by Walter Beuttler
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah 6:8
Ordinarily, we take our problems to the Lord, but today He is taking His problem to us, and, only you and I have the answer. I have been teaching Isaiah for many years, and never saw this until the Lord began to unveil it.
What I noticed for the first time is that this is a “mission’s committee meeting” of the Godhead. “Who will go for us.” As to plurality, we have an intimation of this, at least of the Trinity. Nothing is said about it, but there is a plurality here. It does not say how many “us” there are, but at least there is a plurality.
The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit had a mission’s committee meeting. I assume it is safe to say that the Father was the Chairman. It was the Father who said, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
The problem is to find the right person for the work that is to be done. Apparently (I will even say obviously), they had surveyed the field. They had considered some possible candidates, and after going over the list, they could not find the right one to send.
What struck me so is this: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? “ The Father is not looking for “ministerial tourist.” Rather, He said, “Who will perform Our will, who will seek to do Our pleasure, who will build Our kingdom, who will go where We want them to go?” This is God’s problem.
The man in charge of our missions department said to me, “Brother Beuttler, we have on average, one application a day for ministers who want endorsement to go overseas for preaching, and we have endorsed very few. Many of them are simply interested in seeing the world, taking pictures, preaching a little bit to justify their trip, but when you go on the field, you will discover that these are as a headache to the true missionaries.” This is also God’s problem.
I arrived in East Africa one day, and they said, “Brother Beuttler, where is your shot gun?” I said, “Shot gun? I could not hit a barn if I stood in front of one.” They said, “Where are your cameras?” “Cameras? I do not take any cameras. The Lord has not called me to shoot pictures, but to teach His Word.” They said, “This is very unusual, those who come are loaded down with equipment, and say, Where can I shoot some game? This is uppermost in their mind.”
God needs those who know Him, and are committed. Therefore, He is surveying the field and He is still saying, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us.” I would like to point out to you from the Word, what God is looking for, now as then. “The Lord looked down from heaven upon (where you are), to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.” Psalms 14:2
The Lord’s eyes rove over the earth to see if He can find anyone, anywhere, that can understand the desire of His heart.
“And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.” Isaiah 59:16
Intercession in the Spirit is a very important ministry, which is being lost, as most would rather watch TV than to give themselves to intercession in the Spirit of God. And yet an intercessory ministry is of tremendous value.
No man has a better wife than I have. She knows what it is to intercede in the Spirit. I have heard her groan in the Holy Ghost by the hour lying on the floor in intercession for the work of God. The Lord watches to see if anyone is willing to give their bodies in intercession, even to the point of groanings that cannot be uttered.
One summer, I left Nice, France for Rome. Very early in the morning before daybreak, we were on top of the clouds waiting for the sun to come up. I got such an intense Spirit of intercession. In fact, I wanted to watch the sun come up because sometimes the whole sky, as far as the eye can see, is as red as this songbook. And I was waiting to see it, but the intercession interfered. It became so heavy that I said to the Lord, “Lord, how is it that I have to spend so much time in intercession when I am traveling?” This is one reason why I travel alone.
I was not looking for an answer, but the Lord answered me, “Because I have so few to share the burdens.” The Lord has to put a heavier load on the few because the many are not willing to be bothered. This night, the Lord is still looking for intercessors. In this case, He looked in vain.
“And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold.” Isaiah 63:5
This reminds me of Isaiah 50:4 where the prophet spoke of Christ: “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to sustain with a word, him that is weary” (RSV). There is a ministry that Jesus had, which goes beyond sermons, “That I might know how to uphold, undergird with a word, him that is weary.” A word from the Lord for the needy, at an appropriate time, is a ministry that is desperately needed.
Some years ago I was undergoing surgery for cancer, the second time, and things did not look good. In fact, the doctor had given up hope and I could tell the way he and wife were talking that there was not a chance. I lay there and had ceased to have any will to live.
Then I received a letter from one of the top missions men in Springfield. He was in La Paz, Bolivia. He never wrote me before or since. He wrote, “Brother Beuttler, I feel impressed of the Lord to write you and to tell you what a lasting effect your ministry has had in South America. We did not realize in Springfield what you were doing….” He said, “I want you to come back to South America as often as you can.”
When I read this letter of encouragement and commendation, hope sprang up in my heart. It wasn’t flattery, but a life-saving word that came at the right time. With that letter he upheld me without knowing it. A spark was kindled in my heart and the will to live was reborn, and when wife walked into the room and said, “Daddy, how are you,” I said, “Elizabeth, I am going to fly again.” She asked, “How do you know?”
