Monument Ministries

Being a disciple of Christ is not easy. In the Bible there are many, many times where someone hears Jesus speak on something and they leave. No longer calling themselves followers or disciples of Him. Many have said, being a Christian is not for the faint of heart. It’s a lifelong pursuit of His holiness, righteousness and obedience.

Today, like many days, I find myself pouring over God’s Word because like it’s described in the Bible… I must with every fiber of my being cling to, rely on and remain steadfast in Him. And I wouldn’t desire it any other way. But today is a day where I am hard pressed on each side and I can relate with Elijah when he fled in the wilderness to a cave after Jezebel’s threat to kill him. This was after he not only challenged the priests of Baal but then prayed, greatly, for rain after 3 1/2 years of drought and God sent it.

The reason I am relating to Elijah so much is because for the past 4 years our main focus has been on equipping, edifying and evangelizing, everywhere and we have come to a place where we have nowhere left to turn. We haven’t been threatened with death, yet, but we have come to El Elyon (The Most High God) in search of Him alone. In His will alone. Just because we serve Him doesn’t mean we understand everything He does or what His next desire is for us. Job is a great example of that. And that’s all the more reason to cling to, rely upon and remain steadfast in Him, even though I have no clue what He’s doing, why or how He’s going to work this out.

Being a missionary in America is not easy. We have a missionary friend who has been on the mission field for over 40 years. He’s been to many, many terrifying places and yet he said there is only one place he would NEVER be a missionary… You guessed it, America. Why? “Because they are so hard and everything is driven by money.” And I can say with him, yes we are. People desperately want to find the American culture, dream and mentality in the Bible but it’s not there. Yes you can find many of our cultural ideas come from there but, just as we always do as humans, we twist it to fit our ideas instead of conforming our minds to God’s Word and desire (Romans 12:2). We’ve been told we are bad Christians because we don’t have a home (neither did Jesus know where He would lay His head, Matthew 8:19-21), we pray for our daily bread and provisions (Matthew 6:32-34) and we serve God and others as our full time job (with “tent making” whenever possible). This is a heavenly mindset and it was something that God asked us to do, not everyone but the faith and obedience for the WHOLE Body should be the same. This is not something new, He asked only the Levites to do something similar. They were told they have no lot on this earth. Only a heavenly lot (and so do we all!), with Him providing through the Israelites. This is completely counter to our American culture but it is something God brought us to through much breaking by the reading of His Word and prayer.

In our time traveling we have seen the ground is hard, especially among Christians and other believers. There is no desire to change or grow in their faith. Needless to say, it has made us a bit weary. Thus our hard pressed state. We are standing at the cave waiting, not for the great wind, earthquake or fire but for His still, small voice to tell us what His desire is next. We love serving Him, wherever He leads. Though we are struggling, we know that He will use this to grow our faith in Him to trust Him more. We know that this is not the end of our ministering and preaching Christ to our people, Americans. Now, maybe more than ever, it’s so needed. We see where the church could be headed and we are prepared to come alongside our brothers and sisters to run this race because it is only going to get harder. More persecution will come. It was promised to us by Jesus Himself and He said it was an honor! And it is. Don’t fall away like the others when Jesus spoke. Depend upon Him, cling to Him, strive after Him with every fiber because truly, nothing came to you without going through His filter of love first. Truly, nothing.

Whatever comes our way, whatever our lot given to us by God, we MUST keep going dear brethren. Pray for us as we pray for you. We love you all.