Down the Path - The beginning of our relationship with Colegio HOREB

He stopped the car and pointed.  “Down that path is a woman who has a Christian school.”  Paul, a missionary here in the area, kept driving and moved on to the next subject.  But my mom and dad did not forget that brief moment.  They had planned on leaving the next day, but they both knew they had to return to see what God had for them down that path.  

Down that path was a woman named Tabita.  The Christian school which she founded was floundering.  They didn’t have money to pay the teachers and she was considering closing the school.  She prayed to God for help.  My parents, by following the stirring in their spirits, and showing up to Tabita’s house were a part of an answer to her prayers.  Through WIND, they would later pledge financial support for the school.  I came that next school year to teach English to the kids.

Tabita didn’t have to start that school.  Paul didn’t have to say a word about Tabita.  My mom and dad didn’t have to follow that path to Tabita’s house.  But they did.  It was all in God’s plan from the beginning.  He was answering prayers, He was doing something big, and He was using all of us to accomplish this purpose. 

Many lives have becoming affected through our relationship with HOREB.  The school itself has grown, nearly doubled in size.  It has been the start of many life changing relationships and has opened doors into many homes.  New stoves have been installed in houses, dramatically improving the quality of life.  Dental needs have been taken care of.  In one case, a dying boy was saved from his Leukemia.  Most importantly, children and teachers have accepted Christ, and God has been glorified more and more.  This is all the work of God, who works through our relationships.  He sees the big picture and He is working through us as we do our best to obediently follow him.

We never know when God is going to do something big through us.  There is a path of good works that God has prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2:10).  No matter where we are in our walk with God and fellowship with Jesus, He has something prepared for us every day.  We need to be open and attentive, living our lives with purpose, as sons and daughters of our great loving Heavenly Father.

The Faith of Showing Up

It is an amazing thing to be used by God, to be His hands and feet.  I have learned from my work here in Guatemala that what God calls us most to do is simply to show up.  That is an act of faith.  I believe that we Christians (especially American Christians) tend to overthink and complicate things a great deal.  We think we must have a master plan, be thinking ten steps ahead, to provide the best help as possible.  There is wisdom to that to be sure, we should be thinking!  But sometimes it tends to paralyze us to the point that we do nothing at all.  The problem is too big, we say.  It is like not feeding a hungry person because we can’t solve the problem of world hunger.  It’s not taking a step to help somebody in need at the moment because that help is not sustainable or we might begin a cycle of dependence (as if we’re not all dependent on God to provide for us in the first place).  We think of all these bigger problems and it keeps us from taking that first step, just to show up and see how God moves.  It’s okay not to have a grand plan.  It’s okay to be unsure of why you are even there.  

I have seen God use me in this way over and over again.  Sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing, sometimes lacking even a clear objective, but I visit a house, I show up, and little by little I find God blessing that person, that family, through these visits.  It is God that does it, of that I’m sure.  In any particular moment I may not feel His hand, but when I look back, I see how He has directed me ever so subtly.  This happens EVEN WHEN I DON’T FEEL PARTICULARLY “IN THE SPIRIT” as the phrase goes (though if we are Christian the Spirit is with us always, even if we choose not to be aware of it).

I write all this not to pat myself on the back, but to show how amazing God is.  He uses me DESPITE my weaknesses.  I struggle with bad attitudes and low faith.  Sometimes Maria and I show up to a house after a day filled with disputes and conflicts with each other.  Sometimes we show up at a LOW or a valley in our walk with Him.  But God uses us even in that state.

On one particular hard day, we showed up to the house of a girl we were thinking about putting in the scholarship program.  It was the end of the day, we were tired, feeling defeated, but we went.  That day the girl decided to open her heart to us, sharing how her dad had died from alcoholism, and she wanted to continue in school to help her mom.  Maria felt moved to give her a hug and we prayed for her.  She is now receiving a scholarship from WIND.

If we wait to be in the perfect mood or attitude to do good, we will miss so many opportunities and ways God wants to use us.  He wants to use us right here, right now.  Even if we don’t have a plan or a great attitude in the moment.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:13)

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, that God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

I write this as an exhortation to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  SHOW UP!  Do you know somebody in need but not sure of how you can help?  Do you know somebody who is struggling but don’t know what you can say?  Perhaps God put these people in your path for a reason and what He is asking you to do is simply to show up.  Do so while praying, do so being open to the Holy Spirit inside you.  GOD WILL USE YOU!  That has been our experience.

