A Sure Foundation

By Jeremiah Smith

I woke up yesterday and I realized I had not a single plan for that day, and so the possibilities of what to do were endless.  The first thing I decided was to hit the snooze button.  After getting out of bed I was much more productive.  I ended up doing two things: baking and building.

One of the things I love to do is bake, so I created a wonderful blueberry-apple crisp.  It was delicious.  I’ve decided to call it “humble crumble”.  The second pursuit was building a bookcase.  I’ve realized I have far too many books and no place to put them.  However my baking skills are much better then my woodworking skills.  Needless to say I now have a rather crooked, albeit functional structure to house my books.  In hindsight I realized there was a crucial design flaw in my plans.  I should have created a true foundation as a point of reference for everything else.  Instead I tried to fit two pieces together that although close were different by a few millimeters.  In that moment I felt as if God was speaking these words,

“without a true  foundation the structure will be crooked”

These words reminded me of a story told by Ravi Zacharias

A Prayer about Prayer

by Richard Long,

In many congregations across the world today, this is the ancient collect that was prayed on the twelfth Sunday after Trinity.  Good stuff, eh?

“Almighty and Everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.”

God’s Verdict Outranks History’s says PM

by Richard Long,

   Very interesting headline article in the Globe and Mail online today.  “God’s Verdict Outranks History’s says PM”.  It’s taken from an interview that Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave to a Quebec magazine back on St. Jean Baptiste Day in late June.

  He is of course absolutely right.  Any Christian, and people of most other faith’s would agree, though maybe not say it so boldly.   I for one am very glad to have a national leader who cares what the Eternal One will say about his life.  And it is very clear that Stephen Harper thinks he will be judged on what kind of a father and a husband he has been more than the politics.

  The other side of this story is the reaction in the media and online.  If you want to get the sense of how many Canadians really have a knee-jerk reaction to accountability to God then just check out the nasty and vehement comments at this online article.  Prepare yourself prayerfully first.  For me it was a reminder of how much mercy and divine intervention we need in our nation. 

A good reminder to pray for our Prime Minister today!

Lion Chasers

By Jeremiah Smith

Lion Chasers Manifesto

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

Chase the lion!

An excerpt from Mark Batterson’s book, “In A Pit With A Lion“.  Check out the website here.

Seeds of the Kingdom – online devotional thots

by Richard Long,

  Here at NHOP we really appreciate the work of Ellel Ministries.  Many on our team have received ministry at one of their retreats or learned valuable lessons at their schools over the years. 

  When Terry and I had a chance on our vacation to visit the eastern Canada centre called “Derbyshire Downs”  near Westport, Ontario, we learned about the new daily devotional resource that they now provide.

  Check it out at Seeds of the Kingdom.  I believe it will be a great boost to your prayer life.

  Learn more about Ellel Ministries Canada here.

Vancouver 614 Community

We continue to encourage you to check out the 24-7 Prayer movement.  They are growing all over the world and also here in Canada.  They have also totally redesigned their website recently.

The Vancouver 614 group that lives, ministers and prays in the Downtown Eastside is an inspiration.

Here’s part of their introduction to themselves from the official website …

“In our five years, we’ve learnt that the purpose of prayer is not intercession or petition (though these are parts of prayer, whether we know how they work or not), but rather intimacy and obedience. Prayer takes our attention off of ourselves, refixing our gaze on the only one worth looking at (Colossians 3). He receives our prayerful attention, and then teaches us to see the people around us, often for the first time. As we grow in this discipline of intimate attention, we see with Kingdom eyes, seeing evidence of life and beauty where others see only death and ruin. We become aware of the seeds of the Kingdom that Jesus has sown around us already, in unlikely places and among unlikely people, and we get to witness its growth. The Kingdom, Jesus tells us, starts small, invisible and even buried, but it grows and eventually covers the whole garden. We’ve seen the Kingdom growing, bringing release from captivity, freedom from oppression and hope for change. We’ve seen some of these people inspired to become re-builders, restorers, re-newers. When prayerful community is formed along these lines, with people from all kinds of differing backgrounds and experience, the Kingdom seed sprouts and spreads branches in surprising places.

