Devotions (Page 5)

During Intercession this past Sunday, Andrew led us to seek the Lord and practice listening prayer. As he was detailing the outline of listening prayer, step 2 of this process stood out to me. How to practice listening prayer: Step 1: Ask God to give you direction in “_________ – anything you want” Step 2: Tell Him that you are willing to do whatever He tells you – and mean it! … (Steps 3-5 have been cut for concision, but…

As I was pondering on LifeSpring’s 2026 theme: Increase Our Faith – two things emerged. Firstly, without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6); this is a prerequisite of all things in the kingdom of God. Secondly, our faith will be tested (James 1:2-4 ; 1 Peter 1:6-7). Faith that has not been tested is faith that cannot be trusted. If this is so, then how do we increase our faith? Romans 10:17 says: So then faith comes by hearing,…

In 2026, everything we do will be surrounded by our theme of Increase Our Faith. We must always be aware of what God is doing. In trying to plan an entire year in advance, the Lord convicted me from Revelations 22. It describes, The river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. The Lord asked me, “Was the river…

On Sunday we got a chance to hear Abby speak about “Increasing Our Doubt.” Abby has always been unconventional when it comes to the status quo, but that’s why she sees what other people don’t and for that reason she brings a completely different perspective to our pastoral team. In this particular case, Abby talked about increasing our faith through the means of doubt. She shared that it actually takes more faith to believe in God when you have doubts…

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. – Corinthians 13:11-12 (ESV) We often think of doubt as the enemy of faith. After all, we’re called to believe in…

Do you currently serve at church, or have you served in the church before? What has your journey in serving been like? As I think back on my own journey, I remember first becoming more involved at church through worship ministry. I gained an interest in playing the drums when I was in high school, inspired by a friend of mine. Soon enough, my ability was recognized at church, and I became the main drummer in our youth group. Playing…

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to listen to Andrew’s sermon: Increase Our Faith. One of the things he mentioned was that we do not need more information to step out in our faith. There are many examples of this in the bible (Andrew mentioned Abram’s travels); I came across one in 1 Samuel 3; when the Lord called Samuel. Samuel was a boy who assisted Eli the priest in the temple of the Lord, given into this service…

Everything we do this year will be surrounded by the theme of Increase Our Faith. When we look at the word church, the word the Scripture uses is Ekklesia; which means the called-out ones. We often associate the church with a place or a building, this understanding often creates the thought that one must GO to church. The idea is that one must move locations to find and be in the presence of God. Here at LifeSpring, we recognize that…

When Ryan shared on Sunday that he and Theresa are considering fostering babies under the age of 1 years old from the hours of 5pm to 9am to provide temporary care, I thought two things: I have an infant under the age of 1 years old and she is at her peak fussiness after 5pm. They are typically cranky and want to sleep but don’t know how yet or at least that has been my experience. So, when Ryan and…

In December, I had an opportunity to have a zoom meet with some of the team at Deliverance Church Rubongi and the Compassion Canada staff. If you were at LifeSpring in the 2010s, you may remember that we took 3-4 mission trips to Uganda during that period. We would visit different cities and churches there, and one of the places that we had an especially good connection with was Rubongi. A big part of this was because of a growing…

Dear LifeSpring Family, Dorothy and I recently finished studying the Book of Esther in our Bible Study Fellowship program. Most of us are familiar with Esther’s declaration, “If I perish, I perish.” However, before making this heroic statement, she took practical steps found in Esther 4:15–16 (ESV): “Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three…

LifeSpring’s purpose for 2026 is Increase Our Faith. A good example of this is in Esther 4, when Queen Esther is asked to plead for the lives of her people. Just before this chapter, an official order had been issued so that–on a certain day–enemies of the Jews could attack and destroy them, taking everything that they owned. Esther had kept her Jewish identity a secret so far, but when she learned about this plot from her cousin, Mordecai, she…