Faith or presumption?

"By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned." (Hebrews 11:29)

If the Israelites can run through on dry land we can too. So said the Egyptians. They really believed that they could. But we know better. They were not the people of God. So their faith was not real faith.

But often God's people have the same presumption. God's children say, "Let's go do the right thing and all will end well. " Not so. In Deuteronomy 1 God's people tried to take Canaan but also without real faith. God earlier had told them that they should conquer Canaan. But now Moses told the children of Israel that since they had been disobeying God by complaining (v. 27), not submitting to authority (v. 26), and not trusting God in their trials (v. 32) that God was not going to allow them to enter the Promised Land. So they "repented" (v. 41) and decided to go do the right thing and conquer the heathen for God anyway. But they "went presumptuously up into the hill." (v. 43) So they were "chased" by the Amorites and destroyed" and "wept before the Lord" but God would not hear them.

What's going on here? God's children thought that they had faith. But actually they were presuming on God. We also can do all the things that God tells us to do. Pray the prayer of faith, anoint with oil, take time out for spiritual disciplines, warn the heathen, preach, be instant in all seasons, finance God's work, reprove the works of darkness, forsake not the assembling of ourselves together, and ten thousand other things that God wants. But all is done presumptuously and without faith if we are harboring sin, walking against light, not single minded (Mt 6:22,23), or as the children of Israel, complaining, begrudging our authority structure, or not trusting in God in all circumstances. Or it may be that God doesn't want what we want and we need to listen to Him. Unless we do things God's way in order to have true faith our end result will also be a disaster like the Egyptians assaying to cross the Red sea or Israel going up and being smitten before the Amorites. Sure, God in his mercy may hear us and forgive us, but our work may be hindered or even lost. (1 Cor 3:13-15)

-Phillip      (First published on 12-29-2007 on my old blog)

Amparo

Thank you for your prayers for Sis. Amparo. This is the lady we lived with for the first 2 months when we moved here to Colombia. She has been/is very sick.~

~We bought some supper, and took it and went to see Sis. Amparo.  We had a nice visit with her.  Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you!~

Manipulate? Or pray.

Hudson Taylor

"Learn to change men by God through prayer."   - Hudson Taylor
                                                   
posted by Phillip

Adonai -- God's name, God's character

Adonai occurs 340 times in the Old Testament. Adonai has a very special meaning: Master, as of a slave of Master as a husband is to a wife. While the master expects service from his slave, he in turn guarantees to that slave that he will provide shelter, food, water, and protection. He will endeavor to keep that slave in good physical condition. A good man says to his wife, "As head of our house under Christ I will see that you have food, clothing, shelter, and protection. I will lay down my life for you because you are my wife." That is a picture of Adonai and His people: a relationship of a righteous master and his servant; of a loving husband and his wife.

-selection from High Conceptions of God by R. E. Carroll

Suffering brings blessing

We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.  (Acts 14:22)

"If you aspire to be a son of consolation; if you would partake of the priestly gift of sympathy; if you would pour something beyond commonplace consolation into a tempted heart; if you would pass through the intercourse of daily life with the delicate tact that never inflicts pain; if you must be content to pay the price of a costly education -- like Him, you must suffer."
       - F. W. Robertson in Streams in the Desert (August 15) by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
              -- Posted by Phillip

Please pray...

Please pray for a dear lady named Amparo.  We stayed with her our first two months here in Colombia.  She is having some physical problems.  She nearly died last Friday.

L to R  Phillip, TaTa (her grandson), Helbert (her son),  Elijah, Sarah, and Amparo.

- posted by Kimberly

Guitar pickin'

Kimberly is learning how to play the guitar.  Every spare second that she has, she is strumming away.  =)  In this picture she has a "helper" named "Mary" trying to help her learn.  =)  Last night she and Nataly played their guitars while our congregation sang "Amazing Grace"  in church.  =)

~God cares about Friends~

~As Mommy, I would like to Thank the Lord for allowing our girls to have dear friends here in Colombia.  "Thank you, dear Jesus, for sending such special friends for our girls!!"
The Lord planned that Kimberly would have a sweet friend named Nataly...~

~ And that Sarah would have a great friend named Gaby.  Sarah and Gaby are actually "TWINS" that were separated at birth.  HA!  They are EXACTLY alike.  They think alike, play alike, act alike and are hilarious together.   Gaby and Nataly are precious young ladies.
Please pray that God will guide the lives of all 4 of these girls and use them for Him.  Thank you!  =)~

Our last music lesson before we leave

We had our last lesson on July 14th before we leave for Argentina soon. So here I am playing with my teacher Adriana.

Sarah helped me and I made this blanket for her.  We are going to miss her but hope that next time we come back from Argentina she can teach us more violin and piano. :-)