Devotions (Page 34)

In my couples discipleship one of the things that stood out to me was the power of learning and memorizing scripture. It is Step 4 of 10 in the ten steps to Grow Godly Character. To give you some context, the character trait I was working on was pride (not necessarily by choice but as things transpired throughout the week, pride seemed to be the culprit of my transgressions). During the process of dealing with my pride, I found that…

About ten years ago, a good friend of mine gave me one of those daily flip calendars that had a memory verse for each day. I won’t lie, in the moment I thought it was a little cheesy and wasn’t thrilled by the gift because, “I’m not that kind of person”… turns out I actually kind of am. It’s like an all-year-round Advent calendar… with less chocolate. But also with more reminders of who God is and who I am…

Dear LifeSpring Family, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:26 We thank our Lord Jesus Christ that while we wait expectantly for His return, we are reminded that He is our propitiator and actively interceding and advocating for us. While there is an overlap between an intercessor and an advocate, there is also a difference. In general terms, intercession means that a third party…

As many of you have heard, from May to August I’ll be taking a leave of absence from my staff position at Lifespring to finish my PhD program (watch the announcement here: https://youtu.be/PhduQxbe9bw?t=2503). I’m glad for the leadership team being willing to let me take this time off to finish what God had put on my heart years ago, and I’m encouraged by the support of people in the Lifespring family who are praying for me and even taking some…

Have you ever wondered what love and hate look like? Over the past decade, love and hate have modified its descriptions in keeping with the times causing it to take many different forms and variations but one thing I noticed is that no matter what it looks like it follows the same process. I heard this analogy about love and hate through a metaphor of cutting and watering trees that gave me a little insight on the process of love…

What a priviledge it was to have our Deacon of Technology, Nick Chua, speak and share with the church family. As Nick shared his life journey he kept going back to a question deep within, Am I Worthy to be Loved? In the midst of youth and making bad decisions like being with friends who stole cars – am I worthy to be loved? In the days of growth, graduating from University, getting a job, having a salary – am…

In my first year of Psychology at YorkU, I remember writing a paper on whether I believed if one person can make a difference in this world. Based on my experiences with the relationships I had with people, it was easy to see that one person could make a difference in the world because multiple people made a difference in my life. When it came to people, the difference makers were very tangible to me. Interacting with humans will always…

This week the Lord has been convicting me of sins of commission (acts) and omission (not doing what I am supposed to do). To be entirely honest with the church family, it got me kind of down. I was disappointed in myself, I was wrestling with guilt, and all in all I felt what the Scripture describes as “downtrodden”. Yet God, in His loving mercy, brought me to this Scripture: 2 Corinthians 7:8-10Even if I caused you sorrow by my…

There are lots of different patterns or cycles in the life of a believer and this Easter I was especially drawn to the movement from Hosanna to Hallelujah. On Palm Sunday the people cried out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” quoting Psalm 118:25-26. With the revolution of Judah Maccabee fresh in their minds, the Jewish people were likely expecting Jesus to ride into…

April already! As the weather warms up and flowers and trees start blooming, we are without a doubt entering a new season. This time of year marks a nice transition as we start putting away winter gear and put on our fall jackets, in anticipation for warmer weather ahead. Along with the seasons changing, April is also the time of Easter this year. Easter weekend shares a lot of similarities with this idea of the seasons changing. Easter is about…

Last Sunday we got to hear from Lyndon DoJohn of GAiN Ministries sharing about his many experiences and how the love of Jesus has impacted his life. He shared a quote from a book that he had read that stood out to me: “Following Jesus is not about the scenery but about the company.”  My interpretation of this quote is that sometimes we have unrealistic expectations when we  follow Jesus. Sometimes our focus is on where we are going rather…

We had the privilege of having Lyndon Dojohn from GAiN come and speak to the Lifespring family for our Sunday Celebration. A man who has pastored for over 30 years and continues to love Jesus with his entire life. As Lyndon was sharing, he spoke a line that resonated with me: “Jesus came to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.” I felt God highlighting this line over and over and I just could not shake it. I felt that…