This is a reminder that there are many across the country who are praying for revival in our nation using the Olympic torch route as a great natural reminder. As it is run across the land, we are reminded of the hundreds of great communities that make up Canada. You can download the torch schedule here.
As well if you are really moved to intercede, you can actually join a conference call that takes every day, thanks to the hosting of Stand on Guard Canada. Their website also gives you some local colour on each community that the torch is running through and some prayer points.
So let’s pray for the Saguenay region of central Quebec as the torch moves through it tomorrow and then heads for Quebec City.
I could never have imagined what God could do with almost three months committed to be spent for Him at NHOP. With the end date in the near future, I have spent the last few days thinking about what has actually happened in the past months. My final statement in the last blog that I wrote was, “ I am very excited to see what God does with my seeking heart.” Oh, If I had only realized what God would do with that desire in my heart.
Challenges, extreme growth in so many areas, stretching, amazing prayer times, and speech writing? Yes, that is what God has chosen to throw into my lap since I have given Him this portion of my life. Honestly, when you place yourself fully into God’s hands, completely letting go of control, and letting Him have it all, I have come to the realization that He definitely takes full advantage of it. I am not the same person who stepped off the plane in September. This program is life changing, and I am changed.
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way
~ Swahili proverb
This past week God has been highlighting the crucial necessity to see ourselves not as Christians isolated, but as part of a greater expression; which is the body of Christ. As Christians we are called to think less about ourselves, and more about the greater body. Do we believe that? Are we willing to lay down our own stuff for the sake of others? We often throw around the term WWJD (what would Jesus do?) to deal with the easy things and not the hard things. What did Jesus do?
He laid down everything. He was the Truth, but did not seek his own. He touched the despised, the sinner, the leper. He was judged wrongly, but made no attempt to justify himself. He was royalty but washed the feet of common men. He died for you and I.
What are we possibly left with? How can we say, “what about me”? It’s not about you, or I. It’s about Christ and your Brother’s and Sisters in Him. One person can only do so much, even if they’re incredibly talented. However what one individual can accomplish is tiny in comparison to what a team can accomplish. It’s like the Swahili proverb; one can only row so fast for so long before being exhausted. Jesus said in John 14:12, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” I believe the greater things are those accomplished by the body, not as individuals. We individually cannot be greater than Christ, but through involvement in His body my little part becomes the momentum for something far greater.
In an upstairs room, a parable is just about to come alive.
And while they bicker about who’s best,
with a painful glance, He’ll silently rise.
Their Savior Servant must show them how
through the will of the water and the tenderness of the towel.
And the call is to community, the impoverished power that sets the soul free.
In humility, to take the vow, that day after day we must take up the basin and the towel.
In any ordinary place, on any ordinary day,
the parable can live again when one will kneel and one will yield.
Our Saviour Servant must show us how
through the will of the water and the tenderness of the towel.
And the space between ourselves sometimes is more than the distance between the stars.
By the fragile bridge of the Servant’s bow we take up the basin and the towel.
I was really touched by several things in the lyrics: that our call is to community, “the impoverished power that sets the soul free”, and the line about “the will of the water and the tenderness of the towel.”
All of these things are so key when we start talking about what it means to live in community. To live with other people — to really live with them, I mean — means daily taking a position of humility before them. It means, every day, that you lay down a bit of yourself in favour of the other. And, as the song says, it is equal measures of will and of tenderness.
Last week the Nazarites washed and anointed each other’s feet as part of a morning worship session. There was will there: it takes a definite decision and an aquiescing both to wash someone else’s feet and to let your own feet be washed (which is often the harder thing: it is easier to us to serve than to be served).
Please be praying today about this important bill that could provide more protection for our children from these despicable crimes. If the papers are correct, this could be passed very quickly with support from all federal parties. Let’s pray for unity, truth and justice to prevail. Below is the article quoted from the Globe and Mail.
“The federal Conservatives plan to introduce a bill this week and possibly today that would oblige Internet Service Providers to report suspected child pornography to police. The bill, to be discussed today and expected to be passed unanimously, would require Internet Service Providers to report tips on websites providing child pornography, as well as informing police if they believe a child-porn offence has been committed using their Internet service. Similar legislation already exists in the United States, and Canadian child-protection advocates have been calling for similar action in Canada.
