Hi all,
We had a wonderful conference in Manchester, New Hampshire, with deep worship, many had their eyes opened to His realm and saw things that ministered to them, and the fellowship was like a big family reunion. A group of us stayed over a couple of days to visit Stowe, Vermont and a close CWOWI friend there, then to the Maine coast south of Portland – a busy but rich conference surrounded by the beautiful colors of autumn in New England.
We are planning next year to have our national conference in Tulsa, during the Columbus Day weekend, October 7-9. We will share details later.
Sin of presumption
I recently did a short teaching on my Wednesday YouTube and Facebook videos on the sin of presumption, and it got quite a reaction from many. Many recognized themselves or someone they know, thinking they were in faith they now realize they were in presumption. What is the sin of presumption?
The sin of presumption (or assuming) is when a person thinks something is God’s responsibility when in fact it is our responsibility.
An example would be in Isaiah 39 when Hezekiah showed the representatives of Babylon all the treasures in the temple, lifted up in pride he thought God would still protect his nation though in the natural it was stupid to show an aggressive, powerful nation the treasures in the temple – he thought God would protect him anyway. But it caused Babylon to later attack them and take the riches of the nation to Babylon. He thought God was his partner and would ‘cover’ him no matter how unwise his decisions were, but that refusal to use wisdom and common sense was pride.
Another example is Exodus 14: 13-16 when Moses brings the people to the edge of the Sea, then tells them God will fight for them…and that’s what Moses thought. The Lord however tells him: “Why are you crying out to me? You have to tell the people to go forward as you lift up the rod in your hand and divide the Sea.”
Moses thought God would fight for them, but in fact the Lord had given Moses the rod which he had used to bring the plagues of Egypt and told him to use it – Why are you crying after Me? Take the rod in your hand…
We always have to do what is right in the natural, and then when we’ve done that, the Lord moves. Jesus set the thousands down in groups of 50’s and 100’s, THEN the miracle of multiplied loaves and fish happened. The men rowed across the lake, for that’s what they knew to do even though the wind and waves were against them – THEN the Lord came walking on the water and calmed the storm.
Examples for today
An example is when a person is afraid of going to the doctor because of either the expense of the visit and tests, or afraid the doctor will confirm their fear of what they think they have.
So the person asks for prayer, thinking God will heal them. And that’s fine if He does, but usually by the time someone contacts me they have had that condition for weeks or months and so far, praying about it hasn’t healed them. So they hide their fear behind ‘faith’ and prayer instead of doing the right thing.
They spiritualize their fear, dressing it up and calling it faith, ignoring their responsibility to do all they can to care for their body. God gave us our bodies, so it is up to us to care for them. We dress our body, clean it, feed it, take care of it when it is hurt or injured or ill. That’s our job, not God’s. If a person is healed by the Lord we rejoice, but faith never relieves us of the responsilbity of doing the right thing in the natural.
When our children were young we would lay hands on them for a condition or illness, but if they weren’t better within a day, we’d take them to a doctor. And for emergencies we’d lay hands on them and then immediately seek medical attention – and end up seeing the Lord’s healing power confirmed by medical science. You don’t make children suffer because the parents are ‘using faith’. You don’t make yourself suffer either just because you are afraid of the money or condition.
A mom with a young son with a fever refused to take him to a doctor fearing the expense. The boy got so sick she finally called an ambulance, and it was discovered the virus had gone to a heart valve because she had waited too long before treatment. The 1989 cost for that heart valve surgery was over $65,000, probably 3x that in today’s dollars. But the Lord was merciful, and through various programs the family only paid about $100. But it was the mom’s fear she labeled as ‘faith’ in her presumption, that led to his condition and eventual emergency treatment.
Faith does what is right, and trusts the Lord to provide along the path. Faith is born of a personal revelation about the matter at hand, and knowing and believing that revelation is faith. Noah got the revelation to build the boat, so he did – his response to the revelation was faith.
