A beautiful bright morning

Today is a new day, that's cool. It reminds me of what Oswald Chambers says on February 29th in my utmost for his highest. I remembered it and checked on the internet and found this quote

Lord, that I may receive my sight." Luke 18:41

What is the thing that not only disturbs you but makes you a disturbance? It is always some thing you cannot deal with yourself. "They rebuked him that he should hold his peace . . . but he cried so much the more." Persist in the disturbance until you get face to face with the Lord Himself; do not deify common sense. When Jesus asks us what we want Him to do for us in regard to the incredible thing with which we are faced, remember that He does not work in common-sense ways, but in supernatural ways.

but that wasn't what I was thinking of, I thought that he said something about this leap year day being like just an extra day from God to use for his glory. Maybe I dreamt that. But either way it's kind of cool when we begin to think about every day, every dollar a gift from God. Is God "a harsh man who invests where he has not sown?" even if he is, let's use all the talents that he's given us for his profit. I was listening/watching Mike Bickle in a onething podcast video, and he said "I used to say all the time when somebody wanted to talk to me and they said "Hey Mike are you busy?" I would say "Everyone with a vision is busy"". I thought that was a neat thing to say even though it isn't always true and we should in a sense not be busy but just totally resting in God and being led by the spirit even if it seems so slow. But I really like that answer because we need to be people of purpose. Not getting distracted but with a clear vision of what is important.


Last night I went to a bible study led by a guy named Chad who studies the bible for like three hours a morning. It was a really beautiful time and powerful. We started talking about the doctrines of election, and it just made me wonder at the majesty of God to be so in control and loving and merciful to us. We have done nothing deserving of his mercy, not even choose him

John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to

It made me begin to realize the power of prayer like never before because God is Soveriegn over all then prayer really is the only way to really bring about change. It should be as natural to the christian as breathing, and as needed.


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Then here is a really good article by one of my favourite rappers. He is in a rap group where all four of them are pastors and really see it as a calling and not just entertainment. Take the time to peep this cat and his heart. Don't sleep on this one!

http://www.theambassadoronline.com/articles_view.asp?articleid=14099&columnid=1914

A good Quote

I won't say much that has been happening with me quite yet but here is a really good quote to think about.

soren kierkegaard once wrote, "the matter is quite simple. the bible is very easy to understand. but we christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. we pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. take any words in the new testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. my god, you will say, if i do that my whole life will be ruined. how would i ever get on in the world? herein lies the real place of christian scholarship. christian scholarship is the church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good christians without the bible coming too close. oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living god. yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the new testament."

Be killing sin or it will be killing you

My last post seemed to me to be more morose and serious. I was listening to a Kris Valloton sermon and he said "Seriousness is not a gift of the Holy Spirit". Haha that made me smile. Life lately has been really interesting, this last week I worked 66 hours and this week I am working 72, it is far easier this week though and even kind of fun. There are a few people that get angry and swear at me because of some of the company's policy's and I misheard this one lady and she got very mad but those examples are very few and far between. Most people are really joyful and kind, how can you have a bad day when 100 people end their phone calls by telling me to have a good day?
I love how in the christian life we are always going from one extreme to the other by accident. We need to shy away from total seriousness and reverence all the time and also a constant "party" atmosphere. One misses out on the majesty of God and the other on the abounding life there is in him. Jason upton says "Who you are is always more important than what you do". God's been teaching me how important a right heart attitude is, and out of that flows works. Faith without works is dead, and yet works without faith or love are nothing. "Let me be real with you God, please transform my heart."

all who are thirsty

There's a prayer night at my house tommorow night, for those who actually know me you are invited at 7:30. I need some time with friends and God.