In June, Canada’s federal ombudsman for victims of crime called for rules requiring Internet Service Providers to reveal to police the names and addresses of customers suspected of posting child pornography, and to keep long-term records of where customers have been surfing.”
One of my favorite artists is Thomas Kinkade who is also nicknamed “The Painter of Light”. A few years back I was delighted to discover that in addition to being an incredibly talented artist, he is also an author and has written a book called, “Lightposts for Living, The Art of Choosing a Joyful Life”. I own this book and have been blessed reading it.
Mr. Kinkade openly shares his faith in the book and shares some insightful concepts all around light. He shares that when he paints, the painting looks quite ordinary until he adds all the light at the end to light up the painting and if you have seen any of his paintings they almost seem to glow, yet it is all done with paint. In the same way, he says that we glow inside with the inner light of the Lord and we should let our light shine with joy, balance, simplicity, thankfulness, creativity, serving, etc. I really like his opening chapter called “The Colour of Joy”and how he relates that to light and living fully.
These words remind me of when Jesus said, “in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). In these days there sure is alot to get down about, but let’s pray for godly perspectives and for the joy that cannot be taken from us. Let our lights so shine that men may see our good works and praise our Father in heaven. That is a sure lightpost for living in this world.
Forty-six years ago on November 22nd, 1963, three very famous people died. Aldous Huxley, a scientist known for his atheism; John F. Kennedy, a president known for his vision, and C.S. Lewis a professor known for his children’s stories.
Of course, as regular readers of this blog know, we are great C.S. Lewis fans, and enjoy of all his writings, most of which were not specifically for children.
Clive Staples Lewis wrote a whole book about prayer, so it’s worth paying attention to his experience and ideas about this subject.
Here’s an amazing quote …
“Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine.”
“You might think that if you consider yourself a good person and are against bad things, your faith is adequate. The fact is, you might not be a Christian at all but simply a moral person. You might understand the Christianity our culture has adopted without understanding what constitutes authentic faith. You might know the basic facts about Christianity but have no idea how those facts should apply to life.”
~ Real Christianity, an updated and revised version of William Wilberforce’s work, A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity.
William Wilberforce is best known for his work on the abolition of slavery, however his written work is filled with an amazing understanding of his own faith, and the faith of Christianity. As you read his words you quickly realize that his external actions in advocating the abolition of slavery were merely an expression of his belief in authentic Christianity. He did not believe Christianity was merely a faith of “good” people, but rather transformed people. His definition of authentic faith is this;
“If we are going to walk worthy of Christ, we have to practice one central discipline… we are to fix out eyes on Jesus. We are to run our race LOOKING UNTO JESUS as our motivation. This is the key. If we do this one thing, we will be unable to treat our faith in the superficial way most cultural Christians do in our time. They want to live their spiritual lives on their own terms. It doesn’t work”
Does going to Church make us authentic Christians? No.
If we do good things are we authentic Christians? No.
Does knowing every word of the Bible make us authentic Christians? No.
All these are good, but they are not authentic Christianity in and of themselves. Authentic Christianity is not external, but internal through the work of Christ in our lives. When we have that authentic faith amazing things happen, like the ability to end slavery in England. Christ is first and foremost, all other pursuits are products.
This is the first time you will be hearing about a special prayer initiative in 2010. It won’t be the last, I promise.
As 20 national prayer leaders met in September of 2009 to seek the Lord for the season ahead, one of the major discernments was that we needed to make 2010 a Year of Prayer for Canada.
Coming out of that conviction was the desire to see every hour of the year covered in prayer. Daria Tomiuk from 24-7 Prayer Canada is the best positioned to enable this to happen, so we have asked her, as other prayer leaders, to take the lead in getting this organized. Soon there will be a dedicated website for this, where churches, cities and prayer networks can sign up to take a day or a week in the overall effort.
We will give you the heads up as soon as the link comes available.
In the meantime please pray for Daria as she works on this. We are also working to raise $20,000 to help pay some salary for her and to create the website and other literature.
Your prayers and dollars would be welcome! Donations can be made online at 24-7 Prayer Canada.