Moses was told by revelation to go back to Egypt – his response to the revelation was faith.
Joshua didn’t just decide to march 7x around Jericho, the Lord appeared to him at the end of Joshua 5 and told him in chapter 6 how to take the city – his response to that revelation was faith.
Faith doesn’t hide fear, doesn’t think God will make up for our lack of doing what is within our power to do. Faith is a response to a personal revelation that God gives us for our situation.
Another example would be like the young man decades ago who quit a job because it was difficult work with long hours, and he wanted to spend more time with his newborn baby and wife. He quit the job without first securing a new one, thinking his motives were honorable and godly so God would be with him to provide. By the time he came to me, his pastor, they were desperate. Eventually he got another job but it took a very difficult year to get back to normal financially.
The Lord told Adam he would have to work to eat, and Paul said the same thing in I Timothy 5:8 in so many words. Making stupid decisions and thinking God will cover it is presumption. It is assuming something is God’s responsibility when it is our responsibility. And the Lord is righteous – He won’t cover our presumption, but will render to each person what is right and proper – meaning we suffer the consequences of our actions.
Another example is the person that launches into a new business they have not studied, never worked that type of job, and think God will cover them because they are doing it ‘unto Him’. There was a man who because of 1 prophecy from 1 person who prophesied the man would prosper in rental properties, quit his job, mortgaged his house, and bought houses that he would rent out.
But he knew nothing about what he was doing. His presumption (assumption) was that because God had supposedly told him to do it, He would bless him though he knew nothing about what he was doing. He was wrong. God expects us to do ‘due diligence’.
Due diligence is when there is a legal, moral, ethical expectation of doing what is right as one examines the risks and rewards within a business process. It means there is an expectation of doing what is right first. Then God. God is Truth, so He doesn’t help laziness or failure to do the right thing. The man lost his home, his wife, and all his rental homes because he made poor decisions assuming God would cover his mistakes.
Do what is right in the natural, having done all to stand, stand. But first do all to stand. Sometimes that is doing the difficult thing – staying on the job until you have another one lined up. Going through the fear of medical bills or tests and trusting the Lord to provide that money or will walk with you through whatever they find.
Sometimes that is calling a creditor which is a fearful thing, trusting the Lord to provide a monthly payment to repay a debt. People say they are ‘believing the Lord’ for something when in fact they are avoiding doing the right thing because they are afraid.
In all these things and more it would be so much easier if the Lord just dealt with the person, just heal, just pay the bill somehow, just provide money supernaturally – life would be so much easier. But in my experience, the Lord is most often found in the midst of doing the difficult but right thing. Food for thought…
Hurricane Ida update. The hurricane hit the end of August, but putting homes and lives back together is a longer process. We were able to help at least 15 families initially, and we thank those who donated towards this cause – the amount we’ve given out has considerably exceeded the donations that came in for it, but we are thankful we’ve been able to help. If you’d like to help make up the difference just designate a donation for ‘Ida’ or ‘hurricane’.
CWOWI gives thousands of dollars each month to those in the network in the US, EU, Africa and where needed of the basics of life, as we are able, with little mention of it. From help with rent, tuition, car, medical bills, home repair and more, as we are able, we give and the Lord meets our needs.
We are working on our web page under the ‘Network, Network Updates’ section, to bring news of these needs to the whole network. We’ll also include projects like the pig project in Uganda, where we are buying pregnant sows and paying for animal husbandry training so families can become self-sufficient. Also orphans in Uganda, business start-ups in other nations, as well as help during disasters both individual and national.
Your prayers and financial support are so important and greatly appreciated. In the US alone the numbers of people wanting help starting house churches has grown many-fold, and that is our focus, to help with the process – we have more on our plate than we can say grace over – if you know what I mean. Thank you for being part of our lives!
Blessings, John & Barb, Brian & Amy