Prayer is the main thing. Honouring the father was the primary passion in Jesus’ life. It must be ours as well. Prayer is no add on, nor something we use to make our programs more effective. Coming before God in thanksgiving, humility and praise, desperate for intimacy, is the greatest pursuit of our lives. When we’re in the busy places of ministry, despair and obvious need, we can easily sideline prayer. We trust that God knows and cares for these things more deeply than ourselves. In an intimate encounter with Jesus, we learn to be obedient to his commands, capture something of his plan of renewal for the forgotten places.”

Read the full description of the Vancouver 614 community’s vision for prayer here.

For the official Vancouver 614 website go here.

Preparing for the Fall

by Richard Long,

   We’re back!  Terry and I have taken the last 3 weeks off, so we are grateful to Jeremiah and Megan,( interns here at NHOP) for keeping this regular blog going.  By the way, all our staff are grateful for your prayers in the summer, because getting rest, relaxation, and re-creation is critical to the year-round effort.  In fact, please pray for Rob and Fran Parker who are now on a bit of a break.

Around NHOP there is a lot of thinking and planning going on as we prepare for new Nazarites and Prayer Missionaries this Fall.  We could have 12-14 new folks around here by the looks of it.  We still have a few more days before our application deadline closes on Aug. 31st and there are always some last minute surprises.

Our incoming residents are busy getting their funds together, lining up prayer partners back home and making their travel plans to get here by Sept. 18.  Please pray for them.

The Blessing (Curse?) of Technology

By Jeremiah Smith

A few days ago I read an article published in the Globe and Mail about The Budget, an Amish weekly newspaper.  It’s been in circulation since 1890 and has over 20 000 subscribers from Canada and the United States.  The paper recently encountered some controversy as they planned to create an online edition.

In a world where news still travels at a mail carrier’s pace, the farmers, preachers and mechanics responsible for filling The Budget threatened to go on strike if the 119-year-old Amish weekly went ahead with its plan to go online.

Yesterday I read a quote by Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, he said this,

“It is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams…Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men.”

The invention of the printing press revolutionized the world.  Even as I write there are 3 books and two Bibles on my desk.  It is because of the printing press that the Bible has been taken everywhere in the world.  However the same printing press, which can be used to print a Bible, can also be used to print hate literature or pornographic material.  For this reason I can understand, and even admire, the Amish separation from the Internet.  Certainly the Internet can be used for God and for his Kingdom, but it is also used for every evil purpose as well.

I think Gutenberg had it right though.  If we divorce ourselves from technology we avoid it’s evil, but at the same time we lose an opportunity to use it for God.  The Church (and Christians) need great wisdom in using the Internet and to be careful that what we intend to change does not in turn change or corrupt us.

Praying For Our Prime Minister

By Jeremiah Smith

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority…” 1 Timothy 2:1

Over the past few months we’ve been writing daily blogs on our Parliament Prayer Post. We’ve been writing short bio’s with prayer points on Members of Parliament.  We’re now officially in the “H” section which means that today features our Prime Minister, the Right Honorable Stephen Harper.

As the leader of our country he’s certainly a man that needs our prayers.  Why not check out the site and then pray for him today?

http://prayparliament.wordpress.com/

Collect for Purity

By Jeremiah Smith

Since coming to Ottawa this past January I’ve been attending St. Alban’s Anglican Church.  I’ll admit that after growing up in a very pentecostal church, moving to a traditional Church was quite a switch.  However the richness of scripture, prayer and communion found in the liturgy is something that attracted me.  Perhaps the greatest aspect is that each week the service builds towards the Lords supper.  The worship, prayer and sermon all point to the act of remembering Christs act of salvation for us.  Here’s the “collect for purity”; an ancient prayer recited during communion.

“Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and
from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love
you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our
Lord. AMEN”