This last week I worked 66 hours at a call center, one night as I went to sleep I could still "hear" people talking to me with Newfoundlandian accents asking when their order will be coming in. It's a huge blessing of a job though, they give me up to 72 hours a week and a good wage. I could never work there for a career though, it just feels so meaningless. Helping people feed their materialism, and hunger for more possesions. It's a bit better at Christmas where people are actually thinking of others, but it's a weird sort of "people thinking of others" where people get in fights over presents and swear on the phone when they don't get what they want. I guess selfishness corrodes the heart to the place where that which is beautiful becomes dross.

I did learn a few good spiritual lessons this week though

Just Ask
It's amazing what is available to a person if they just ask about it, or in a restaurant if they complain about it. At the place where I work people can get all sorts of things if they just ask for the right thing. God is kind of like that it's his "job" so to speak, or "nature" would be a better word. His nature is generosity, just look at the cross the greatest gift to mankind ever. Then look at our nature on any other birthday we give the birthday boy the gifts but on Jesus' we just give each other gifts and even try to forget that the whole reason we're celebrating is Jesus' birthday. Not that there's anything God needs that we could give him, except maybe obediance and childlike devotion. Speaking of childlike devotion it's interesting how kid's let themselves get distracted with cool things. I think we should be like that with God, instead of so focused in one area just notice something that we can be thankful or ask God for, which will remind of us something else. "So it is with those born of the spirit, they are like the wind. No-one knows where it comes from or where it is going". And as such I don't really know where I was going with that thought. But yeah, if you don't know if something's available (from God) just ask.

Looking Forward to something better
Man, today I was looking so forward to this weekend that any tiredness, or irritants seemed meaningless in comparison because I knew there was only 1 day left this week. This week was also good because I came to the end of my rope a lot with frustration and other things and I could only turn to God. He humbled me a fair amount but I still need a whole lot more. I am fascinated by the concept of complete humility and meekness, and also total boldness (Psalm 34) says "The righteous are as bold as a lion" or a psalm near there. We need to make nothing of ourselves and yet be so confident in who we are in God that nothing will faze us or move us. How many times have I sang "I will not be shaken" only to be shaken by circumstance or emotion? Also what does this verse mean "He who has suffered in his body is done with sin?" 1 Peter 4:1 that sounds like a really sweet deal. Let me know if you guys know the answer. God bless everyone!

p.s. This guy is amazing

Did God forget how to do the Impossible?

This weekend has been a really good break. I am kind of dreading and eagerly anticipating next week. I am going to be working 66 hours at Sears Call center and I have never really had regular job like this before or worked that much so I hope that I can handle it all right. I went to church today in Regina and my parents and my friend's parents became members. It's cool, it's almost too bad that it had to come to that, I'm not talking specifically but in general. Why couldn't people just genuinely repent and be saved and have leaders that spend so much time in the word that all heretics get ignored because everybody knows the word so well that deceit is right away seen for what it is. I love meeting people who are so spirit-led that they choose a course of action that makes no sense to those around them but a few months later it seems so obvious that what they did was right. George Fox and St.Patrick are two people that really convict me, just reading about their lives.

The thing that God has been showing me lately though is that, so many times I use reading as an excuse from action. I read christian books or websites and think that I am growing, and I am growing but if I spent all this time in prayer and the word of God instead life would be so different. But at the same time never before have I just rested in the grace of God as much, I feel no condemnation from him. As we trust and surrender to God I think he will take care of the important things. We just need to stay surrendered and look to be led by his spirit. I will end with a quote I read from this site fuegodedios.com it is so true. This guy actually came and spoke at FIRE and my roommate lived in his community for about 7 years. have a great end to the weekend everyone! Encourage one another daily.

Why do we not speak with that same simplicity, that same urgency and that same absoluteness? I believe it is because we do not believe it as absolutely as Paul did, nor do we live as if we believe it. We are simply not occupied with the things that are eternal, and therefore we are unable to persuade men. We need to press mankind to come to terms with eternity even though they will accuse us of being dogmatic, narrow-minded and intolerant, and yet that will be enough to intimidate many of us to silence. There is nothing more embarrassing and intimidating to the modern Christian than to be considered narrow and dogmatic. It did not, however, intimidate Paul. Eternity is not a narrow concept. The world needs to be disturbed by people who cannot contain themselves, who are beyond the issue of taste, politeness and good manners, who burn with the reality of eternity and who take every opportunity to express the things that are Divine.