“Read this letter,” I answered. Now to what extent that was crucial or not, I do not know, but I know it was a factor in giving me back the will to live and to fight for my life.
“And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before Me for the land, but I found none.” Ezekiel 22:30
I have two more round-the-world trips scheduled, one for next year, another for 1974. By then I will be 70, and as far as I can foresee, it will be my last round-the-world trip. Would you like to take my place? And I am not exaggerating at all, as I have many openings overseas for ministry. I have some three dozen countries on my list and I have not listed them all.
There is a price tag for this. You will need to attend the King’s College, but if you are willing to get the discipline and training from God, it is amazing what He is able to do. For overseas ministry, there seems to be no end. I had a letter from Ceylon about two months ago. They said, “Brother Beuttler, we had Morris Cerullo in an evangelistic campaign with an attendance of 50,000 people. Many were healed, many were saved, churches were formed, but we have no teachers to teach them. Please come and give us some more of your teaching.” I expect to give them, at the most, two weeks come April.
The Australians asked me for 3 months and I can only give them 1 ½ weeks. The opportunity is there, but we are limited.
It is not hard to get a call to Hong Kong. It is another thing to get a call to Sicily, and the unsanitary conditions! I do not know if they are worse anywhere else in the world. When you ask for the restroom, they send you out into the alley. There is nothing else but the alley. When their own goes there, nobody pays attention, but when an American comes, all the kids run together and stand around, and the women who hang up the laundry on the flat rooftops wonder what is going on, and they have to take in the show.
I was told, “Brother Beuttler, you are the only American that ever stayed for one full week. The others cleared out within 24 hours.” I was sick, but I stuck to it. The houses, so called are cut out of the soft limestone. The outside looks a little bit like ours, inside it’s just a hole. You sit there eating, and before you know it something wiggles between your legs-oink, oink, oink, because the pigs live there too, in the same room with everybody else. That’s the bedroom, the kitchen, the dining room – it’s the everything, and the toilet is out in the alley.
It is one thing to go as a tourist and go to Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore and Bangkok, shoot a few pictures, come home and make a big splash. I am not against pictures, mind you. God asked me not to take any, but that does not mean others shouldn’t. Please do not carry this too far, but some go mainly for that and the preaching is the excuse.
I was in Germany one year ministering at a Baptist church. It was around Christmas time and one day the Lord brought to me these words. I want to give you something most remarkable to show you what God is able to do with us, if He has our complete submission and unquestioning cooperation.
I did not see them, but I knew that the words were in front of me. The words were, “Go to Amsterdam on New Year’s Day about the middle of the afternoon by air.” This is precise, absolutely exact, nothing changed. I said, “Lord, I do not want to go to Amsterdam. I want to spend New Year’s Day with my Mother.” I had not seen her for 25 years and wanted to spend New Year’s Day with her. Germans make a lot about New Year’s Day and Christmas Eve.
A day or so later, here were these words again, not seeing with my eyes, but there, “Go to Amsterdam on New Year’s Day about the middle of the afternoon by air.” I said, “Lord, I do not want to go to Amsterdam. I have never been there. I have nothing to do there, and I want to stay with my Mom.” And the Lord did it a third time. I almost said the same thing, or thought the same thing, when I said, “Beuttler, haven’t you learned yet to obey the Lord.”
So I went to Stuttgart to go to the airlines. I went to the Dutch Airline KLN and they told me, “Sorry, but there is no service. We have no flight on New Year’s Day to Amsterdam. It is a holiday.” I said, “Thank you.” So I went to Swiss Air. Swiss Air said, “Sir, there is no traffic at all between Stuttgart and Amsterdam on any holiday especially on New Year’s Day.”
I went out and stood there. It was snowing and raining mixed, windy, miserable. I stood out on the sidewalk and shut my eyes and said in my heart, “Father, do You know the airlines’ schedules or don’t You?” For me it was critical. I am leaving some things out because of time. I have done much teaching on the leading of the Spirit and “Divine Guidance.” I thought, “If I have made a mistake, I am through teaching on Divine Guidance.” I received no answer from God.
Then I thought, “I will try American Express.” I will never forget the scene. That man looked, and I was in a critical place. If I was wrong and there was no flight, I have had it as far as teaching others how to discern the will of God. He looked through it quietly. He said, “You know, it is a holiday.” I said, “I know it.”
