God loves me just the way I am...

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"Do what thy will shall be the whole of the law." Or a more modern twist, "just do it"

We live in a culture today that has made this their chief commandment and as you talk with many who claim to be Christians they too seem to believe this is God's message. But does God say that doing what we want is what He wants? 

Sadly many today believe so.  You will often hear from a Christian content to continue in sin, "God loves me just  the way I am" or they may say "I know the Bible says,_________ but....."  or "God did not really say....."

"Do what thy will shall be the whole of the law" originates from Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley. The forefather of the modern day Satanic church. Though he died in 1948 the rock and roll crowed of the 1960's took greatly to his message and became his spokesman. It is not a new message though. God's word says it is the mentality of fools:

The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. Proverbs 12:15

He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight. Luke 16:15

Sadly somehow even Christians today have accepted the notion that we can do whatever we want and all that matters is whether or not it makes us "happy". And it is true that sin and rebellion can bring a measure of joy, excitement, or what people often just sum up as "fun" or as the Bible calls it, "the fleeting pleasures of sin." and those pleasures are fleeting. But what is worse is that in the end they lead in one of two directions. For the nonbeliever they lead to the finality of all sin, God's judgment. To the wayward believer they lead to a wasted, shortened life. 

Throughout my life, time and time again, I have had to say good-bye to those I loved greatly, who I miss deeply, who also just could not get this concept down and apply it to their lives, despite many pleadings by those who loved them and did not want to see them to continue on the way they were headed.  

Many of us go on in this life believing that if we are a Christian we can do and say whatever we want and He will simply forgive us and we can go on doing whatever it is we want. Sadly this is a very poor understanding of life, God, and consequences.

We are warned against having this mentality many times Throughout scripture and I will share a few of those times in a moment but first let me tell you it in a way we all as parents or as children can easily relate. 

Whether it was you as a child or you now as a parent we all know what it is to be called in to the house for misbehavior. If you have children playing out in the yard with some friends and you see them do or say some things they should not be doing, you will call them to the door and give them a warning as they go back to play, perhaps a stronger warning a second time but if they continue you eventually tell them, Ok it is time to come home, come and get in the house.  You bring them in the house because that is where they need to be when they are being disrespectful, causing themselves, or causing others harm. You may even say, "We do not behave that way in this family."

Time and time again God does this very same thing with his children when He sees that it is time for them to come home. 

The Bible tells us that there is a time when God must tell the believer "It is time to come home" because of sin: "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death."

This should at least give the believer pause before deciding if it is best to do what they want over what God has already told them not to do. Sadly for whatever reason they do not. 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?  If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (See Hebrews 12 for the full passage.)

In closing my desire for you today is that you will not be wise in your own eyes but rather will seek to see the world through the Lord's eyes as you go off today to see what the day may bring.

God Bless,

David Ingram

Road Weary & Yet longing To Finish Well!

              

On the road again.

  It has been an amazing adventure but like all adventures they eventually need to come to an end, don't they? This furlough like the ones before has been an exercise in faith from beginning and I am sure it will be until the end. We left PR in pretty bad shape and unable to pay the bills for the last two months we were there. We did not know where we would go, how we would get there, or where we would sleep or what we would eat. We had some ideas though, and most things turned out to be completely different than what we had thought they would. The trip has been a mixture of mountain tops and valleys as most good journeys do.

The Lord led a man we had never met to give us a car to drive throughout the course of this journey, fully insured, and it has ran great for over 10,000 miles now. We have met more amazing people than I could name here, and I have had the opportunity to preach two revivals, in two separate states just days apart. Reports back say that they are continuing to impact the communities they were in. The one in IL was the most

20 min. before revival service begins

attended they have had there and several of the churches that participated are now seeing real growth. Though several of the places we went cost us more to get to and stay for the time we were there than was placed in our donation box, others took up love offerings that made up the difference and kept us on the road headed to the next one. There have been many unplanned Bible studies that came perfectly timed and we have made new friendships that will continue to grow and flourish in the years to come and we have had several opportunities to reunite with dear friends we have not seen in years. 

            We have also had our fill of bumps in the road as well. Sadly the Bible I have

So what are my choices?

taught every Bible study, preached every sermon with, each revival, and every church start since I was 14 was lost on this journey after having been placed on the roof of the car while kids and materials were being loaded from one church to the next. In truth each one of us have lost more than one thing on the trip. It is to be expected really with all there is to keep up with, the lack of sleep, and those endless miles something is bound to get lost along the way.  We have also been battling illness. For three weeks we each had our time with the flu, both congestive and stomach. Poor Jacob’s temp reached 103.7 and it prompted a trip to urgent care. Since we do not have health insurance as we travel, medical costs are typically high for us. Thankfully Jacob and all of us are back to our healthy selves. May God grant us health and safety the rest of our time here.

Here it is now mid Jan. and we are wondering what is next, longing to be back home in PR, we have not yet met our ministry’s fully funded goal, we have spoke at most of the churches we have in the past, new opportunities are not opening up like they did when we first arrived, and we have even lost existing support as we have traveled (though new support has balanced that back out now). We are not that much further ahead in committed monthly support than when we left PR.           

