December 2010
54 posts
5 tags
Pulling The Plug On New Year's Eve
Clean slate, eh? That’s the attitude toward the New Year; New dreams. New hopes. New desires. New determination. That would be nice wouldn’t it, that we would have the opportunity once a year to wipe it all out and start with a blank page? However, you and I both know it doesn’t work that way. We know there is nothing magical...
5 tags
How We Respond To God Can Determine Our Future
Our future depends on how we respond to God. No surprises there, nothing new, yet we fail at it all the time. Maybe you don’t even realize that God is interacting with you every day. He is our constant companion and those moments when you feel he has moved off are most likely because you have been too distracted to notice him. So if we are so super distracted how can we expect that we will...
5 tags
Then Neither Do I Condemn You
Christians have done a horrible job at presenting Jesus Christ to the world. Someone has said that God needs a new PR man and I tend to agree but still he has chosen us. So much of the unsaved world sees the Church and Jesus with a perspective that astounds me and then I remember that the enemy is there to twist everything that is said so it comes across void of any love and compassion. Still,...
5 tags
Why We Can Be So Stupid About The Simple Things Of...
Sometimes people are deaf to what is being plainly said to them. I am sure you have had the experience of trying to explain something simple to someone but no matter how many times you explained it they just did not get it. What probably frustrated you more was the fact he was an intelligent person. Perhaps you have been on the other side of the table and you were the person who could not see what...
Being in His presence. How unworthy and imperfect...
7 tags
If You Want To Succeed In Business Do Not Adopt...
It takes a lot of wisdom, energy and time to run your own business. It certainly is not for the faint of heart as you have to sacrifice almost everything to keep it afloat. As it grows and you have to hire on staff you soon discover that the real strength of your business is found in the people you have hired. The right staff can cause your business to soar, whereas the wrong staff can cause it to...
4 tags
Will Anyone In North America Go From Last To First...
We live in a self-absorbed society in North America. No matter what we do we evaluate it’s worth by the question, “What’s in it for me?” We may not even realize we do this because we may phrase it a different way, “There’s no benefit in this”, “I’d rather be doing something else”, “I don’t feel like doing this”. Most of...
4 tags
The Only Thing You Can Be Certain Of Is That...
I was driving down the 401 in Ontario, going from Montreal to Kingston. It was an exciting day; I was picking up four of my girls to bring them home for Christmas. All the way down the highway all I could think about were the big hugs I would receive and the lively conversation home. Like their dad, my girls like to talk. It had been a couple of months since I had seen them last and there was...
4 tags
A Great Hypocrisy In The Church: "Pray As If It...
I think I have figured out why we have a hard time believing that anything is possible with God: too many of us believe that everything depends on us. Oh we won’t say that with words and we will argue about it with anyone who would dare say that, yet we demonstrate it in our actions. Honestly now, when something goes wrong, what is your first reaction? Do you call someone for help, turn to...
Are You Absolutely Sure We've Got This Right?
There’s a question for you: “What must I do to get eternal life?” We have come up with various answers over the centuries but the current popular is, “Live a good life”. Then we are left to interpret what a “good life” looks like. Give to the poor. Don’t harm the environment. Look after your neighbour. Perhaps it is following the rule of not bringing...
6 tags
Parents, Stop Ignoring The Elephant In The Room...
Considering I am a principal of a Christian school and a pastor of a church filled with children, one would expect that ministry to children is important to me. Actually, I believe it is one of the most privileged ministries to be involved in and is increasingly challenging in the age we find ourselves. The challenge is overcoming the growing distraction of the world and helping children...
6 tags
Perhaps It's Better If You Don't Get Married
Relationships are the most wonderful and, often times, most frustrating things in our life. Like many things there are seasons to these relationships that we need to learn to recognize in order to make them long-lasting. It is rare these days to find friendships that span many decades and we all know the rate of divorce but most of this is because we fail to recognize the seasons. Change upsets...
Jesus loves design: Failure →
jesuslovesdesign:
Psalms 119:18 says
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things…
Elyse and I have been praying lately for two things:
God gives us God-sized dreams.
God continues to equip us to realize and achieve these dreams.
It’s scary to follow your dreams. If you’re really putting yourself out…
4 tags
Forgiveness Is Hard To Cultivate After Making 200...
