Devotions (Page 7)

In one of my classes, my professor shared a story about his experience with healing and deliverance ministry. He had worked with gang members and addiction in Asia, and his first encounter with demonic possession was with a gang member who was in rehab for heroin. The patient had more withdrawal symptoms than usual, and when the team started praying for him, he began to throw himself against the concrete wall. They had to restrain him, but they couldn’t seem…

The Lord has been wrestling with my understanding of patient endurance. I naturally understood progression to be an increase in patience and an ability to have greater endurance. This seemed to be the most logical progression in growing in patient endurance. But as I was spending time with the Lord, I felt the Lord highlight that though physical outcomes are great – He is really after our hearts. As I continued to press into what He was saying, I felt…

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself, but must remain in the vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches.” – John 15:4-5 We enter the month of November this week. That means we’re already nearing the end of the year and preparing to close out 2024. I’m not sure about you, but for me 2024 flew by. Whenever the…

This past Sunday, Andrew led us in creating the Winter Care Packages. He had so many gems, so please take a moment to listen to it here. As I listened to Andrew speak on seeds, watering, and God causing it to grow, I was reminded of a video I watched this week: The monkey ladder experiment. It is quite a silly video, but it hammers in a point. It shows how the actions and teachings of the 1st few (seed planters) can…

As I was preparing the winter care-packages and trying to figure out what to include this year, I felt the Lord put this verse on my heart. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. – 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (NIV) As I kept repeating verse 6 to myself I felt like God wanted…

Over the past couple of months, we’ve heard much about the kingdom of God. It was part of the training that we hosted with Donna, and a few weeks ago I had a chance to speak on the topic of the upside-down kingdom. The kingdom of God has also been mentioned in many of the messages we’ve heard over the summer. But what is the kingdom of God? I think all of us have a sense of what the kingdom of…

Comparison is a killer. Have you ever wondered whether you have enough confirmation from the Lord when it comes to a decision? In my experience, I get mental “nudges” from the Lord. Subtle, but for the most part quite effective. Sometimes, however, it feels almost inadequate compared to the other ways God communicates to us. I’ve heard quite a few stories of how people received confirmation from the Lord from dreams, visions, the audible voice of God, etc, and sometimes…

Jesus came to preach The Gospel of the Kingdom. In our different church traditions, we have learned a lot about the Gospel of Salvation and the Gospel of the church.  The Gospel of Salvation is focused on getting saved while we are here, so that when we die we have a place secured in heaven. However, Jesus is often not Lord over every area of our lives. Church becomes compartmentalized and become one part of our lives.  The Gospel of…

He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9 When I was in my twenties, my favourite movie series was Marvel’s The Avengers. I remember the first Avengers movie being released around the time I got married, and I think that year I watched the movie at least three or four times! By the end of the series, they had introduced a megavillian named Thanos. Thanos was such a…

It is October 2024. At the beginning of the year, we felt the Lord guide the Lifespring Family towards Patient Endurance. Just over 10 months in, am I more patient? Can I endure more? I don’t know. I still feel weak, I still feel broken at times, and I still ask, “have I/we made any progress?” Yet, in God’s goodness, I felt God say, “that is exactly where I want you to be.” One of the challenges the Lord has been putting…

Happy Thanksgiving! During this Thanksgiving weekend, we think of all the things and people we are thankful for in our lives. As a church family, we are truly blessed with so many good things, but most importantly, we recognize that we have a person to be thankful to. God is the source of all the good in our lives, and I encourage you to take a moment this week to express your thanks to God. If you can, express your thanks…

I really enjoyed Joe’s message on Sunday. He speaks with such integrity and you can tell what he’s saying comes out of a genuine love for God and a genuine care for others. The part of Joe’s message that stuck out to me was the understanding of what it means to be a child of God and the different stages.  As a systematic thinker, It was helpful for me to see what each stage involved and how it compared to…