I hope in the coming weeks to share a few stories, how the Spirit has led us to certain people, how we have had the honor to be a part of answers to prayers, and how God has been glorified through it all.  

Oceans, Faith, and Testimonies of His Love

This song is my favorite of all time.  It touches my soul, awakens the Spirit within me.  My mind constantly tries to reason through everything, distracting me from my greater purpose.  This song cuts through all the noise, and straight to the heart of my walk.  The truth is, I am walking on water, I have no idea what I'm doing or where God is leading me, and at times I feel overwhelmed.  That is the essence of faith: believing, trusting, and walking, even when you can't see.

I read through some of the comments this song generated on YouTube.  It is obvious this song touches the hearts of many others.  Out of these comments, I found some amazing testimonies, which you can read below, verbatim.  We live in a world of doubt and skepticism, but testimonies of God and His love abound everywhere if we keep our eyes open and listen.

I'm in tears.. Just 7 days ago. I was at a park, just 1 pull of the trigger close too ending my own life.. But then a homeless man saw.. Quickly darted to me and screamed NO! I stopped, I set it down, he handed me a small bible.. And we talked about it and he read me some of his favorite verses. And he said I should never give up on life, giving up on life is like giving up on God.. I went home woke up the next morning and I looked up some gospel music.. Chris Tomlin really helped me and I watched a movie called Courageous and another called Fireproof.. I am glad to say I have accepted Jesus as my lord and savior. I am going to church this Sunday to continue my path with God.. I wish I could tell that homeless man thank you.. I tried looking for him 4 days after my incident.. I can't find him.. I'm going to continue and try to find him.. I just want to say tell him how grateful I am that he took his time to talk to me about it.. 

I'm breaking down right now as I'm typing this, because I had a similar experience.  As I was ready to load my Glock 17 to end my pain, walking up those dark lonely stairs back in the fall of 2004, a male heavenly voice called me, I swear it sounded like my beloved grandpa who passed away 10 years earlier, to stop! In that short brief moment, time stopped and I suddenly was reminded to know these truths - that I am loved, that I am better than this, that life is truly worth living, and that I'm not alone.  The lies I believed were being replaced with a renewed love and faith for my savior, a renewed soul to know I am not worthless, that I'm a son of a living King, that I'm loved beyond anything I can imagine.  Do I believe in guardian angels?  I don't think I would be here today without them.  They probably had to work overtime watching over me in this life I've lived. Thanks and praise to the one who saves all, even the lowest of low, the downtrodden, the broken ones, like me.  Since 2007, I have renewed my vows to Jesus, and help other guys to confront their demons, to submit back to Jesus Christ as their personal friend and savior, and to admit that it's ok to be human and a bit messed up, because we are still so loved and blessed, and that His grace is way more than sufficient.  His love for us?  Deeper then the sea, wider than the 4 corners of the earth, with everlasting arms.  May His hand continue to work in you and your life brother.  You're not alone my friend.

With all your respect,i believe you ,once in my life when i was 16 committing suicide because of a heartbreak,from a guy i was engaged .I goinh through strong emotions that took me to depression.At that time my life just didn't make since to me.At that i was a believer,i used to pray for everything.I remember i locked myself in the closet crying with anger.Asking questions,i said where are you! telling God that if i died i wouldn't care if i went to hell ,and i was expressing how i felt(with pain )I was also saying buy i was going to comment suicide the next day that nothing was going to stop me, or change my mind,that i had it planed it and was. i was tired of living pain..

But then he stopped me before that. God had my mom concern,which to me was awkward at that time,she sent me to her room and had the radio on a christian station.As i was laying down in the bed crying myself to sleep until mitnight...Then i wake up and heard a preacher in the radio saying if there's someone out there tring to commit suicide don't do it! because God loves you,please don't do it! He has a purpose for you. .But i still felt bad,so went back to sleep.So i was awaken the second time and the preacher was like "If you are going to kill yourself please don't do it God loves you and he has a purpose for you"Don't do this,God wants you to know he loves you "i was like yeah sure i'm dreaming" went back to sleep...then the 3rd time my shoulder was shook i felt a hand on my shoulder.I'm like what???! I look to my left shoulder and i see no one standing on the side of my bed,i sas nothing but white fog.I heared the radio and the preacher is worried " "If you are out there trying commit suicide listen God loves you so much,and you have a purpose to be here.I even looked at the time it was 3:00am .After that morning i was my pain was transformed,i felt so much better my mnd set was changed i was like new person i felt different,i left my moms room and then cleaned my whole room it was so dirty.Then i shared my testimony in a christian station to testify that God saved my life. If God had compassion for me i know that he has it for everyone else. He loves us all the same because we are his creation he tell us in the bible. Much blessing and prayers to you.

