It's hot in Belize!

Today marks the sixth day of our return to Belize to do  ministry. We were here for 3 weeks at the end of July and flew back in last Tuesday for another 3 weeks. The weather here is very hot and very humid. The air outside is so heavy at times and the sun is very intense. I miss the cool comfort of indoor air-conditioning, but will settle for the fan that at least stirs up the air and does cool us off a little. I am very thankful for electricity where we are staying but when it goes off it is stifling to say the least. All that to say, be thankful for the conveniences that we have and never take them for granted!

We are here to do some ministry with The Baptist Tabernacle. It is a small church on the outskirts of Belmopan and the pastor is a precious young man named Job Lopez. Jimbo and I are working along side him and his church members to try and help them in their outreach program and also in some church planning and organization.

Those of us from the states really can't understand the workings of the church in various parts of the world. Things are so different here. Life is so different here. People are so different here. Many of these churches are in very poor areas and the people that come to them must be within walking distance as most of them don't  have vehicles for transportation. A lot of people around this area ride bicycles but it is hard to bring a family to church on a bike. There are a lot of children that attend church without their parents. We have noticed a huge majority of the people in this area do not attend church at all. Apathy and complacency are not just in America, but here in Belize as well.

It is good to see that there are still people that love the Lord and who have a desire to grow in Him. I am looking forward to working with the women of the church and help them to develop some bible study habits and to help them organize a time for women to come together for fellowship and the study of God's Word.

We love having the opportunity to come back to places that we have been because it enables to begin to develop relationship with the people and that is so important when you are trying to minister God's love to them. When we were here in July, there was a young couple, Mike and Bessie, in the church that already had 2 young children and she had just given birth to premature twin boys. They weighed 3 pounds each at birth and wound up spending several months in the hospital. One of the babies was really sick while were here and had to have a blood transfusion. He wasn't doing very well at all. The church and our mission team began praying for this precious little boy and his brother and God heard our prayers. I was able to go visit the family on Saturday and the boys are home and growing and doing so well! They are over 6 pounds now and are healthy and thriving.  I love seeing how God works and I love seeing His goodness in all parts of the world!

Please pray for us as we endeavor to do what God has called us to do. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes we get tired and frustrated. Sometimes we just want to be back home where things are comfortable and convenient. But, for now, God has called us to be out on the mission field. He has called us to be His hands and feet in a world that needs Him so desperately. We just continue to follow where He leads and trust in His provision and His protection. He has never let us down and He has provided abundantly and sweetly to our ministry. He is so good and I love Him so.

"I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!" (Psalm 27:13)

dining with Jesus

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

 (Romans 7:5)

As Christians, we must be careful not to let the enemy cause spiritual blindness to overtake us and keep us from seeing our sinful character. We can be blinded to the deep poverty of our own spiritual character of depravity if we don't guard against it. It is so easy to think of ourselves as righteous when the truth is our righteousness only comes from Christ. It only comes from the Spirit of God working in us. Righteousness has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with God at work in us.

 Our flesh is sinful, selfish, wicked and a force to be reckoned with.The flesh will rise up in spiritual pride if left unchecked. And as we grow in our Christian walk, we face increasing danger of spiritual pride. And spiritual pride will lead to spiritual blindness every time!

The good news is that the Holy Spirit enables us to walk not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. His ministry is to help us see our poverty-stricken nature and recognize our depraved state of being. When we are shown this by the Holy Spirit, it is not to lead us into despair, but to lead us into Holiness. He creates in us a hatred for sin and an acute desire to be holy. And we can only see this when the Spirit reveals it to us.

Unless the Spirit is at work within us, our flesh is too strong for us to persevere against the enemy. Our only weapon against the flesh is the Word of God. We must stay deeply embedded in the Scriptures. That is where we will find the standard for God's Holiness.We must read the Word, study the Word, and hear the Word taught so we will be captivated by the moral beauty and perfection of God's holy standard.

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves." (Galatians 5:16)

We can't overcome the corruptions of our heart except by the enabling of the Spirit of God. He creates a desire within us to be Holy and then He gives us the spiritual strength to live Holy lives. We can't do it on our own and I don't know why we think that we can. Our flesh is no match against the wiles of the enemy unless we are armored up with the weapon of the Word and clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We need to be seeking a continual work of the Spirit in our lives. Do we tremble at His Word? Do we pray for Holiness in our lives? Do we desire to be Holy?