Our absoluteness is the very height of offence to a world that is relativistic and pluralistic. They do not want to be told that there is anything that is absolute, that there are only two alternatives, but they need to be told, not by people who bring [only] the correct doctrine but by those who come with a burning conviction. Do we really believe that God has fixed a Day in which He will judge the world in righteousness? Our apostolic task is to bring an unwanted and unwelcome message to an indifferent world, and it is a message we can only bring in the same proportion that we can demonstrate it. It is not enough to be 'correct'. We have to come to them, as it were, from the eternal place."
Art Katz in "Apostolic Foundations"

New Job

My eybard is dying s I w't write much. I gt a jb at sears 7 hrs after I gt int Regina. Praise Gd! Here are sme pwerful qutes.

Smith Wigglesworth said "Fear looks but Faith jumps."

But they could not endure to hear of purity, and of victory over sin and the devil. They said they could not believe any could be free from sin on this side of the grave. I bade them give over babbling about the Scriptures, which were holy men's words, whilst they pleaded for unholiness. Then I bade them forbear talking of the Scriptures, which were the holy men's words; "for," said I, "the holy men that wrote the Scriptures pleaded for holiness in heart, life, and conversation here; but since you plead for impurity and sin, which is of the devil, what have you to do with the holy men's words?"
-George Fox

It is time that we all understood this subject fully, and appreciated all its bearings. It is no doubt true, that however moral our children may be, they are more guilty than any other sinners under heaven, if they live in sin, and will not yield to the light under which they live. We may be perhaps congratulating ourselves on their fair morality; but if we saw their case in all its real bearings, our souls would groan with agony -- our bowels would be all liquid with anguish -- our very hearts within us would heave as if volcanic fires were kindled there -- so deep a sense should we have of their fearful guilt and of the awful doom they incur in denying the Lord that bought them and setting at naught a known salvation. Oh! if we ever pray, we should pour out our prayers for our offspring as if nothing could ever satisfy us or stay our importunity, but the blessings of a full salvation realised in their souls."

-Charles G. Finney

George Kulp.

Faith makes a man an optimist. The man who believes God cannot be discouraged. He hears the Master talking to him and, as he listens to Him, there comes the comforting words, "I am with thee even to the end." Now, the devil can launch his brigades and his divisions and his legions, but this man sees the other side and shouts the victory.

One day a smart little boy -- and you know there is nothing so smart as a little boy, unless it is a little girl -- said to his sister, "Can you spell water with three letters?" Of course she could not. Then he spelled it for her, i-c-e. When one gets where he can see God, he will find that every promise in the Bible is spelled v-i-c-t-o-r-y, -- victory over sin, over the world, the flesh, and the devil. "Oh, Brother Kulp, I have tried everything and I am defeated." Quit "trying everything," and believe God. Faith is the victory.

The God who promised that He would take you through, no matter what may befall, is the same today, He will see you through until your soul shall be gladdened one day in the city where the sun never goes down. If I had my choice, I would rather he the son of a poor Christian man, rich with the promises of God, than to be the son of any millionaire on earth who did not know God. I would rather lean on God's Word than on any man' s money.

"I knew Jesus, and He was very precious to my soul; but I found something within me that would not keep sweet and patient and kind. I did what I could to keep it down, but it was there. I besought Jesus to do something for me, and when I gave Him my will, He came to my heart and took out all that would not be patient, all that would that would be kind, and then He shut the door." - George Fox

"I am so weak. I can't read my Bible. I can't even pray. I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child and trust."
-Hudson Taylor
"I cannot agree with those who say that they have 'new truth' to teach. The two words seem to me to contradict each other; that which is new is not true. It is the old that is true, for truth is as old as God himself" - Charles Spurgeon

David Brainerd
'Farewell, vain world; my soul can bid Adieu. My Savior taught me to abandon you. Your charms may gratify a sensual mind. But cannot please a soul wholly for God's Design

Michael Phillips
'if you want to overcome the fear of man, turn your fear into pity.. suppose the day of judgment has come and they are before God'

If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.
~ C. T. Studd

"The wicked of today hate to hear the word 'repent!'. The wicked of the past wish they could hear it just once more.