Tick tock

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock. The sound of the clock on the wall feels like a jail, each tick a prison bar. I am trapped inside the confines of my body, stifled by the constraints of time. My selfish desires and unwanted thoughts yell loudly like prison guards. They scream in my ear, commanding me to obey their rules. But my spirit knows another way, it has been written on to my soul. Eternity is before, it is now, it is after. I must remember who I am, that I am free, a child of God...

So I sing from the deepest parts of my soul. I am not of this world, I do not belong in a prison. I will not be defined by this temporary holding cell. My home radiates with beauty and my Father is love personified. I will not yield to the commands and oppression of the guards but hold fast to the Spirit that was given to me by my Father. I do not lose hope for I know that the walls are here but for a blink of an eye, swallowed up by the infinite vastness of His eternal kingdom.

How Jesus Taught Us to Pray

During a recent bible study, Maria and I reflected on how Jesus teaches us to pray.  I wanted to share some thoughts on the topic, using Matthew 6:5-15 as our guide, with the hope that it is edifying to those who read.  Included are 10 heart attitudes that Jesus teaches us to have when we pray.

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

This portion of scripture is taken from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6.  Throughout the sermon, Jesus reveals the wicked hearts of the self righteous who think they are holy and follow the law.  Here He is dealing with the theme of doing "good" things in order to be seen by others.  It is not that other people see us that makes it wrong (Jesus talks about letting your light shine before others in 5:16) but it is the motivation in our heart that Jesus is revealing.  Do we seek the attention of others in order to be praised and accepted by them?  Or are we laser focused on our relationship with our Father?  Where is our heart?

For me, it is easier to pray alone than with other people.  The reason being is very simple, I am sensitive to what other people think about my words.  I have a hard time to pray with a pure heart because I become focused on the performance.  My heart is divided between praying and how my words sound to the others around me.

1.  A heart that desires to have a relationship with God without the need to impress others. 

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

I do this all the time.  Sometimes I know I should pray, so I pray and say a bunch of words that maybe sound holy, but my heart isn't completely in it.  Sometimes reciting prayers, like the Lord's prayer that Jesus is about to teach us here, ends up just being empty words if we are not praying with the heart as well.

Another thing I do sometimes is pray for the same thing over and over again thinking if I pray enough times, perhaps God will hear me.  I don't always have faith that God is listening so I end up praying just to pray.  Here Jesus reveals something very important, that God already knows what we need!  In fact, He knows better than we do.  As a new step father, I am beginning to understand this.  Maria and I are always focusing on what is truly best for the girls and sometimes what is best runs contradictory to what they want in the moment.  It is the same with us as we pray over and over again something like "please God, I need this."  It is important to remember He knows what we truly need and knows what is best for us.  I am reminded of what Paul wrote in Romans 8:26.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  A simple groan from the Spirit can be a more acceptable prayer and be more meaningful in your relationship with God than one thousand beautiful words with a heart not aligned with His Spirit. 

2.  A heart that desires to be aligned with His Spirit.     

After laying out what the desired heart should be of the person praying, Jesus begins to teach what is now the most famous prayer in the entire Bible.  First, I think it is important to note that the words He uses have no power in and of themselves.  This is not some magic incantation.  As we see in the verses leading up to it, if you pray this prayer and in your heart you are trying to impress others or with a heart otherwise not aligned to the words of this prayer, they are nothing but "empty phrases."  Therefore, I believe that what is important are not the words of this prayer but the heart behind these words.  Having said that, this prayer is special indeed, for it is the model prayer that Jesus gave for how we should pray.  So lets dig in.

Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name...