If we desire to walk in the Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to be in control of our actions, our words and our thoughts, we must maintain dependency upon Him and His enabling power. The only way we can do this is by prayer and by meditation on the sweet Word of God. We can't walk in the Spirit if we don't know who the Spirit is. We can't walk in the Spirit if we aren't taking the time to clothe ourselves with the Scriptures. We can only walk in the Spirit if we are keeping ourselves immersed in the Word through personal and intimate prayer and study time.There is nothing more important than our relationship with God and His Word. It is life to us!

Do we want to walk in Holiness? We need the spiritual nourishment that God has provided for us in the Holy Scriptures. It's up to us to devour them eagerly and allow them to penetrate deeply so we can apply them to our daily lives. Open the Word and dine with the Savior.

"But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us" (Galatians 5:5)

famine or feast?

Are we suffering from a famine in our relationship with God? Are we too busy extending sacrifices to Him that cost us nothing instead of crucifying ourselves daily and offering Him our lives? Do we spend more time doing other things than we spend in the Word seeking Him and His presence?

When we begin to seek satisfaction in our lives from anything other than God, we become guilty of idolatry. Anything that takes priority over Christ is an idol and will serve as a distraction to us. The enemy will use these distractions in our lives to keep us disengaged from the things of Christ and will eventually be the cause of deep famine in our spiritual walk. 

When we don't spend time in the scriptures eagerly searching for revelation of His Spirit and desiring a Word from God, we will begin to falter.  The Word of God is precious and a very necessary part of developing and cultivating an intimate relationship with Him. We must make personal bible study a priority in our lives. We must also spend time in prayer. Fervent and sincere prayer. Time on our faces crying out and reaching up. Pouring out and receiving. 

If we have found ourselves in a famine situation, we only need to eat and drink. Devour His Words. Feast on the Bread of Life. Drink deeply of the life giving water that flows from the Throne of Grace. He alone will satisfy those hunger pangs and quench that desperate thirst. He is all we need.

"For the Bread of God is He 

which cometh down from heaven,

and giveth life unto the world"

(John 6:33)

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the

bread of Life; he that cometh to me

shall never hunger; and he that

believeth on me shall never thirst"

(John 6:35)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Sweet Manna from Heaven:

Laylah Beth - 5 1/2 months

Sawyer 

Bryton

 

Silas

Mercie

Eli

Mikaela

My girl with her little girl.

Mikaela with her little cousin Laylah Beth. 

i don't know what happened...

A few months ago, Mercie was the first child awake at my daughter's house and was in the living room with her mother playing quietly. Megan heard Silas waking up in his room and went to get him out of bed and change his diaper. She said a few minutes later she walked back into the living room and there sat Mercie on the rug. She was surrounded by a puddle of water, had an empty bottle beside her and the lid in her hand. Megan stood there and looked at her and Mercie looked up and said in a sweet voice, "I don't know what happened."

Well, of course Mercie knew what had happened, but she did what we as Christians sometimes do. Deny the truth. The Lord spoke to me through this and reminded me of my own lame excuses that I sometimes offer up to God.

Do we find ourselves sitting in a puddle at times and say to God, "I don't know what happened."? Have we ever gotten into a mess of our own doing but looked up to our Lord and proclaimed that we didn't know how we got there?

Truth of the matter is we can sometimes slide down that slippery slope so fast that we may be surprised where we landed, but in reality we know just what happened. We know just how we wound up sitting in that puddle.

Sin happened. Disobedience happened.

Talkin' the talk and not walkin' the walk happened.

The road to destruction is broad.

"Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

It's easy to walk that wide road of complacency and sin. We just keep walking and following the crowd - busy in our own little worlds and then one day we look up and realize we aren't where we intended to go.

The narrow way - the one that leadeth unto life - is hard to find. It takes a far different path and we have to purposefully follow it. It may not be easy and it may not always be the road we desire to be on, but when we align ourselves with the Word of God and surrender to His will for our life, we don't walk alone.

God walks that path with us. He gently leads and guides us down paths of righteousness. He lifts us up and carries us over troubled waters. He makes a way for us in the valley and over the mountains. He is always there.

If we adhere to the Word of God and we are obedient to His commands, we are less likely to find ourselves sitting in a puddle unaware of how we got there.

Let's stay in step with our Lord and allow Him to show us the way. Keeping our focus on Him. Keeping our eyes on the path He is making for us. Watching out for the puddles that threaten to pull us in. If we keep holding His hand and walking by His side, our response to "I don't know what happened" will be replaced by "God happened".

"Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day" (Psalm 25:4-5)