I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light"
-John Falconer

Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest; heaven so real that we must have men go there."
- Hudson Taylor

then comes one of my favourite quotes ever. Every time I think about what I believe God is calling me to and I doubt, God sometimes reminds me of this intense quote. I think every youth pastor and maybe even church should have this somewhere visible for people to think about every week.

"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entrat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face whose mercy you have professed to obey and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world."
-William Booth

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe. ~Smith Wigglesworth

Any objection to the carryings on of our present gold-calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, ”But we are winning them!” And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a despising of the world’s treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love for God? To total committal to Christ? Of course the answer to all these questions is no.
-A.W.Tozer

“O conscience! Do your duty. In the name of the living God, I command you, discharge your office. Lay hold upon this sinner, fall upon him, arrest him, apprehend him, undeceive him. What! Will you flatter and soothe him while he lives in his sins> Awake, O conscience! What meanest thou, O sleeper? What! Have you no reproof in your mouth? What! Shall this soul die in his careless neglect of God and of eternity, and you altogether hold your peace? What! Shall he go on still in his trespasses, and yet have peace? Oh, rouse yourself, and do your work. Now let the preacher in your bosom speak. Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Let not the blood of his soul be required at your hands.”

-Joseph Alleine

We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power.
— R. A. Torrey

A true faith in Jesus Christ will not suffer us to be idle. No, it is an active, lively, restless principle; it fills the heart, so that it cannot be easy till it is doing something for Jesus Christ.
—George Whitefield

"Anything that cools my love for Christ is the world."
-John Wesley that's intense

Vance Havner - "The first step towards the evangelizing of the world is the christianizing of the church"

When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words without thy heart."

"Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer."

"Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan."

-John Bunyan

"Radical Christians are not people who wear Christian t shirts. Radical Christians are those who bear fruit of the Holy Spirit...A little boy, Andrew, a Muslim shot him five times through the stomach and left him on a sidewalk simply because he said, "I am so afraid, but I can not deny Jesus Christ! Please don't kill me! But I will not deny Him!" He died in a pool of blood, and you talk about being a radical Christian because you wear a t shirt!" -Paul Washer

Just pull the f---ing trigger!!! I don't care

I hope I haven't offended anyone with this title, that's one of the things I saw yelled this week. One of the most interesting and crazy weeks of my life. This was the week were I went from Concord, North Carolina all the way up to Regina, Saskatchewan by Greyhound bus.

The adventure started on Monday, all my roommates but one had left and so I was left with my bike to get around Concord. I had to go to the court offices and Wal-mart and the Canadian's house twice and so I ended up riding my bike for almost three hours that day. I succesfully got my court date moved until january for my ticket for driving as a Canadian. That was really good but I was kind of dissapointed because there was a DA there but they said that they couldn't waive it because I had given the officer my North Carolina address and so I had to show up for the court date. I don't quite see the logical connective in those two things, but I'm sure it's there. Anyways so that's still good news. Then at about 5:00 I left for the Bus Depot we accidentally took a couple wrong turns and so Jordan my friend from New Zealand was pulling some crazy U-turns and whatever it took to get there on time. Thanks Jordan! The bus ended up being an hour and a half or so late and then we went like an hour or two north but that bus was too full so I had to take a bus down to Charlotte. I never left Charlotte until 3:00 AM in the morning so that was kind of ridiculous because it's only like half an hour from Concord.