It is important to know who you are talking to.  You are talking to the Creator of the universe, the One who put the stars in the sky and designed every cell in your entire body.  You are conversing with infinite Love and Mercy.  Our hearts should be filled with reverence.  But at the same time, He is our Father!  How amazing that through Jesus, we have been adopted as sons into His kingdom.  Do you start your prayers with the deep awe that the great Creator is indeed our Father and loves us unconditionally?  Is your heart filled with the greatness of God?  Me neither.  A lot of the time when I pray, I usually get straight to the point.  "Lord, help me with this" or  "I need that."  But when we do that we are missing something very special because we have not taken in how amazing, loving, and powerful our Father is. 

3.  A heart filled with awe and worship at how AMAZING God is and that He is our Father!

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...

When you pray, is your heart focused on yourself or the will of God?  Are you thinking about what God can do to make you happy or for God's purposes to be completed on Earth?  The truth is, we are selfish and God exposes us through this prayer.  The object of prayer is not us, but God.  He is not some genie in a lamp, giving us all of our wishes.  He is the great I AM who through His endless love, has forgiven us of all wrong and adopted us as sons!  We should be filled with joy as we align our hearts with His perfect will. 

4.  A heart that is focused on God's kingdom and will!

Give us this day our daily bread...

This would appear to be the first selfish part of the prayer, if not for the inclusion of "us" and "our."  Just as the prayer starts with OUR father, we ask for Him to give US this day OUR daily bread.  I believe at the heart of this entire prayer, it is a prayer not just for us as individuals but for us as a whole.  We are praying for God to meet our own basic needs the same as we are praying that He meet the needs of our starving brothers and sisters in Africa.  It is through this heart that as we pray, we become ONE (as Jesus prayed we would be in John 17:22). 

5.  A heart united with ALL members of the body of Christ

I am also struck by how He only instructs us to pray for what we need today.  I pray a lot for needs in the future, which maybe isn't always a bad thing, but what happens is that the prayer essentially turns into worry, meaning we are not trusting God to provide.  He instructs us in 6:34 Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  God wants us to be focused on the present, to only ask for what we need this day.

Maria and I worry a lot about money and being able to provide for the family in the future.  But the funny thing is that everyday we have enough!  When we look back at the past, we see that God has provided for us every single day.  How silly is it that we worry that He might stop providing for us in the future.  He sees our needs.  We need to trust Him.  By only asking for Him to meet our needs today, our hearts should be filled with confidence that He sees what we need tomorrow.

6.  A heart focused on the needs of today with an implicit trust that God will continue to provide in the future.

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors...

In this there is freedom.  One simple request and the slate is wiped clean and we can move forward with confidence.  This is the key part to the prayer, the part where we are made right with God.  To be able to ask for forgiveness though, we must be humble enough to be brought aware of the depravity of our hearts apart from God.  Our debts are insurmountable and no amount of works can ever make up for it.  Trying to earn His grace is folly, we can only receive it as a gift.

7.  A heart with humility to see the depravity at its core and ask to be cleaned. 

and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

First, He says give us, and then forgive us, and now lead us.  Behind the words, there is an assumption that we can not provide for ourselves, that we can't pay back our debts with God, and now that we need to be led.  In conclusion, the prayer is one utterly dependent on our Father.  Missing are words that I use a lot in prayer which is "help me."  That attitude in prayer might be good intentioned but behind it sometimes is an assumption that you can do some of it on your own, you just need a little "help."  On the contrary, Jesus teaches us here to have a heart of utter dependence in prayer.

8.  A heart utterly dependent on God

After we are made clean by His forgiveness, we ask that He lead us away from further temptation.  Here Jesus reveals a heart that doesn't want to continue in its old ways but wants to follow the path of righteousness.

9.  A heart that wants to stay in the light!

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

It is important not to take this verse the wrong way.  It does not contradict other teachings in Scripture like Romans 8:1 which says: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  The free gift of salvation for eternity, which Jesus accomplished on the cross as a perfect sacrifice, can not be taken away from us.  Instead, it is a day to day cleansing that is withheld from us if we refuse to forgive others. 

The fact that Jesus brings this up again means it is especially important.  If we come into prayer with our Father while holding a grudge against someone else or with hearts hardened against others, you will not be made clean and will not be free.

10.  A heart that is merciful

 As a whole, what Jesus teaches us here about prayer should shake us to the very core.  It reveals to us our own selfishness and how much we need to change to be more like Him.  In the end, it is our heart, not our words, that God pays the most attention to.  What are our hearts praying to God?