Devotions (Page 8)

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 This passage always bothered me. Though I read it with my eyes and brought it into my mind, it has always been a Scripture that never made sense to me. “Consider it PURE JOY… whenever you face trials…

Dear LifeSpring Family, Yesterday, we had the privilege of hearing Pastor Suwit from Mahapawn Rangsit Church in Bangkok. One thing stood out in my mind was hearing Pastor Suwit reminding me that we can use time to get more money, i.e. work harder, but we cannot use money to get more time, i.e. live longer. Almost immediately, it reminded me of a multi-billionaire in the I.T industry who could not use his billions to “buy” more time from the dreaded disease we call cancer.…

I was reading John 21 the other day, and a passage from that stood out to me. At this point, Jesus had reinstated Peter after his denials of Him, given him a mission to feed His lambs, and told him what kind of death he would die. It’s pretty weighty stuff. To finish it off, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow Me.” 20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper,…

Dear LifeSpring Family, This past Sunday, we were very late and missed Peggy’s sermon on Peace. Dorothy and I were coming from Orangeville where Rebecca and Steven live. We had the privilege of watching Andrew-Daniels’s summer soccer season kick off game. Even before Sunday, I have been thinking about John 1:16-17 for this week’s devotion.  For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  So when I listened to Peggy’s sermon on Peace (Shalom in Hebrew and Eirene in Greek), it reminded me of John 1:16-17. For shalom to be a hallmark of…

LifeSpring is so blessed. Look no further than to our Sunday speaker, Peggy Leung, who sits on the Board of Directors at Toronto LifeSpring and alongside her husband, Raymond, leads one of our LifeGroups. I have had the privilege of knowing Ray & Peggy for 10+ years now and their lives cry out genuine love for God and genuine care for others. Peggy spoke on an extremely important topic that this world (and us) desperately needs. She spoke on peace.…

When Maria from Neighbourlink shared stories of the work that she and her team has done in the 415 community and the experiences that her and her team went through, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity.  Maria shared about how they recently recruited a youth yeader who started hosting youth programs in the 415 community. This guy would play basketball with the youth and eventually created opportunities to speak into their lives on and off the court.…

Last week during one of my bus commutes, I witnessed an especially intriguing interaction that led me to considering who God is in a new way. A group of teenagers got on the bus, and after the first couple of them walked on and attempted to pay, the bus driver called out for them to come back because the payment hadn’t worked. Instead of going back to pay or even responding to the bus driver at all, they just stood…

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 Hopefully these verses are somewhat familiar to you, as they were one of our memory verses at Lifespring! There are many benefits…

I had the privilege of attending a short training from Church Renewal titled “How Do We Know God’s Will?” It was a great training with lots of helpful, practical advice and a bonus Q&A at the end. One of the points that really stood out to me was about the mystery of God’s Will.  The Bible says “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past…

Dear LifeSpring Family, Recently, I have been thinking and meditating on something that I heard from a Tim Keller sermon. Dr. Keller asked the question on how I see myself. Do I see myself as the world sees me or as Abba Father sees me? The world sees me by what I acquire and accumulate: Mostly good things like education, positions, titles, house, property, wealth, marriage, children and list goes on.  Abba Father sees me by what I give up and…

We want to appreciate all you mommys out there. Physical mamas, spiritual mamas, soon-to-be mamas, one day mamas – we want to appreciate every female at Lifespring. If I ask all the males why you appreciate the females in your life, they could list 1000 things! We want to appreciate all the things you do, but more importantly, we want to appreciate who God made you to be. The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to…

On Sunday Karyne spoke on the power of the Holy Spirit in helping her respond rather than react to the challenges of life. We often look to the fruit of the Spirit as an indicator of Christ in us and evidence of the Holy Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV) says: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” In learning how to identify the fruit…