Nonetheless I made friends with a really tall black guy named Kenneth, a girl named Heidi and Tim and Jim. Jim asked me "Are you going to Heaven when you die?" and then "How do you know for sure?". Just trying to make sure I was a christian. I appreciated that, he actually lived in Regina for several years so we talked a bit about that. I was going to try and finish reading the New Testament on my trip up but I got distracted a lot and only finished Matthew, Acts Romans and 1 Corinthians. But it was cool because that started a few conversations about the bible.

The craziest part of my journey happened when I finally made it to Fargo, North Dakota. Unbeknownst to me but I had purchased a return ticket back in August and since then they had totally changed the schedule so there was a lot of really long 5-6 hour waits between buses. Throughout it all I kept thinking "taking a plane would be $30 more" it's not much consolation and in hindsight it would have been actually way easier and smarter to have taken a plane. In the end taking the bus actually cost me about $75 more than taking a plane would have cost and it took me a week longer to get home than a plane would have. But anyways, I arrive in Fargo at about 10 at night. I find the next Winnipeg bus doesn't leave until 3:30 in the afternoon the next day. So I have to find a hotel. I call a cab and basically he tells me there is a really expensive hotel nearby and a really cheap one really far away. But with taxi fares included they probably both work out to the same price. So I decided to go to the one nearby. Unfortunately because it was American Thanksgiving all the prices were way higher than normal and just to go those 5 blocks to get to the hotel was $4 by taxi so I got directions from the taxi driver to the other hotel and started walking.

He said that it was about 3 miles away. Being a Canadian I kind of forgot for awhile how long a mile is. So I start walking alone in this cold windy dark city. I see a drunk guy across the street and he sees me and starts walking right towards me. He walks over five lanes of the street right at me. I know that I'm in good shape but I was still pretty scared because you never know what a drunk person is going to do. I say a quick prayer, and the funniest thing happens he just walks up to me and says "hi" and keeps on walking down the street. At this point I'm trying to look really tough so I am wearing my baggiest blue jeans and my hoodie with the hood on. Then out of nowwhere I get a nosebleed so I have blood all over my hands and face. Only really tough guys get nosebleeds. Hahaha I leave it on until I get near the hotel because I have an irrational fear of cold dark streets late at night. I pass a few more drunk people and after walking a bit more than half an hour I talk with a lady for directions and she says that the hotel I'm going to is really really far away and I should check out the radisson. So I walk all the way back to right near where I was and check the prices at the Radisson and it is even more expensive than the Howard Johnson but by this time it is like 1:00 in the morning.

So I give up and walk to the Howard Johnson and this one guy is trying to get in the bar but another guy won't let him and and they are both swearing at each other. Then the guy on the inside comes outside and starts yelling "I'm saving your f-ing life there's five guys in there who want to beat the "snot" out of you and I'm not letting you in there". Then the other guy gets backed against a wall and they're still grappling each other and he yells "Just pull the f---ing trigger!!! I don't care, just do it!!". I'm not even really looking at them because I really don't want to get involved but they yell something at me as I walk into the hotel. In the morning as I walked out of the hotel there was no blood or anything so hopefully things got resolved peacefully. But yeah it was a pretty intense night. The next day at the bus depot Bethel Free church in Fargo brought everyone in the bus depot a free thanksgiving dinner so that was really nice and thoughtful of them. But yeah the whole trip was an adventure. Have a happy thanksgiving all you americans!

Moments Like These

Only one life,
twill soon be past,
Only what's done
for Christ will last.


These last few days here in North Carolina have been amazing and a blur of events. On Thursday I spent ten hours at a Wal-Mart waiting for a PS3. It wasn't for myself but a crazy money-making scheme by some fire students, they bought the machines for $600 and then sell them for $2000-4000 on Ebay. It was pretty crazy and really cold but a neat environment where all the people in line got to know each other pretty well. Then on Friday was the last day of school, we had pizza for lunch and then I had a Hebrew final which was tough but really really enjoyable for some reason. When I finished I just felt so happy, this could be because of all the workload being done for the trimester, or maybe it was the joy of the Lord from studying his "Favourite" language ;).