           Yesterday I was feeling pretty discouraged as I thought on these things and also

Birthday surprise with friends

from the response I received from a church I had reached out to earlier in the day when I received a text from my best friend.  We have been best friends since High School (20 years) and though we do not always get to spend as much time together as we would like to visiting with each other and our families or talking over the phone because of our schedules, we do seem to know how the other is feeling just in the way the other will say hello. Having not heard from me in a while he texted me with encouragement on the journey and hope for a good and what he felt would be a well earned ending, even though he knows that means we will be an ocean apart once again. His text came at just the right moment with exactly what I needed. One of only a few times I have seen Eph. 4:29 fulfilled to its fullest by others in my life:

^“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” ~Ephesians 4:29

        His words surely fit the occasion of my life at the moment and I am grateful both for my friends love and encouragement and for the Lord’s leading and timing in our lives.

Those words reminded me of another portion of scripture that are often needed and to easily forgotten:

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”~ Galatians 6:9

The journey continues.

This coming month will be our last month of furlough. I do not know yet where we will go, who we will meet, what opportunities or challenges lay ahead but I do know with the Lord and the love and support of our family and friends we will press on being encouraged to not grow weary of doing good and looking for the time of reaping of all that has been sewn. 

          Maybe things have not gone as you had planned or working out quite the way you felt they would. If so let me say to you with all confidence and with all the love I posses that God loves you and has far better plans for your life than you or I can even imagine at this moment and that this is my prayer for you,

…”that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;  that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the of Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Col.1:9-14

 

God Bless,

David Ingram

New Day Christian Ministry

Isa.43:18-21

www.newdaycm.org

PS. Any church, Sunday School Class, or small group that you are a part of that would like to have us come and share about this marvelous work the Lord has called us to we would love to have the opportunity to come and share before we head back and continue on with what the Lord has called us to. 

Update: After writing this blog post we faced a very scary challenge later in the day. While I was on my way back from the store Heather called very upset explaining Jacob could not lift his head or craw and that he was in a lot of pain. Hannah had been playing with him, thinking she was entertaining him. She lifted him up about a foot and dropped him on to her air mattress thinking he would like it. We did not know how badly he was injured and was 40 minutes from the hospital which was the only place prepared to work with children in the area. When we arrived they looked him over thoroughly and decided that nothing was broken and that his muscles in his neck, back, and shoulders were strained. He has been bathed in prayer since we left for the hospital and we are grateful for all who have been in prayer for Jacob. He struggled to go to sleep and woke many times through the night. Today we are happy to say he has improved greatly though still recovering. He is able to sit up, hold up his head, and has crawled. He is still recovering and clinging close to Heather but we are encouraged by all of his improvements this morning. 

May I please have 5 mins of your time? It would me the world to us.

Hello and greetings in the Lord,
    

You know I can still remember the excitement, nervousness, and resolve we had on another July like this one 9 years ago. We were a newly married couple who had gotten to the point that we had to say, "Here we are Lord, send us" earlier that year or there would have been no peace in our hearts, and now here we were carrying through with that commitment.

    Everything we owned was spread out on my parents' yard. I must say it was quite a site.  All of our furniture, appliances, our vehicles and our household items were all there set out for sale. It was an odd and yet interesting experience as people came through combing through our things, not seeing the same value in them the way we had.

Whoever paid $100 for our bed that had cost $700 less than a year earlier, got a great deal. You could not tell it by their attitudes because they seemed pretty miffed to have paid that much. Looking back I should have kept it, it would be another 6 years before Heather and I would own a box spring and mattress to sleep on again.  All we did keep were some personal affects, books, and a computer that we were packing and shipping to PR ahead of us.

  

 We had no idea what laid ahead but we knew the Lord was leading us to go and that is all we needed to know. I will say that first night as we arrived in the house we were to live in for the next year with things scattered about, nothing but our luggage, and needing to clear a path to get to a place to sleep, was an eye opener. I could see in my young wife's face that look of "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Still she and I made it through that night and several far harder ones than that one over the years.  Honestly the first year was pretty rough for us for many reasons but we made it through.  It was very much a time of growth, dependence on the Lord, and a coming together far stronger than our first year of marriage had brought us and still that cementing together has lasted and grown only stronger through the years. (Heather and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary soon on Aug.30th 2013.)

    Here we are now 9 years later, me and my beautiful wife and our two beautiful

children. We are still on the mission-field and today like so long ago feeling excitement, nervousness, and a resolve to serve the Lord no matter what. We have seen and done too many things to name. The Lord has preserved us through so many hurts, losses, and difficult times and He has blessed us with so many amazing life changing experiences.

    We have walked the line of faith for years, each month we have trusted and waited for the Lord's provision. It is true that we have struggled to pay the bills many times from that first day in Ponce until now but at the same time the Lord has also blessed us with perfectly timed relief as well.  Often we have had just enough to pay all of the bills and coast through until the next month began. There have been those times that all the bills have been paid on time and we were able to set some aside for the next month, and then there have been times where past due bills were mounting and we would begin to wonder if we had been forgotten. Thankfully each time help would come from the most unexpected places.

