My sisters from New York

We spent another week in Chincha helping to rebuild one of
the local churches.  It was nice to be
able to get out there and physically work. 
There was a group of four girls from New York, who all went to different
churches and did not know one another. 
It was a joy to listen to their stories and to work alongside them in
Chincha.  They made me laugh quite a bit
as well.  Also, I was able to work
alongside one of the members of the church, Victor, throughout the week and it
was a blessing to work and talk with him. 
On this trip we also distributed more rice and blankets in an area
called Tambo de Mora. 

For a while I have
been reading through Exodus and A Hunger
for God.  In this book Piper makes
the comparison of the Israelites in the wilderness and Jesus temptation by
Satan in the wilderness.  In Deuteronomy
8 it mentions that God humbled the Israelites and let them be hungry, and fed
them with manna which they did not know so that God might make them understand
that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the
mouth of the Lord.  God fed them every
day for 40 years, giving them what they needed for each day and no more.  Jesus told Satan that man does not live on
bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God.  The second temptation was also related to
Israel’s temptation.  One day the
Israelites complained about not having water and questioned whether or not God
was among them.  It was there at Massah
that they tested the Lord.  Jesus told
Satan, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”  Piper says that Moses pointed out that we
must learn to depend on God and not ourselves. 
The Israelites questioned why they were brought out of Egypt.  They have been told the Promised Land lies
ahead but yet they desire to be back in Egypt as slaves.  After seeing God provide manna they don’t
depend on Him to supply them water and they believe that Egypt would be better
because they had water there.  At times
being in a foreign country is difficult. 
Sometimes the thoughts of just going home and going back to the comforts
of home seem so appealing.  There are
times when I often wonder if God is going to provide or speak to me in some
way.  I am learning though that I must
depend solely upon God to feed me and that God does not require me to be
perfect but to surrender to the perfect One, who is Christ, and my
righteousness or perfection comes from faith in Christ (Phil 3).  A question posed by Piper that I have thought a lot is:  What do I want more, God in all His fullness or only His gifts and blessings?

    Another thing I noticed while reading through
the temptations of Jesus in Matthew 4 is that in the first two temptations
Satan says “If you are the Son of God.” 
Right before Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit he saw God’s
Spirit rest on Him and heard the words, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him
I am well pleased.”  Satan attacks Jesus’
identity hoping that He will forget the words that God spoke to Him.  Jesus had to choose whether or not he would
depend and trust in His Father.  Jesus
chose to not put God to the test trusting that He truly was God’s beloved son.  Satan goes right at the heart of intimacy and
wants us to seek some kind of miracle from God instead of being satisfied with
the character of God.  I think I would
much rather have God magically transform me instead of allowing sanctification to
be a day by day process.   In Corinthians
God tells Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  I believe this relates to total dependence on
God; by depending upon the power of Christ and all He is, realizing without Him
I can do nothing, then and only then can I rest and experience God’s
transforming power.  I believe that God has
been opening my eyes to so many lessons and at times I have been overwhelmed
with what I am learning.  Satan will
attack the heart of intimacy and throw every lie and distortion at us to break
up intimacy.  Jesus did not falter when
tempted and it is in Christ, resting fully upon Him, that my salvation lies,
not my own ability to try and measure up. 
I am learning through reading about the Israelites and Jesus’
temptations by Satan that I need to trust fully in God to provide and that I
must utterly depend on God, not my own futile ability, feeding me knowing that he is working in me what is
pleasing to Him (Heb 13:21) and it is all for the glory of Christ.

Thank you all for your continued prayers.  I cannot believe I have been here almost three months.