He kept looking and said, “I am afraid sir, no.” As he continued to look through the book. “Wait a minute, we have a special schedule in today. You are fortunate! There is a special flight going from Stuttgart to Amsterdam non-stop on New Year’s Day at 4:10 in the afternoon.” When he said this, the Spirit of God said, “This is it.”
And I said to him, “Do you have a seat?” “Well, we will find out.” So he looked and said, “Sir, we have one seat. Do you want it?” I said, “I will take it right away.” I was on my way.
I arrived in Amsterdam late evening and stood there alone at the Shiffold Airport. I did not know what to do. I said, “Father, now what do You want?” There was no answer. I said, “Father, this is Shiffold Airport, Amsterdam, Holland.” I wanted to be sure He had the address. “What do You want me to do?” Nothing answered, not a thing.
I could not stand there all night. I said, “Father, if You do not show me what to do, I am going into the city, look for a hotel and go to bed.” There was a Park Hotel. Now in Holland, Germany, or Switzerland, any hotel will be tops. Even a cheap hotel will be as clean as could be.
Before I went to bed I said, “Father, unless You tell me what to do, tomorrow morning at 8:00 o’clock I am taking a British European Airways flight to London.” I had to go there anyway. I waited before the Lord and received nothing. I was up early in the morning and said, “Father, there is still time. What do You want?” God said nothing. So I went out to the airport and got the flight, ready to take off. At 8:00 o’clock there came an announcement, “Will all passengers please return to the airport lounge because a fog is settling over the airport making it too dangerous to take off.”
We had been sitting there about 15 minutes, freezing. So we got out and went back. The passengers grumbled. I do not remember what I did. As I walked in through the doors into the big lobby, a strong Presence of God enveloped me. I am not exaggerating.
Some things will be hard to explain, but there was a Presence that seemed all about me and at the same time penetrating me. With it I got a strong spirit of intercession and worship mixed. All I wanted to do was find a seat, and give myself to the ministry of the Spirit. This is what I did.
I was sitting there in a corner in a very comfortable chair with the Spirit of God rising up within in strong intercession, but it was mixed with worship. I forgot, or paid no attention to time. I was preoccupied with this. Then it dawned on me that I was still at the airport and wondered what time it was. I looked at my watch and it was 12:00 o’clock noon. I was there all that time engaged in intercession. Time just flew. I had no sense of time.
I thought, “I wonder if my flight’s left without me.” I went over and looked out of the windows and saw that the fog was so thick that you could only see the barest outlines of the nearest planes. The place was full of passengers. Not a flight left; not a flight came in. Everything was closed down tight because of the fog.
In front of me stood two men. One apparently was an airport employee, judging from his uniform. The other appeared to be a passenger. They looked out too and I stood right behind them. The airport employee said to this man, “We do not understand this fog. There is no fog anywhere around Amsterdam, except right over this airport shutting everything down. We cannot understand it.”
At first, I thought nothing of it. I walked over to the desk and asked, “How is my flight? When do we get out?” They said, “Sir, we do not expect any flights to leave today. It is getting later in the afternoon and it is January 1. We expect the fog to shut down the airport with nothing leaving before tomorrow morning.”
Then it dawned on me, “I wonder what the meaning could be of this fog.” I dismissed it and began to rationalize. I stood there figuring out how much money I was wasting per minute by doing nothing for the Lord, at the airport. I think it was the devil’s trick and with that, I lost the Presence. I did not know what to do. Obviously I rationalized myself out of the touch of the Spirit.
My seat was taken now, and there was a long table like a dining table seating maybe 24 people, a dozen on each side. I had no place else to sit down, so I walked behind the table at the corner and sat down. I did not know what else to do.
As I sat there, I saw a man in a black suit come up to the other side of the table. He looked like a most unusual man. The man’s bearing – he walked so erect and yet not stilted. His face was so handsome. His whole physical body seemed to be so, just so perfect. I thought to myself, “Who could that man be? I think he belongs to one of the royal families of Europe. That is why he walks with such a graceful, dignified bearing.” He sat down right across from me.
I shut my eyes and said in my heart, “Father, what happened? Where did I miss the way? Where am I in Your will?” For no reason that I could give, I opened my eyes and looked at this man with his black suit. At that moment I saw him lift a book from his lap. I had not noticed the book before. He lifted the book from his lap and opened it as though he wanted to read. As he opened it I saw the title of the book which said, “I am leading you where you do not want to go.” The man closed his book and put it back on his lap as though he had changed his mind, and I had my answer, “I am leading you where you do not want to go.”
