Posts by Ryan Seow (Page 7)

Ephesians 4:1, “Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God.” When I was thinking about the season we’re in at Life-Spring, having just ended our fast and settling in to a new year, a topic came to mind that I spoke about some time ago. The idea of a fixed mindset vs. growth mindset is from the field of education, but I think many of the…

When I’m fasting, I feel like hearing God becomes a little easier. I’m wondering if you’ve had the same experience. For some reason, during my fasts I feel like listening prayer comes more easily, and I’m able to hear God better. For this January fast, we encouraged the Life-Spring family to give up something that gets in the way of God in our lives. Making an effort to put aside those things opens us up to God’s voice even more.…

It’s no stretch of the imagination to say that we’re living in a bit of a storm right now. We exited last summer with hopefulness around the pandemic, only to be faced with another variant of the coronavirus and another round of restrictions. What’s God’s heart for his people during times like these? What does it mean to have faith when the pressure is on? I think during moments like this, God’s heart is that we would have peace. When…

When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me. Jeremiah 29:13 This weekend we close the book on what has been a tumultuous 2021, and open a new chapter in 2022. In my mind, 2021 was a year full of unexpected twists and turns. Just as quickly as things settled down with the pandemic and life, things were stirred back up just as fast. There was a lot of adaptation to the…

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit.” This past Wednesday, we had our last prayer meeting and intercession for 2021. It’s amazing to see how the prayer ministry has grown at Life-Spring, even during the pandemic. We often divide into smaller breakout rooms during intercession, and last…

Genesis 12:1-3: “Get yourself up and go…and be a blessing.” December is upon us again! For me, December seems to come around faster and faster every year. I think I notice how quickly time is passing when I browse through photos over the past years. Looking at photos of myself from two years ago, I barely see any change. It feels like the last few years have flown by and I’m more or less the same. On the other hand,…

2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” Earlier this month, I had a chance to share at Life-Spring about what God has been teaching me over the past few weeks. Much of what I’ve been learning is around a new opportunity that I’ve taken up this fall. I had a chance to teach a course at Tyndale Seminary this fall semester for the first time.…

Over the past few months, one of the areas where God has been speaking to me is about humility. As important as humility is for our journey as Christians, it can be difficult to understand what genuine humility is and how it’s different from pride. I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned about humility–two of them are about what I call false humility, and two of them are about genuine humility. The part of scripture that illustrates this…

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Matthew 9:9 This week during our pastoral meeting, we were talking about some of the plans and purposes God has been putting on our hearts for the future. In the midst of that, we also had a chance to look back on the journey God has taken us on as…

“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 14:11 Last week in our pastoral meeting we had a good conversation about pride and humility. In some ways, humility can feel like a moving target. The moment we think we’ve mastered humility, is probably when we’re falling into pride! Growing in humility is a journey we’re all on, and one that never really ends. But it helps to have some pointers…

Phil 2:3-4: “Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others.” Last weekend, I was driving through the Parkdale area in Toronto. For many years Life-Spring sent teams down to Parkdale to serve the community there. Being in Parkdale brought back fond memories of visiting International Christian Centre (ICC) all those years. I remember pulling…

Matthew 4:19, “And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” During a discipleship meeting with my life group recently, some of us were sharing how busy life had become over the past few months. Whether it was new tasks at work, packed schedules, or preparing for some kind of change, it seemed like many of our plates were full to the brim. I, for one, was definitely feeling the challenge of change in…