Road to Freedom for Proclaiming Christ in Spain

Our partners in ministry and fellow brother and sister in Christ who are already in Spain preparing to minister to the Basque.  Be sure to read the updates on our you caring site as the latest letter is from them.

This past week my coworker and I felled, trailered, and unloaded over 10,000 lbs of wood.  In order to move that type of weight, my coworker and had to move it one manageable piece of wood at a time.  If when I started work on Monday my boss had brought us to a pile of 10,000 lbs of wood and told me to make sure it is gone before the end of the week, I would've thought he was crazy.  I would have felt like he had given me an impossible task.

For years, I have looked at our debt and other hurtles keeping us from being missionaries to Spain and felt like they were impossible to overcome.  Through the past few years the Lord has been showing me His power to overcome and my need to trust Him.  Just like the wood, the Lord has been showing me that with hard work and perseverance my wife and I will overcome the obstacles before us and make it to Spain.  It is amazing the peace you feel when you begin to put your full trust in the Lord.

Many times we live our lives like everything depends on us.  As Christians, we are to trust the Lord for everything.  This does not mean we are to just sit around and wait for God to clear the way for us but it does mean that we are to move in faith that the Lord is walking before us leading, preparing, and clearing the way He wants us to go in this life.  The main theme of the Bible is that God wants us to put our complete faith and trust in Him.  The Israelites accomplished nothing on their own.  All of their great achievements were through the power of God.  In the New Testament, we see that Jesus chose to come down, live a sinless life, die, and rise again so that anyone who believes in Jesus might have salvation.  Our salvation, is completely dependent on what Jesus did for us because we were unable to save ourselves.  An authentic Christian walk requires each person to fully surrender their heart and life to God.

When we fully understand our need to put all our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, we are able to understand Paul's statement in Philippians 4:13 saying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  It has been so incredible to experience the peace I have had throughout this pregnancy process.  I have complete faith that the Lord is in full control of the formation and safety of my baby boy.  Even when my wife and I have faced scares, I have found complete peace in Jesus and His power to protect my little boy.  Through this process, my faith has grown and I have come to the place where I too can trust the Lord to overcome my perceived huge obstacles to leaving for Spain too.

I am now no longer worried about the difficulties ahead because God has called us to Spain and He is capable to meet and exceed all our needs to leave for Spain.  So I am excited to watch the Lord move as my wife and I seek to boldly pursue international missions for Spain.  He has already been moving through the prayer, encouragement, and unexpected blessings.  We have raised $510 on the you caring fundraiser and it felt so good to be able to apply that money to our student loans, knowing that the Lord is going to continue to do even greater things!


Are there any roadblocks in your life keeping you from doing what God has called you to?  Are you using the excuse of money, time, family, comfort zone, or giftings as reasons why you couldn't possibly do what God is calling you to do?  Friends I pray that you will lay down all these worries, obstacles, and doubts at the feet of the Lord and trust Him to provide you with the ability to do what He has called you to do.  Matthew 6:31-33 says, "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."  There are so many verses on faithfulness and the trustworthiness of God my friend.  Check out Open Bible and just write one of these words and see all the verses linked to it.  It is such a great resource when you want to look up topical applications in the Bible.


Friends, we are going to Spain.  I don't know if it will be in a year or in five or more years.  All I do know is that the Lord has called us to minister to the Basque people with my best friend and his wife.  I know that the Lord will be faithful to clear all obstacles in our way if we remain faithful and boldly trust Him.  I know that the Lord is laying on some of your hearts to help us to be able to make it to Spain and possibly even support us monthly while ministering in Spain.  I pray that you would seek His guidance for what He would lead you to do in reference to our calling.  I thank you each so much for your prayers.  We have created a fundraiser through youcaring.com to help us overcome the first obstacle in our way, which is our student loans.  I hope you will check out our fundraiser at Road to Freedom for Proclaiming Christ.  If you can help us, great!  If you know someone else you believe would be willing to help us, please share the link with them.  If all you can do is pray with us as we trust God, wonderful!  Thank you so much for your support through this blog and your prayers.


