Repost: A Missionary's Story. Reflections After One Year in Peru
I have been young, and now am old, Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread.
Psalm 37:25
We have now been (back) in Peru for one year, as a family of four. When we first arrived in Peru as missionaries, we had no children, and we had only been married for six months. We had also been saved for a very short time. One of the first books that marked our lives and ministry as young Christians was George Muller’s “Answers to Prayer”. This book impacted our lives so deeply, that we asked God to give us the same kind of faith that George Muller had. Many people have said that George Muller had the gift of faith. However, he never considered himself to have the “gift of faith”, but was only obeying what he saw in the Scriptures. George Muller was a man who brought all of his prayers and requests to God, pouring out his needs to Him, and trusting that God alone would impress the hearts of fellow-believers, who in turn would feel the burden, desire, and need to give. Through what some might call an extraordinary faith, but what George Muller said was Christian obedience as he saw in the Bible, He saw God provide for what many would deem seemingly impossible.
Muller cared for over 10,000 orphans in his lifetime, and established 117 schools which offered Christian education to more than 120,000 people, and this was all done through prayer and faith that God would provide, without ever asking for others to give. There was no fundraising, no telling other believers that he and the children didn’t have food for tomorrow, but only trusting the Lord to provide, even if it meant at the very last moment.
For us, as two newly saved people, that was the kind of faith we wanted, and it is still the kind of faith that we ask God to give us, today.
“Hundreds of times we have commenced the day without a penny, but our Heavenly Father has sent supplies the moment they were actually required. There never was a time when we had no wholesome meal. During all these years I have been enabled to trust in the living God alone.” George Muller
“No man can ever say I asked him for a penny. We have no committees, no collectors, no voting, and no endowment. All has come in answer to believing prayer. God has many ways of moving the hearts of men all over the world to help us. While I am praying, He speaks to one and another on this continent and on that to send us help.” - George Muller
It is true that often our own needs have been met right at the 11th hour, often for literal daily bread and living expenses, but with each prayer that we have seen God answer, it is as if He is beckoning us to ask Him once more, and we are convinced that God is faithful still, and hears prayer still.
Someone may say that we are following a man, but this could not be further from the truth. George Muller was simply following the teachings and commands of Jesus, whom we joyfully follow.
Someone may also say that we are boasting in ourselves, or our faith. We are not, rather we are boasting in God, and His ability to fulfill His promises.
It is through the sacrificial giving of members of the body of Christ that we are able to live and minister the gospel to the lost. It is our conviction that every need that we have shall be obtained through prayer. As a result, we do not do fund raising, go on deputation, do furlough, create GoFundMe campaigns, nor prod or ask others to give. Rather, we believe that God will, through prayer and faith, move upon those individuals whom He desires to give. We believe that the promises of God are still for today, and that He commands us to live by faith, and that He beckons us to ask, seek, and knock as we trust Him alone for provision.
When we came to Peru the first time, and this time as a family of 4, we did not come with a guaranteed amount of money that we needed to live on, nor with monthly commitments of support to sustain us here.
It is a common practice for modern missionaries to come up with an amount of monthly support that they think they need to live on in a foreign country. They usually travel from church to church, presenting their ministry, and sharing their fixed monthly income need that they think they need, prodding man to give and make a monthly commitment of giving. Man’s emotions and feelings are easily swayed, and people often give out of a sense of obligation, rather than the Lord moving upon them. Missionaries often leave the mission field because their monthly support dips below what they believe they need. Many often return to the States to ask more churches to give, and to raise more support. The reality is that we have no right to tell God what we need, in order to live. Most missionaries today often place requirements of $3,000-$5,000 a month to live on, which in most cases, (especially in Latin America and Asia), is extremely inflated. Most modern missionaries live on a much higher level above the people that they minister to, and this should not be so. God knows what we need, and we have chosen to live on whatever He provides, but always on the level of the people.
The following are biblical references that demonstrate the promises of God that are still for today. It does not take faith to raise financial support, go on deputation, or ask for money for ministry. Laying hold of the promises of God is not only a command, but also a way of living, a privilege, and a primary means that God uses to test and strengthen His children's faith. Every Christian would do well to embrace this.
Scripture References:
● Let your requests be made known unto God..my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6, 19
● Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. - Matthew 6:25-34
● Ask, and it shall be given you; Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. - Matthew 7:7-8
● Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, Whatsoever Ye Shall Ask In Prayer, Believing, Ye Shall Receive. - Matthew 21:21-22
● Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, When Ye Pray, Believe That Ye Receive Them, And Ye Shall Have Them. - Mark 11:24
● And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. - John 14:13-14
The preaching of the Word is no optional employment of the Christian life, neither is it reserved for a select company of unusually gifted believers. It is not a duty to be taken up when time permits or inclination arises, but a sacred trust committed unto the whole Church by her risen Lord. God hath ordained to advance His kingdom, not by the wisdom of men nor by the strength of earthly institutions, but through the faithful proclamation of His Word.
If God be indeed your Father, then you must be about your Father's business. And His business but this: that His glorious name be made known among all peoples through the Gospel of His Son. Those whom He hath graciously called unto salvation are also sent forth as witnesses of that salvation, that Christ Jesus, the only Savior and sovereign Lord, might be proclaimed, believed upon, and worshipped unto the ends of the earth.
It is our great honor and privilege to endorse the Lord's work through the labor of this frontline soldier in Peru. We love them dearly. Please pray and support them as their family preaches the Word daily to the people. The Lord is worthy.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
Isaiah 52:7
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