“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6:25, 31, 34)
“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27:1)
“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35)
This prayer letter is one of the most unusual letters I have written since starting this ministry 23 years ago. Maybe the letter itself is not as unusual as the circumstances of life we are all experiencing. It is quite amazing how quickly what Jesus said to His disciples almost 2,000 years ago suddenly becomes a reality to all of us who live in this land of plenty. Within two weeks, we went from having plans; working our jobs, as we have done for years; meeting in our churches every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night; and going about our normal activities; to being limited in what we can do in almost every area of our lives. Talk about a wake-up call! Wow!
As I write this letter, I was supposed to be in Nigeria preaching in two leadership conferences. Due to the decision of the Nigerian government, banning travel to their country from the U.S., I was not able to go. I must say that looking at the limitations the people of that country are now facing, I am glad I am here in the U.S. Let me assure you that Linda and I are doing well during these uncertain days. God is still on the throne and is caring for us. We are still being used by God to tell others about Jesus. Just before the crackdown went into effect, I met a young man on the sidewalk in front of our church. He had just arrived in our country from Greece. We talked for a little while; then I was able to lead him to Christ. Praise the Lord! God brought the young man to the U.S. just so he could get saved. God is good.
I thank God that our pastor has not allowed these changes to make him stop trying to reach our area with the Gospel. Our bus workers, though not able to bring people to church, still visit their riders and even bring them baskets to show their love to them. Though we cannot visit inside most homes while out soul winning, we still can hand out tracts from door to door, with the prayer that these special tracts will be read by people. Our church is live streaming the services on Sundays and also has a special conference phone number for people to call into if they do not have access to the Internet. Let us, with faith in our God, continue to do what we can to get the Gospel to people during these interesting times.
Please pray that things get back to normal in time for my scheduled trip to Mexico in May.
Your servant,
Missionary Evangelist James Belisle