Yesterday Tony and David Lyons and Chad and I all helped some girls move to a new house. It was really good to test my limits of strength and get some free pizza for lunch, they were really appreciative. Helping people out is one of the best feelings in the world. Leading someone to the Lord where you know it's genuine is even more powerful and exhilirating. After that there was a thanksgiving meal in Charlotte at a house of some FIRE grads. So that was cool because I missed Canadian thanksgiving down here and I will be in Canada for American Thanksgiving so I got a chance to have one in between.

Today was really amazing, Ashley and her parents came down from Virginia to visit today. We went to a mexican restaurant for lunch and then looked around Concord and for ice cream. They are incredible people and it was really good to see Ashley again. They came to the FIRE church service and liked it a lot, I was kind of wondering how "pentecostal" they were, but they fit right in. Her parents gave me a book to read on the bus back up to Canada tommorow. They're really nice.

I really don't want to waste my life. I remember a quote I heard once it was "Whoever prays most, helps most". Depending on what you think of that quote will change your life. Another quote is "Prayer humbles"

This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
Isaiah 66;2

That is definitely the verse that i attain to, my highest priorities need to be those two things. Anyways i better get to bed soon. Have a great night everyone!

Regret and Joy

There is one week of school left and so things have been getting pretty busy. Last night I slept over at the Canadian's house and we had a big wrestling match. It was a blast, I really love just getting thrown around and chop-blocking people. But I landed really hard on my wrist at one point. This is the same wrist that I broke last summer trying to do a backflip off of a horse. Funny story. Anyways I heard something shift or pop and it's hurt a lot ever since and I haven't had as much movement in my hand. So that's not too cool. Also I found out some more bad news, apparently whenever there is a murder case in Charlotte all of the District Attorney's get completely busy for at least a week and justice comes to a halt. This is not at all to slander or bash the North Carolina justice. There are many great things that they do, but dealing with driving tickets perhaps is not one of their strengths. I went today and even though they agreed that I didn't deserve the ticket and it should be waived because they were'nt a district attorney they did not have that power. Because all the district attorneys are busy with a murder case I basically have two terrible options either pay $160 for a ticket that is not lawful, or miss my court date and get arrested when i come back to North Carolina. There is a slight chance that one will be in next monday, so I will delay my coming back by a day in this off-chance that I will recieve justice. Really though, this whole matter is in God's hands and I am sure everything will work out.

This trimester has been a really great. But it will really great to be back home again. God bless you all, abide in his love.

Prayer

For a long time I have wondered about how to pray. It's amazing in my mind that the disciples saw all the miracles and all the powerful preaching of Jesus but they all realized that it was his prayer life that brought Jesus his power and so they asked him "Lord teach us to pray". But anyways, all of that just to kind of segway into copying and pasting an amazing article that I just read. There is some teaching here that I have never heard of before and it seems really biblical. Like if you read the Moses account of when God wants to destroy the Israelites and he gives God a few reasons not to and then he doesn't.

Prayer and the Sovereignty of God
by Dr. Peter Hammond

“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests . . . Be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18

“God gives us the Spirit as our teacher in prayer, to tell us what is right and to temper our emotions. We should seek such aid of the Spirit.” — John Calvin

“Prayer is an art which only the Holy Spirit can teach us. He is the giver of all prayer.” — C.H. Spurgeon

“There is no man, nor church in the world, that can come to God in prayer, but by the assistance of the Holy Spirit.” — John Bunyan

“It must be acknowledged by the spiritual mind that all true prayer is of the leading of the Spirit; that He is the author of all real approach of the soul to God. All true prayer is put into words by the Spirit. He is the Author of prayer in the soul.” — Octavius Winslow

