Sunday, June 26, 2016

God's Word and what hinders me from delighting in it


And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.
Psalm 119:47

As most people know, Psalm 119 is famous for the in-depth explanation of God’s word and how important it is in our lives. I once took about one month studying this Psalm and writing down all of the benefits and results of meditating on His word. It was a really cool thing to do. 
In Psalm 138 it talks about how God has magnified His word above His name. When God says something, He means it, and we should listen. His word is so so so important. It is something that we are taught from the moment we get saved. New believers are usually told 3 things to do once they get saved: read your bible daily, pray daily, and fellowship with God’s people regularly. Reading His word becomes something we just check off a list. But why? How did the Psalmist write 176 verses all referencing God’s word without running out of things to say? Because he loved His word. God’s word was his delight. 
I often wonder why it takes so much for me to get motivated to read His word some seasons and other seasons I have this excitement and hunger for His word. The issue isn't the book I'm going through. The issue isn’t with His word. It is with me. 
When I went back to Hawaii for my short visa trip, I attended the midweek service. My pastor was actually teaching out of Psalm 119 and he said something that hit me pretty hard. It was in reference to this verse. He said something along these lines, “It is hard to take pleasure and delight in His word when you find your pleasure in so much of the world and what it has to offer. Cut it off. Fall in love with the word of God.” Ouch. Yeah. The issue isn't His word, it’s me. When I am not crying out with the psalmist saying, “I love Your word!!! It is my delight!” it’s because I am finding too much pleasure in other things. And that just makes so much sense, doesn't it!?! If you are waking up not hungry for the word of God, it is because you have been finding temporary pleasure in other things and don't have an appetite for the things of the Lord. 
So what’s the answer? Cut off those things that bring you pleasure, the things that take away and distract from Him and His word. 
Now I’m not saying we are called to live miserable lives with no pleasure. No! The bible doesn’t teach that. Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” It is a life filled with pleasures that are eternal, not fleeting! How do I find these pleasures? His word is what guides me on this path of life that leads me to a life full of joy and pleasures. They are found in His hand. He opens His hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing (Psalm 145:16). I just memorized Psalm 103 which talks about just a few of the benefits we have in the Lord. He forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies and renews us; He has removed our sins far from us, He has been merciful, He rules over all. Bless the Lord! 
The only way to fall in love with His word is to find pleasure in Him first and let the things that this world has to offer grow dim in the light of His wonderful word. My desire is to not just seek Him first, but to seek Him only. I want to have an undivided heart that can say confidently that His word is my delight and that I truly do love His commands. It’s a beautiful cycle that I don’t want to get out of. The more I read His word, the more I love Him; the more I love Him, the more I long to hear His voice through His word. 


