

I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.