The End is but the Beginning…

By Jeremiah Smith

Once again another Nazarite Call program has wrapped up.  We at NHOP had the privilege, over the past 3 months, of praying along side 10 amazing Nazarite’s from across Canada.  Each came with a different story, different expectations and different gifts, yet through prayer and living in community came to a place of unity.  One of the Nazarite’s remarked before leaving, ”This is what Church should be like!”

That unity was hard-fought for.  There were times of disagreement and frustration.  Yet we set our eyes on Christ and stayed the course.  Then the miracle happened– only that which Christ can accomplish:  we learned to love!  We learned to love as Christ loves us.  A love that does not seek its own, but seeks the other’s best interest.

Beyond the community aspects we also made great advances in prayer for this nation.  The Nazarite’s had great favor on Parliament Hill as they served numerous MP’s in their offices.  Every Monday and Wednesday they were sitting in Question Period, praying for our Parliamentarians.  We had great prayer times here at NHOP, and also had the opportunity to serve at Capital City Mission.

And now that the program is done they have gone.  They have left NHOP to take everything they’ve experienced and learned back to their communities, churches, family and friends.  Although it is sad seeing them go, I know that each Nazarite is carrying a heart of passion and prayer for this nation.  They are like dandelion’s blown into the wind, surrendered to wherever God may take them, each with the potential to change a nation.

Veni Veni Emmanuel

By Jeremiah Smith

Last night I had the privilege of attending a Christmas Carol service here in Ottawa.  It was a great evening of community and worship.  As we sang the songs of Christs birth I was struck by the profoundly deep lyrics of the songs.  Many of the songs are hundreds of years old, yet, they contain the eternal and everlasting promise of Christ Jesus.

As Christmas approaches may the lyrics catch our attention.  In the busyness of shopping and seeing family may we remember and take time to worship the King born in Bethlehem.

KAIROS

By Jeremiah Smith

Over the past few weeks one of the issues during Question Period has been the Government’s cut in funding for KAIROS, a Canadian ecumenical aid organization.  KAIROS consists of 11 different denominations working together to advocate national and international justice issues.

“‘kairos’ signifies a moment of crisis or opportunity, and also a moment of transcendence – when we connect to God’s time as a transformative influence on our lives… As a global society, we are bound by the seeming inevitability of chronos – time passes, and our societies follow predictable patterns that see power, wealth and resources concentrated in the hands of a select few. KAIROS the organization chooses to challenge this model, searching for societal opportunities to open up our world to new possibilities.”

~ Emily Shepard

You can check out their website here for more information.

Trip To China

By Jeremiah Smith

Today Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in China.  It’s been his first official visit to China in 5 years, and would seem to mark a new era in Canada-China relations.  The trip has already proven successful as China announced that they were lifting the ban on Canadian pork imports.  Prior to the ban, pork imports to China were a $50 million (annual) market.

As our Prime Minister visits China may it be a reminder to pray for the body of Christ within China.  In Canada we have the freedom of religion that allows blogs like this, or the National House of Prayer, to exist.  In China many Christians are risking punishment, imprisonment, and even death for the sake of Christ.  Pray that they would be strengthened in Christ.  Pray for divine protection.  Pray that they would be encouraged.  For those who are in prison right now, ask that light would shine in the darkness.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground… And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” ~ Ephesians 6:10-13;18

A Night To Remember

By Jeremiah Smith

Over the past 3 months our Nazarites have been volunteering once a week in a Member of Parliaments office.  Last night we had the honor of hosting a dinner for those Members.  We had a great time as we ate and conversed with the men and women (and their spouses) who provide leadership to our country.

Our Members of Parliament are extraordinary people.  They are daily carrying the burden of leadership.  The hours are long, the work difficult, and the people they’re working for (the Canadian people) are rarely encouraging and supportive.  Last night it was amazing to see these extraordinary people as ordinary people.  They have families, children, dreams and hopes.  They have made great sacrifices in order to represent Canadians.

Regardless of personal views, political or otherwise, I was reminded of the call to prayer that we have for our government.  When we see our government as parties or stances on issues it is easy to depersonalize, and in turn, criticize.  However we need to see deeper and realize that our government consists of ordinary individuals who work in extraordinary circumstances.  They need our prayers.

A Changed Life

By Chelsea McCulloch

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.

Check out other Nazarite Blog postings here.

The Weight of Glory

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.

~C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

You can read C.S Lewis’ full message here.

The Basin and Towel

By Christine Dearden

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).

Real Christianity

“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.

Leading the Torch in Prayer

by Richard Long,

   This is a reminder that there is a large initiative called Canada Ablaze that is underway to pray for the fires of revival to touch every community in Canada in conjunction with the movement of the Olympic Flame over the next 100 days.

  The idea is to encourage every community where the flame is going, to host a special prayer rally the night before the Torch arrives, to pray specifically for revival fire.  There is also resource ideas about how to use the excitement of the Torch run to do some outreach on the Canada Ablaze website.

   For example the Olympic Torch is in Campbell River and Courtenay on Vancouver Island today.  So let’s pray for those two communities today.  May the fire of God’s Holy Spirit come in power in those two towns on Vancouver Island.

You can see the full itinerary here.