A male waiter came along and said, “Will you two gentlemen please leave. We need this table to feed some passengers who had arrived at the airport.” Their plane was not leaving either. We both got up. The man started to walk back and I stood still and looked after him. I thought, “Who could that man be?”
You can believe what I say now or not. Only remember one thing, “Your disbelief does not change the fact.” Since that happened on two occasions: once to me personally, once in a public meeting where I related this, God bore witness that this man was none other than the angel of the Lord whom God had sent to the airport to bring me back into the will of God. Why not? Did not the angel guide Philip on the way to meet the Ethiopian? I did not know a thing, but I know it now.
I repented and asked the Lord to forgive me and bring me back into His will and the Presence and intercession came back, and the worship came back. I just wanted to sit down in a chair and give myself to this ministry. Now there were hundreds of people walking about this airport, looking for seats, as every seat was taken. I do not know how many people there were. Amsterdam Shiffold Airport is a big airport.
Suddenly, I discovered one empty seat. There was a little round table, an empty seat on one side and a coal black well-dressed Negro man on the opposite side. I quickly took the seat before anyone else got it. Right away I gave myself to the ministry of the Spirit again.
In a very few moments I was interrupted by this man. I opened my eyes when I heard him say, “Sir, tell me your secret.” Then I opened my eyes and looked at him, and I said to him, “What secret?”
He said, “Sir, you have a secret and I would like to know it.” I said, “Would you tell me what secret you mean?” I did not know what he meant. He said, “Sir, I have watched you all morning. You were sitting over there in that chair in the corner for hours while I sat here watching you. What was that light on your face?” I was not aware of a light and said, “What light?”
He said, “Sir, you were sitting over there so peaceful and there was a light on your face, what was that light?” He said to me, “I said to myself, ‘I wonder if this is the man who has what I am seeking.’ Sir, if you have what I am seeking, won’t you tell me the secret.” So I said, “But what are you seeking?” Evidently he was an educated man.
He said, “Sir, I am a businessman from East Africa. I was brought up in the Mohammedan faith, but as I grew up I became conscious of sins. I had no peace in my heart. I wanted my sins forgiven and true peace, but Mohammed could not give it to me. So I left the Muslim faith and tried other religions: Eastern religions, Western religions. They all failed to give me what I want, so I gave up all religions, but I have had one prayer for many years, which I pray every day. The prayer is, ‘Oh God, if there is a God, show me the way to true peace.’”
Then he said, “Sir, do you have the way to that peace? Do you know the secret? As I looked at you I thought, ‘This could be the man that has what I need.’ Sir, won’t you please tell me the secret if you have it.”
I gave him my testimony of how lonesome I was in New York, how I spent weekends crying from loneliness, because I was there for two years all by myself. I had no friends of any kind and was afraid to strike up a friendship. I told him how I found the Lord and what the Prince of Peace had done for me. There at that busy airport, I was privileged by God to point this man to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
I used the Scripture twice, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” They did not expect any flights to leave. I finished and used this scripture again in closing, “Believe on the Lord J.
I came to the “J” when I heard from the ceiling, “Attention please, will all passengers on British European Airlines flight number so and so bound for London, go to your plane immediately. We are leaving in 10 minutes because the fog is lifting.” God had tied down the airport with the fog, to the very moment when this man’s prayer was answered. When it was answered, the fog lifted.
Look at this in perspective. I was here in America at first. This man was over in East Africa praying for years, “Oh God, if there is a God, show me the way to true peace.” In due time, the Lord led me to Germany, which I had bypassed previously. In Germany the Lord spoke in His way, “Go to Amsterdam on New Year’s Day about the middle of the afternoon by air.”
God had brought his instrument from one continent to a second continent. In the meantime God, in His providence, had brought this Mohammedan also to the second continent, to get us together. He knew what flight this African was taking to Amsterdam so God directed His instrument to go by air to the same airport. When I flunked the test, then God sent His angel to bring me back into the way so this man’s prayer could be answered.
The man opened the conversation, as He had let him see the glory on my face. This is the only explanation I have, though I was not aware of it, to get this man interested and bring him in contact with me. God had an empty seat for me in front of this man when hundreds of passengers had to stand, so I could share My testimony. When the work was done, the fog lifted and the planes began to leave, and I said, “Goodbye brother, the Lord bless you.” Thus did God bring to this single man the answer to his prayer in this most remarkable manner.
The Lord has many difficult works to be performed, and He needs specific individuals, not just in the ordinary humdrum ecclesiastical way of doing things, but men and women who are led of the Spirit of God to accomplish His work.
What is God doing today?
He is yet saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Are you willing to become the answer?