 We have not been the type of ministry that sees large donations that come in regularly or many small donations that would come in each day and yet the Lord has provided and taken us to so many places, introduced us to so many amazing people, and provided for us in so many amazing ways, we could have never imagined 9 years ago at that yard sale in my parents back yard what all the Lord had planned.

             We have seen hundreds come to Christ, traveled to Africa three separate times, started two churches in PR, traveled back to the states on 3 furloughs and seen our ministry go from a handful of people meeting in a school class room in 2005 to now having close to 50 New Day branches around the world. Our online ministry reaches into nearly 100 countries with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we have a weekly Monday night Bible study that airs live each week for all who want to participate & every month we help to make sure that the orphans in our ministry in Kenya have food to eat.

We will never truly  know what an impact this ministry is having in the world this side of eternity but we know it is the Lord's and He is doing a tremendous work and we are grateful to be a part of it.

      I guess in some ways this July is much like that one we had 9 years ago only now it is not the material things that are being combed through. With so many other concerns, is the work we are doing for the Lord still seen as valuable?  Do people not see the same value in this ministry work in the way we do? Is it something else?  All of these changed lives, all of these amazing things the Lord has done  and is doing, and yet at the same time we were past due on our rent, we had to cancel church this last week because we could not afford the gas, and the number of personal health needs, vehicle repairs, and past due ministry bills continue to grow.

       Those faithful gifts that come in each month are coming still but the special gifts that we also depend on have all but dried up for the moment and we have really been affected by it these past couple months. I guess I kind of feel like my wife did on our first day on the Island, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Still I know we will make it through this too like we have all the rest in the past.

       I would like to say to all of you who have stayed with us these past 9 years, who have stayed up praying for us during the hard times, gave what you could, even when it was not easy, took the time to write us, made the effort to call us, or to send us an email, I want you to know that each time was a tremendous blessing and encouragement to us that has kept us going.

     We have been told, and indeed we have considered, moving on to something else when our hearts had fallen or the way has gotten very hard, much harder than it usually is. Looking back however at each of those times I can see now how much wonder, joy, and peace the Lord had brought to us ,even in the midst of those times, that we would have missed out on had we not stayed the course.

    Despite what some may say the Christian life is not a series of mountain top experiences. You must also go through the valleys so you are better able to be used by the Lord as you continually learn to trust in Him more. Maybe you too have come to one of these points in life when things just seem too hard, too hurtful to stick with what the Lord is leading you to do, or to do so cheerfully. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Gal. 6:9

     When you find yourself like we have  a few times over the years asking God, "what have I gotten myself into"  just know you are not alone and more importantly that God is going to bring you through it. We know that He will not just because we hope so or think that He should. We know it because He has said He would in His word, and God can not lie.

    If you have read down this far I truly appreciate your resolve to see things through and I  am hoping I can ask just one or two more things of you to do before you go on with your day. For this ministry to continue, and continue to grow, it is going to have to have more support.

1.)        We need to expand the number of people and churches that know about and would be willing to support this work in whatever ways the Lord would lead them. If you have been a friend of this ministry and are already familiar with all the Lord has been doing through New Day please share this letter in places like facebook and twitter, with your email contacts, friends, churches, and small groups so that they can also learn about all that the Lord is doing through this ministry and pray about getting involved.  If you have received this letter from a friend please visit our web page at http://www.newdaycm.org and learn more about this work and see if He is leading you to join Him in it.

        

2.)       It has been 3 years since our last furlough and we are now planning to return this fall to the states. As of yet we do not know everywhere we will go, where we will stay, or even what we will drive. All of these thing we are praying about right now. We need resources now to get us through the next couple months here in Puerto Rico and we need to start planning for where and when we will travel to share. If you have been a friend of this ministry or you are just hearing of us we would like to hear from you and to make plans to come and share with your church or small group in the coming months.

 Please call us at: 1-937-307-0694, email us at: newdaycm@yahoo.com or write to us at:
New Day Christian Ministry PO Box 801438 Coto Laurel, Puerto Rico. We are willing to go anywhere that will extend the invitation for us to come.


3.)    All of the churches we have started over the years are in poor, mostly unreached areas. They do much on their own but they also need help. There is a tremendous amount of ministry taking place every day and an abundant amount of opportunity for mission trips for anyone willing to go.


4.)    We need prayer! We need pray each and every day. If you are willing to pray with us and for us please contact us and let us know. We do have a prayer ministry and we would love for you to be a part of it. You can begin by visiting our prayer ministry page at: http://newdayprayer.blogspot.com

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this long but very important letter to us about this work. May God richly bless you and make you a blessing.

God Bless,
David Ingram
New Day Christian Ministry
Isa. 43:18-21

For the pdf printable version of this letter use the following link: http://www.newdaycm.org/furloughandsupport.pdf

 

For the pdf (text only) printable version of this letter use the following link: http://www.newdaycm.org/furloughtext.pdf