It is incredible the damage we do to ourself with the unforgiveness we hold on to. I am not saying that forgiveness is always easy and I would never deny that it comes at a high price but it is also necessary. Unforgiveness actually carries with it a greater price. It causes loss of sleep, joy, relationships and even salvation. It leads to bitterness, resentment, hatred and many other negative...
6 tags
Are We Still Raping And Pillaging The Bride Of...
If someone was to ask me to define the Church my short answer would be that the Church is any time two believers come together in agreement. We get hung up in all the trappings of how the Church has been defined over the years but over the years the Church has been abused by man. She was used as a tool of power by greedy men who did not have a clue what it meant to be a follower of Jesus Christ....
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do...”
– Jesus the Christ, Son of the living God
“The people living in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the...”
– Matthew 4:16
3 tags
The Lesson I Learned When God Organized My Garage
An amazing thing happened to me in my garage yesterday. My eldest daughter is moving back home in preparation for finishing off her school, so I am giving up my office for her. This sounds easier than it is; I have to find a place to store all my office furniture and files. Thankfully I have a double garage but therein lies the challenge. My double garage is already full of church and school...
Jesus loves design: Once saved, always saved? →
jesuslovesdesign:
Once saved, always saved is a weird, weird doctrine. Are you familiar?
It’s the concept that once you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart, that it’s a done deal. You can live your life however you may wish, and then you’re good with God when you finally kick the bucket.
In Matthew 24:13, Jesus is…
6 tags
Stop Acting Like The Victim - You Are More Than...
It is a shame so many followers of Jesus do not realize the power they have. Too often we push through life with a victim attitude, expecting that we deserve sympathy, wanting a “ahh, poor is you” from people. We hardly look like the victorious people Jesus declared us to be. One would never know that the resurrection power is pumping through us and that we have the constant...
6 tags
Just Because I Say I Am A Believer Doesn't Mean I...
As we approach the highly anticipated day of Christmas we should be preparing our hearts for forgiveness. Perhaps you find that a strange thought but it is an appropriate one. There is no other day that carries with it such high anticipation of perfection. It is like everyone actually expects there to be “peace on earth”, like every fault of every person is going to be suspended...
“Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.”
– Proverbs 4
“You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine...”
– Psalm 4
“How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love...”
– Psalm 4
Jesus loves design: What Jesus never did... →
jesuslovesdesign:
Nehemiah 9:33
In all that has happened to us, You have remained righteous; You have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.
Sometimes we need to remember that God is God.
In a world of “Jesus is my homeboy” and ridiculous stuffed plush toys, we sometimes belittle who Jesus…
5 tags
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better. I Can Do...
It is amazing how many people think they want to be a leader until they get into the position of leadership. From a distance it looks quite attractive to get all that attention from people. We get to hear how much people appreciate them, we hear a lot of “thank you’s”, we see them always surrounded by people, and they get to make all the decisions. What we don’t see or...
“Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
then...”
– Proverbs 3
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;...”
– Proverbs 3
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write...”
– Proverbs 3
“Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”
But you are a...”
– Psalm 3
5 tags
Hi, My Name Is Paul, And I Am A Sinner, Saved By...
It seems we have entered an age when even the Church no longer takes sin seriously. We are big time into the message of love and this must always be central to everything we do. Everything God has ever done has been from the motivation of love. However, sin is a powerful destructive force that destroys everything it infects. We cannot afford the attitude of “Oh well, Jesus will forgive...
5 tags
The Prevention Of Abuse Is Only A Decision Away
Recently there was a campaign adapted from a FaceBook game where people replaced their profile picture with a cartoon. The idea was to bring the problem of child abuse to people’s awareness. We all know that if we do not keep talking about these things we end up ignoring them. It was unfortunate some people made assumptions and a rumour began to spread that these cartoons were being...
4 tags
The Secret of a Very Merry and Joyous Christmas
Discouragement is devastating to our spirit. It is like an acid that eats away at our foundation of faith and causes our eyes to drop away from the heavenly things and to focus mainly on ourselves. It is like a suffocating blanket that becomes harder to cast off the longer we allow it to cover us. It has a more damaging affect on a Christian than any persecution of faith could ever hope to...