Mark316.com

Mark, enjoy your blog, I stumbled across it a while back. My wife and I are missionaries in El Salvador and I enjoy reading about the experiences of others here. I agree wholeheartedly with you on the excesses of the word of faith devotees. I went to a service here in San Salvador to listen to a friend interpret for a visiting gringo, and the message was God wanted them to be rich to be a witness for Him. That sounded so out of place for people that if somehow their salaries tripled overnight, they´d still be poor all their lives. And I worry that they left feeling like they´d failed God because they were poor. If I read your post rightly, although you addressed the question of excesses thoughtfully, you were still left with what to do about you have not because you ask not. That´s a continuation of a thought James had in chapter one where he asked if any lacked wisdom, he should ask God for it. He then describes a God who gives generously without finding fault, which is either a blue light special for dumb people like me or a glimpse into the heart of God, and I´m inclined to believe the latter. Wisdom should be something God wants us to have an abundance of, but for those lacking it, the avenue for acquiring it in this instance seems to be by asking for it. If he who lacks wisdom should ask for it, what happens if he doesn´t ask? Could be he has not because he asks not. Not only does he need to ask, but the next verse says he should ask believing and not doubting. It´s possible to make the point that at least part of what he should believe is that God gives generously without finding fault, and not doubt that. The one who doubts receives nothing from the Lord. My experience with Christians here is that many cry out to God for a number of things but I don´t hear in too many a conviction that God is going to answer. Some of that stems from the Holiness movement you mentioned in an earlier post that always leaves people feeling unworthy. Some of it also comes from living such hard lives, but God really does want to help. Maybe not to buy the biggest SUV on the market, but to meet the necessities of life, salvation of friends and family, health and other areas. My experience with God is that He really wants to be involved in every area of our lives. It seems everything He does is relational, and although He could give it without us asking, in the asking and the spending time with Him that comes with that our relationship goes deeper. His goal seems to be to draw us into an ever deeper dependency on Him, and His love for us. To make a long post even longer, in some areas in our lives we truly do have not because we ask not in faith. Sorry for the long post, and if I have misrepresented your position in any way, forgive me. Keep up the good work.

I don't know if you misrepresented me. I would question the reaching back to the reference of God granting wisdom to whoever may ask in order to know what it is that God will grant. I do believe that the verse is referring to provision due to the reference of greed in the following verse.

What is your mission here in El Sal? I'd be curious to hear more. Are you based in San Salvador or are you elsewhere in the country?

My wife and I have been here for almost three years and we live in San Salvador, near Metrocentro. Although several churches support us, we are more or less independent, although we do answer to a board of directors and our pastor back home. Our background is charismatic/pentecostal. We co-pastor a youth church, Ruta 3:16 in San Salvador, work with water purification projects and medical clinics in poor areas, work with a children´s home and host teams from the states. Our Spanish is atrocious, but improving.