Dear Friends:
In 2 Corinthians 8, we read Paul’s appeal to the Christians in Corinth to live our lives sacrificially as Jesus did for us. In this chapter, the central verse is probably 2 Cor 8:7 But as you abound in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us — see that you abound in this grace also. Paul was exhorting them that they must abound in faith—which we may see as trusting our future and our current problems to God, being bold to live in the gifts of the Spirit, such as supernatural healing, miracles, words of knowledge to help others, wisdom applied in how we relate to others, seeing our world prophetically, and so on. I am always excited and challenged when I read what Jesus told his followers: John 14:12-14 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” I believe that a clear qualifier of this statement is that we can do this when we are operating according to God’s Will, and not our own. (I Jn. 5:14). That should encourage us about how important it is to seek God’s will and seek to live in the Holy Spirit daily.
If we are living our lives in this way, then we will abound in saying things that bless and draw people to God, we will have knowledge about God’s way of dealing with life-issues, and we will have diligence to continue in the things God is calling us to do. Finally, and this is really the emphasis of 1 Corinthians 8, we will give of our finances to help others. I think this is perhaps one of the hardest things for us to do as Christians for many reasons. But Paul here is calling God’s people to give in ways that stretch them, to give in ways that perhaps make their own lives less comfortable. And the goal is to do what we can to make sure there is no extreme poverty among God’s people. He was asking the church there to give sacrificially to help the Christians in Jerusalem, who must have been living in great poverty, probably because they were black-listed by the orthodox Jews there.
In our world, it is easy to find other Christians who are living in this kind of poverty and worse—just look at what is going on in Ukraine right now, and in the neighboring countries accepting the refugees. But, it is not only there, there are many places in Africa, for example, Mozambique. There is the middle east, for example, Iran. The list goes on. It is important to us as God’s people to commit to pray for and even give of our finances to help God’s less fortunate believers.
There is a whole world out there that God wants to influence through us, and we influence His world when we “abound in” all of the grace God has poured out on us by cheerfully giving sacrificially! (2 Cor. 8:7). Have you experienced how God blesses you when you give of your time, talents, or money to others? What stories do you have to tell of God’s provision for you when you gave up one or more of these to help others? It is truly amazing how God impacts our lives making the impossible happen.
This is a lesson that is especially difficult for young people to grasp, and a place where those of us who are older need to encourage them. As young people, they are often so used to being on the receiving end of gifts that it is hard for them to think of transitioning over to the giving side. Yet, it is so important for them to learn! Acts 20:35 reminds us that we are more blessed when we give than when we receive! So many times we have found a special satisfaction in giving to those in need! Obviously, as a supporter of this ministry, you have felt the same!
We will be spending some time with our girls at Casa this month exploring this aspect of living in Christ. If they can begin to learn the life attitude of Christ, it will make such a difference in their lives! Please pray with us for a powerful move of God’s Spirit as we seek to help them truly make the transition of living in Christ instead of living in the world! Ministry week-end is April 8-10, and we are now transitioning back to holding Sunday morning services the girls, which were suspended during the pandemic.
Thank you for your support of this ministry, may God bless you as you seek to show Jesus to our world!
Jim and Pat
Hello, Alas de Amor family!
Time has flown by and now we are nearing the end of the school year. We are so thankful for the ministry of
Alas, which continues to help so many children and their families overcome the numerous adversities that they face daily.
This March, we got together with our students and their families and talked about perseverance. Perseverance is a somewhat challenging subject to teach to our students; They are often overloaded by difficult economic and family troubles which often de-motivate our young students from pursuing their studies any further. It is impossible to ignore that a student’s motivation is directly correlated to their likelihood of staying in the Alas program. It is important that we recognize that, for a large number of our students, every semester is an uphill battle, and therefore we should be passionate about fostering strength of character, discipline, and confidence in our children. If we, as followers of Christ, believe that God is our strength and our rock, then we should seek to give those around us that strength and peace of mind. We specifically ask of you all that you pray for our students so that they may grow resilient and strong-willed.
We want to point out that this month, we received a great deal of donated second-hand clothing as well as useful household items. All of the donations were clothing in great condition, and we greatly appreciate your willingness to help others in this way. Thanks to you, at the end of our monthly gathering we were able to give the parents of our students a chance to pick out the clothes that they liked and needed and took it home with them. Your donations, as always, were a great blessing.
This March we also had the chance to take photos of our students for their next year’s applications. We are currently looking over all applications, for current students in the program and new applicants. This is our second specific request for prayer: We have a large number of students who want to be part of the program, but we only have so many spots available. The number of spots in the program are entirely dependent on the amount of sponsors we can secure. Our prayer request is that we can find sponsors from anywhere and everywhere so that we can continue to serve the children of Palomas as God wills it. However, we also have a bit of homework for all our Alas family: Tell a friend, tell a family member, tell a stranger about what God is doing in Alas de Amor! Overwhelmingly, the best tool we have at our disposal to find new sponsors is word of mouth. If we all take a few minutes out of our days to inform others of Alas de Amor, we have no doubt that we will have more than enough sponsors to serve every single child that wishes to be backed by Alas de Amor. With that, we conclude this month’s letter. God is doing great things in Palomas, and it is all thanks to you. You should know that God is using every one of you to make this ministry a reality. We want to thank you once again, Alas family, for opening your heart and being willing to give and help your neighbor. As always, we also extend an invitation out to you all to join us in our in-person volunteer efforts. We always need willing hands to do a lot of hard work during our monthly meetings, and this includes moving tables, translating letters, cleaning after the event, giving out clothing and other items, as well just spend some quality time with our Alas students.
We love you all so very much, and may God bless you!
Bere