Friday, June 3, 2016

May

Life is very different living in an apartment with one other person instead of living on a big property with 30-70 people. 
Lydia and I are doing great and really loving it. I've gotten used to the change and I am learning how to use my time wisely. Having to cook and clean and go grocery shopping, I don't have as much time as I expected. But I have found myself taking the time I do have free to go out to the park and talk to people, play with my students, and pray. Making our own schedule has been a blessing. We still go to the schools three days a week, we go to kids club, attend church; but there is more of an opportunity to be in the community and make friends and invest in friendships that already existed. I can't believe our first month has already gone by and now we only have 5 more in the apartment. 
In the middle of May we went to Xela with the bible college students and Pastor Luis. Xela is about 4 hours away in the department of Quetzaltengo in Guatemala. There is another Calvary Chapel there that we worked with. The week was filled with evangelizing, outreaches, kids programs, painting at the church, and fellowship. It was an amazing experiment to go on a missions trip to another part of Guatemala with a group of people who only spoke spanish and about half of them are Guatemalan. I think it is what every missionary longs for- to see the locals doing ministry and sharing the gospel. It was truly a blessing a privilege to go with them. God taught me lessons personally and showed me things that I am still processing. 
Teaching in the schools has been incredible. Honestly, it has been such an amazing month. Teaching the bible lessons every week has gone so well. God has given me boldness to proclaim the gospel and He has literally given me the words to speak in spanish. With one of my first grade classes I was teaching the bible lesson then I said we were going to pray. And with their little eyes closed, I asked if anyone wanted to accept God's free gift of salvation. Almost all their hands went up and we prayed. This is all in a public school!!! It blows my mind! But just because they are young doesn't mean that they didn't mean it, I was 3 when I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior and it stuck. I am so excited to see how the Lord works in their lives. I have had so many other similar experiences this month. And you know what? It all stems from prayer. Waking up early and seeking the Lord, asking Him to fill me every day. I love every single one of my 304 students so much and all I want for them is to have hope. They live lives that I will never understand. Waking up early, studying 5 days a week, going to work shining shoes or selling to tourists, then going home to broken homes and doing it all over again. Just to be with them for an hour a week, to show them love and teach them not just English but Jesus! That is why I am here. God is working in me, showing me more and more that without the gospel being proclaimed there is no point. And the honest truth is that a lot of "missionaries" are simply just doing humanitarian work. And God is teaching me what the priority is, and it's sad that I get off track easily, but it's the truth. God has set my heart on fire afresh to share His gospel and I am so thankful. 
When Lydia and I moved out, we talked to Pastor Luis about being more involved in church. And it was so cool because he said he was praying about offering children's ministry for the wednesday night study. So Lydia and I are in charge of it, so far kids have only come once. So pray that kids would come! On Sunday we are going through the book of Hebrews and are almost done. This month we had a guest pastor from California who has a black belt and all that stuff- basically he is really good at martial arts. But he taught all on Ephesians 6 and the armor of God. He had these nunchucks and used them to demonstrate prayer. Wow. My prayer is not intense like that. So often, I enter into prayer so casually, not like I am on the battle ground. God seems to always convict me in the area of prayer. So I stood that Sunday, acknowledging that my prayer life wasn't what it could be and committing to do something to fix it. As humans, we try and complicate it so much- but it is just communing with out Father. It takes discipline though and the devil always trys to attack us in the area of prayer.
At the end of the month, the bible college had their first graduation! It was such a fun night with all the students and their friends and families. It is exciting to see what God is going to do with each of them individually. 
Also in May, Lydia’s parents had the opportunity to come down here for one week! It was so fun to have them and show them all around. We did a lot of fun stuff like going to lake Atitilan, eating typical Guatemalan food and just hanging out together. They also got to go to church, school, and kids club to get a glimpse of the ministry that we are a part of. 
This month has gone by fast, like every month really! Time is flying and I can't believe I only have 5 more months here. But I am taking day by day. I have been trying to memorize a lot more scripture lately. The past two weeks I memorized Psalm 27. God's Word is so real and alive. It doesn't change even when the world around is constantly changing. I am learning to hold to His word and place it higher than anything else- my thoughts, my plans, other people's words. I am a flawed human who has doubts and fears and worries, but day by day He is teaching me to lean on Him and hear Him above all other voices. 
To God be the glory now + forever
Prayer requests:
- pray for my students! We are over half way through the year. But every week they hear God's word and some of them have made the decision to make Him their Lord and Savior. So pray that those seeds would grow and that God would continue to give me boldness.
- pray for the local church here, that God would draw people to His church and that people would be saved and mature in Him. 
- pray for me and my health please (: allergies and sinus infections are a normal part of life for me haha but I had some natural treatment and I am hoping it will help.

I've been reading a lot lately about missions and this quote really
stuck out to me. We've got to keep the main thing the main thing!
Share the gospel, pray, God is moving! 
We had our first dinner guests at our little apartment (:

Kid's club. Narissa is so beautiful <3 she sits on my lap every week and always holds my hand.

Lydia and I twinnnning (:

My students

A gloomy day in Xela

Facepainting with the kids in Xela. Apparently it is more fun for them to
paint my face then for me to paint theirs haha

Santiago!

Picking up trash and evangelizing in Xela

Lake Atitlan. One of my favorite places ever

Little pre schoolers learned family 

OH and did I mention my nephew was born!!!!!!!! I can't wait to meet him (: