As I shared with you last week our registration for Tanzania
opened last Monday. As of today we have
47 missionaries signed up with 3 slots open before we go to the waiting
list. What a great "joy'' it is to
know we will be ministering to the ladies of that area. We are also working out details for Burkina
Faso in September so please continue to pray with us as God leads.
I also encourage you to begin to pray about how God would
have you invest in the ladies that will be attending the two retreats. As you know it takes $500 to sponsor a missionary
woman to attend a retreat. Team members
are responsible for raising their own support.
It has been and is incredible to watch God bring in the resources for
the retreats. We stand on the truth that
God provides for that which He directs us to when we stay under His counsel and
direction and do our honest best to walk in obedience to Him.
That is shown so real in the story of Joshua after entering
the Promised Land. I have always loved
the principles that story provides for us.
My favorite scene is in Joshua 7:6-15.
Remember what went on before this; they had just had this great victory at
the wall of Jericho following God’s instructions. Then without seeking God's counsel they had gone
into battle with Ai with a prideful attitude evidenced by the men saying to
Joshua, ‘we only need 2 or 3 thousand men to take these guys.’ And, as we know,
that didn't go so well for them. Let's
pick up in Joshua 7:6-9 as the Israelites return defeated with 36 men killed.
- Verses 6-9:
Joshua has an adult spiritual temper tantrum.
Joshua 7:6-9 (ESV) Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?
- Verse 10-15: God responds, "Really"
(my paraphrase, of course) and I am not the problem, there is sin in the
camp.
Joshua 7:10-15 (ESV) The LORD said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the LORD takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households. And the household that the LORD takes shall come near man by man. And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’”
Needless to say, Joshua followed God's instruction on how to
deal with the sin in the camp and sought God's counsel and obeyed it going
forward. This, too, is evidenced by the
many victories in the taking of the land.
I share all this with you to say, God is always faithful to
provide for that which He directs us to.
However, we cannot live outside the umbrella of obedience to Him and
believe we will be provided for. Make
sure before you have your adult temper tantrum that there isn't sin in your
camp. And if there is or has been,
confess it and listen to His counsel and direction and do not be afraid or
dismayed at what He does going forward!
He is God, after all.
Have a great week...
Love you guys,
His,
Vickie
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