MWBM Annual Conference

Wow! There isn’t much else that I can say about the annual conference this year! The preaching was spirit-filled and spirit directed, and everyone enjoyed the presence of the Lord and great fellowship with each other! God is so good!

It was our last annual conference before we leave for the field, and it was an encouragement and a challenge to us to be filled with the spirit and directed by the spirit in our ministry and daily lives. Without the spirit of God we cannot do anything. If we try to do the work of God or imitate the work of God without the spirit, there will be no power! It is the power of the spirit that revives hearts and does God’s work.

 

Passionate about people

“God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose.” — John Piper

God’s passion is clear throughout the Bible. His heart desires all nations and peoples to be saved and to be with Him in heaven on the last day, but is this our passion? Whatever we spend our time on reveals our heart for it. If we are spending hours watching television and grooming ourselves then there is no fire in our hearts for others, who don’t know Christ. Our hearts aren’t naturally concerned about others. We are naturally concerned for ourselves and the immediate pleasures in life, but God wants us to cultivate His desires in our hearts so deeply that they become our passion. Is God’s passionate pursuit of souls personal to us?

“Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us.” — Keith Wright

 

 

What are you waiting for?

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for thee. Isaiah 64: 4

Wow! God has wonderful things that our hearts haven’t yet seen stored up, but they haven’t been seen or heard because we haven’t waited on God and sought Him diligently. That is just awe inspiring! God wants us to have this unseen and unknown that He has prepared! Am I willing to do what it costs to know God and experience His wonders? Waiting isn’t something that we enjoy, but there are such awesome rewards from our Heavenly Father. He desires us to know those unknown things that he has stored up, but in order to know them we must seek the Lord.

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14

 

Am I wasting my life?

“And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives…and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.”- Nate Saint

Why do so many people think that it is a waste to go to the mission field? I’m not wasting my life but investing it! Souls are the only eternal thing on earth. They will last forever in heaven or hell, and I am being sent to reach some. Every day I reach some by handing out tracts, speaking to people I meet, and praying for the lost.

Everyone is investing their lives in something, living their whole lives for that something; but what will it amount to when death comes? Can your investment stand the test of eternal significance? I look forward to standing before Jesus with hundreds, even thousands of souls that have been reached because I invested my life in them.

Why do we spend so much time straightening the pictures on our walls and washing our cars? Isn’t there a deeper reason to our existence? We are witnesses of His glory, and it is our awesome assignment to publicize the power of the Gospel. If we are not fulfilling our purpose then we are wasting all of our time and all of our life on ourselves.

There are hurting, empty lives living next door to us. Do we take any time out of our ‘busy schedule’ to care? Souls are so important to God that He crucified His only Son to keep them out of Hell. Are they important to you or are you wasting your life?

 

Patiently Perfecting Peace

Waiting is something that no one enjoys doing. Its seems like my timing is the best possible choice and I can’t fathom why God isn’t agreeing with me and what I think is best. I have learned that it isn’t that there is some kind of magic formula to the amount of time God decides for me to wait, but that He wants me to learn patience in my waiting.

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:4 God’s reason for making me wait is that I learn patience. The result that He is looking for is a perfection that makes me complete, wanting nothing else but what He has given. God doesn’t want unhappy children, and the secret to being content is patience which works in us to make us perfect and content.

God allows me to wait in order to bring about patience in order to make me content. The only way that I will be happy is if I am perfected in God. In Him is everything that satisfies, but I am not always satisfied with Him because I am wanting other things. When I become perfected through patience I want nothing, and then I can experience God fully like He wants me to.

 

Blind Trust

When I look at Victor’s little eyes I see trust. He doesn’t worry about food, a place to sleep, or being warm at night. He trusts us as his parents to take care of him, like we trust the Lord, waiting on Him to provide every thing that we need. He also trusts us to tell him the truth.

Yesterday while I was in the post office I met a little boy, who told me he was five years old. His big brown eyes met mine as I smiled at him and responded, “You are growing up!” “Yep, growing up to go to Heaven!”, was his enthusiastic reply. I assumed that meant that he was saved until his Dad looked down at him and reassured him that all good people go to Heaven and that he was a good little boy. The child’s face reflected his complete faith in his father’s words. He trusted that what his Dad said was the truth. He thought that he was going to Heaven.

I was shocked and saddened at the father’s quick answer and the boy’s assurance. Walking back across the street, I wondered how many little boys had grown up to be teenagers and men, thinking they were going to Heaven because they were mostly good. How many parents had been deceived by their parents, or just refused to tell the truth to their children about life.

Little children trust blindly, and can easily be deceived  and misdirected about life and eternity. God wants those little children’s hearts to know the truth. It is just as important to reach children with the Gospel as it is to reach adults. They want to believe the truth, but we must tell it to them.

 

The battle for souls

Prayer is the most neglected aspect of world wide mission work. It isn’t just the missionary’s job to pray for the people of his field and bring in the fruit. There must be a solid base of prayer warriors, who will fight the battle for souls on their knees, making fruit possible on the mission field. Without prayer, there won’t be any real effective work accomplished. There might be some souls saved, and some lives changed; but how much more would be done for the sake of Christ if there were hundreds praying for that missionary and those people to whom he was ministering?

There is such a need for prayer. Even as we are on deputation and working towards finishing this year, we need prayer.                Hell opposes all that we are working for and fighting for, and because of that we need people praying that satan will not be allowed to snatch away the seed. We need you to help us finish deputation through your prayers for us.

In Mexico City the devil has had a hold for many centuries, keeping the people in bondage to spiritual darkness. We are bringing the Light of the Gospel to his realm of control. This isn’t a game. This is real! And in order to combat the spiritual darkness, we need the power of Christ. You, as soldiers for souls, can fight for these lost people from your knees, making their hearts ready to receive the Word and binding the powers of darkness through the power of Christ. Will you fight this battle for souls with us? Will you keep the prayers coming in earnest expectation of seeing the Lord work? Let’s fight together for souls! Lastly, it’s not the number of people praying so much as it is the believing souls that will let it burn down deep in their hearts for God to do the impossible through their prayers!

 

Risky Faith

“Unless there is an element of risk in your exploits for God, there is no need for faith.” -Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor had experienced risk-taking faith. The risk isn’t really risk because our faith is dependent on the promises of God. There isn’t any risk involved in stepping out onto the provisions of God, but what are we willing to risk in order to prove God faithful? If we aren’t willing to put anything out on a limb for God’s work, then why should we expect Him to come through? God delights in showing His strength through weak vessels, who will take risks because they know that God is the One taking up the slack. Is your faith taking risks, or have you not risked stepping out?

 

The Gospel!

 

My Life vs God in Me

“The Christian life can be explained only in terms of Jesus, and if your life as a Christian can still be explained in terms of you – your personality, your willpower, your gift, your talent, your money, your courage, your scholarship, your dedication, your sacrifice, or your anything – then although you may have the Christian life, you are not yet living it! … True Godliness leaves the world convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the only explanation for you, is Jesus Christ.” – Ian Thomas (emphasis added)