Devotions (Page 40)

This past week I had two encounters with homeless individuals that left a mark on me. The first one was positive. I saw someone at the intersection with a sign and remembered that our church created winter care packages so I reached in the back seat of my car for the package and gave it to them. I drove off feeling good about myself. It’s really amazing how Lifespring has responded to a need and that we can be 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…

Although they may seem like an unlikely pairing, I’ve learned some really valuable lessons from the combination of neuroscience and the nativity. As our brain develops, especially in critical developmental stages such as childhood and early adolescence, it begins to create loads of different connections. Neurons fire off synapses like billions of teeny tiny fireworks in your brain! Even after the brain has developed, your brain has the capacity to literally begin to change shape and to rework itself, based…

On September 12, 2021 a group from GAIN Canada came and spoke about raising funds for water wells around the world. They flashed a slide that went by quite quickly, but a slide that God highlighted to me and disturbed me for weeks. The following information was on that slide: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 785 million people live without clean water…That’s nearly 1 in 9 people worldwide Nearly 1 million people die / year due to lack…

Have you ever asked yourself, Why Obedience? Why would God ask the most intellectual beings He’s ever created to just simply follow Him and Obey His commands? Aren’t human beings more capable than simply obeying? I mean we have the ability to advance technology far beyond what we can even imagine. We have the ability to come up with ideas like the lightbulb that can change the world forever.  So why simply obedience? Is it a tool to combat our…

Jesus Made Every EffortFor You!!! The Temptation of Jesus4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word…

This week in our Discipleship Group, we were talking about obedience. We’ve made it all the way through Level 1 and I found it so interesting that the final lesson would be on something that almost felt like a loose end? Why end with a lesson that can be so tough and then not have another one lined up for the following week? I think a big part of it is that the lessons leading up to it were filled…

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,…

As an Eldership & Pastoral Team, we sought the Lord and asked Him what was His purpose for the Lifespring family in 2022. We felt God put on our hearts “For His Name’s Sake”. God has been stirring the hearts of the people over the past 2 years. We can see it in the start of the women’s ministry, the social justice group, 4 new discipleship level 1 groups, the desire to server at Pregnancy Care Centre, the birth of…

Anybody else out there feeling a little bit restless lately? Often restlessness happens when you’re in the middle of waiting for something… I’ve heard that, although maybe you’re not feeling quite so sick, the final weeks of pregnancy can be the worst! Women feeling tired of carrying around so much extra weight and discomfort for nearly nine months would do that! But I think one of the things that makes restlessness so frustrating for us, is that even though we’re…

There was a quote that I wrote down from Jon Koh last Sunday that said “We need to make a decision before the temptation, not in the middle of it…” Jon mentioned that making a decision before the temptation keeps you from getting swayed by the circumstances and feelings in the midst of temptations. In my life right now, there are exams and papers that need to be written, requiring a lot of time management and discipline. One thing that…

We had the privilege of having our elder, Jonathan Koh, preach and teach to the family yesterday. I believe as Jon spoke, as a church family we are truly challenged on the next steps of the journey we call Maturity. In a world where the Bible has become opinion more so than Scripture, it can be difficult standing with God. Yet Jon brings us through an amazing encounter with Jesus and a woman caught in adultery. Jesus shows us how…