Blessings,


Greg

The Year of Jubilee

Tonight, my wife and I decided to create a fundraiser through www.youcaring.com.  I have to say that I have struggled with creating this fundraiser for months.  For years now, we have felt the Lord leading us toward international missions.  My best friend and his wife are currently in Spain training to reach the Basque people group and I have to say that my heart aches to join my brother in ministry in Spain.  My heart deeply desires the freedom to follow the Lord's lead on our life.

Proverbs 22:7 says, "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender."  This verse pierces directly through my heart and I affirm it's truth with a resounding amen!  I have fully felt the weight of my slavery ever since completing school and beginning the process of paying back the loans my wife and I accumulated.  We have been paying on our loans now for about seven years and I am not sure that we have made much if any progress on them.  It feels as though they are a mountain that is slowly crushing me.  


I desire nothing more than for this mountain to be thrown into the sea.  I desire nothing more than to be free to serve the Lord completely.  I desire the ability to fully devote my life to reaching others for Christ.  The Lord has blessed my wife and I greatly by providing us with a great church and a young adult ministry.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach these young adults the Word each week.  I am so thankful for each opportunity I have to minister and proclaim the gospel of Jesus to others.  


Even with all these wonderful blessings, they pale in comparison to what my wife and I could do if we were able to devote our full energy to serving Christ.  We both have to work full-time jobs just to make ends meet and many times we come home exhausted.  My wife is a teacher and many times when she comes home, her job comes with her.  I can't tell you how many times my wife has worked through the night till morning grading homework, papers, and projects.  We are slaves to our bills and slaves to our lenders.  


James 4:2 says, "You do not have because you do not ask God."  Because of this verse, I decided to go ahead and setup the fundraiser.  I specifically decided to end the fundraiser on July 31st because it is the first day of school for my wife.  My hope is also that my wife will be able to stay home, if she chooses, with our soon to come boy.  It would be so wonderful for her to be able to choose this option if she wanted to and me be able to provide for all our other bills on my own.  I am not interested in raising the money to erase this debt on my own power.  If the Lord chooses to erase this debt, I want to be sure that I can not claim any part of the debt being erased.  It would take $60,000 to erase our school debt.  The idea of raising $60,000 tot in 2 months seems completely impossible but Jesus says in Luke 18:27 is, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."  


If I am to live completely sold out and devoted to God, I have to believe in the supernatural. I do not believe the Lord would call us to something and not provide us the way to follow His call.  I want every single step of my walk to be fully depending and expecting Him to supernaturally move in my life.  In encouraging the Philippians to trust the Lord to provide and be content he makes this comment in Philippians 4:19 saying, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."


Creating this fundraiser is the first step to fully trusting the Lord to provide.  Even if no money is given to this fundraiser, I will fully and completely trust my Lord to provide.  I will still expect Him to provide the open door to answer His calling to international missions.  I will trust Him to open the door at the right time, his time.  Though my heart aches so much to be with my brother in Spain walking side by side with him reaching lost souls for Christ, I will faithful trust the Lord's direction in my life, no matter what.  I will continue to live for Him, speak for Him, sing for Him, and share His gospel with others.  


Are you completely trusting you life to Christ each day?  Psalm 3:4-5 brings me such peace saying, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.^{" There is no peace outside of Him.  There is no joy outside of walking in  Him daily.  Do you know Jesus Christ tonight?  Have you believed in Him?  Are you looking to Him to lead every facet of your life?  You are never too far gone.  There is no sin you could have committed that would be too great for Him to receive you, forgive you, and welcome you into a relationship with Him.  I pray that you will seek Him today.  If you ever need to talk, have questions, or just need prayer, know that I am always available and you can email me at greg.ivey@me.com.}


The link for our fundraiser is youcaring.  If you would take a moment to look at the fundraiser, pray for the Lord's guidance pertaining to it, and share it with fellow friends who might be interested, we would be grateful. Thank you for your consideration. 


Blessings,


Greg