“Pray for prayer - pray till you can pray, pray to be helped to pray and give not up praying because you cannot pray, for it is when you think you cannot pray that you are most praying.” — C.H. Spurgeon

“Pray in the Holy Spirit.” Jude 20

“If the grace of God be in him, it will be as natural for him to groan out his condition as it is for a sucking child to cry for the breast. Prayer is one of the first things that discovers a man to be a Christian.” — John Bunyan

“A prayerless man is, of necessity and thoroughly, irreligious: There can be no life without activity. As the body is dead when it ceases to act, so the soul that goes not forth in its actions toward God, that lives as though there were no God, is spiritually dead.” — Charles Hodge

Are you living a life of prayer?
Do you find yourself constantly at prayer throughout the day?
Is prayer something natural for you or is it something forced?
Why do you pray?
Do you pray because you are supposed to?
Is it merely a habit with you?
Do you pray because you cannot do otherwise?
Do you love to pray?
Does the love of Christ constrain you to pray?
“Prayer is a pouring out of the heart to God, through Christ, in the strength of the Spirit, for such things as God has promised. Prayer must be within the compass of God’s Word; it is blasphemy or at best babbling, when the petition is beside the Book. David therefore in his prayers kept his eye on the Word of God: ‘My soul cleaves to the dust; quicken me according to Your Word.’

“‘Remember Your Word to Your servant, on which you have caused me to hope.’ Indeed the Holy Spirit does not immediately quicken and stir up the heart of the Christian without, but by, in and through the Word. The Spirit, by the Word, directs the manner as well as the matter of praying.” John Bunyan

“What is it to pray according to God’s will? When we pray for things which are agreeable to God’s will, i.e. His revealed will; we should ask for nothing but what He commands us . . . for those things we have warrant to pray.” John Cotton

1. Since the Christian is to do whatever the Bible commands him, he must pray because he is commanded to pray (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Since God commands us to pray, it is obviously of great profit and effective in procuring the blessings of God. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16

2. All prayer is to be exercised in an attitude of submissiveness to God, in which you really desire God’s will as to what is best and good: “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10). We want His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

3. Prayer plays a part of the outworking of God’s decree. God has decreed that we have not if we ask not. He has predetermined to hear our prayers and answer them. He has decreed that His eternal plan of salvation be worked out through the effectual, fervent prayers of righteous men, women and children.

4. The doctrines of grace should strengthen and provoke believing prayer because they point us to the absolutely sovereign God who can do what we ask. The God addressed in prayer is mighty to save, mighty to deliver and mighty to sanctify. Pray for God to save sinners and to revive saints. It is actually the Arminian who should give up prayer, for his god is too small, too weak and too soft to answer prayer.

If God is not sovereign and man has a “free will” which even God cannot tamper with, why pray for the lost or for protection from enemies, either human or demonic? What comfort can be derived from a Deity who is biting his fingernails over whether or not men will “let” him do something?

5. Historically, the doctrines of grace have always produced men of prayer.

6. If your theology has led you to abandon prayer and to sneer at the concept that prayer is vital and necessary, then your theology is not Biblical.

7. A close examination of the prayers recorded in Scripture reveals that the saints of old filled their mouths with arguments when presenting their petitions to God. They buttressed their requests with Biblical arguments. They pleaded with God in terms of His Word, His glorious Names, His covenants of promise, and His plan of redemption. They presented their prayer requests like a lawyer who skilfully presents his arguments to judge and jury. Pleading with God in prayer and presenting reasons to God why He should grant our requests is a lost art today.

George Mueller, as his biographer pointed out:

“At this time of need . . . this man who had determined to risk everything upon God’s Word of promise, turned from doubtful devices and questionable methods of relief to pleading with God . . . “He used arguments in prayer and at this time he piles up eleven reasons why God should and would send help . . . He was one of the elect few to whom it had been given to revive and restore this lost art of pleading with God.”

“Of course, God does not need to be convinced; no argument can make any plainer to Him the claims of trusting souls to His intervention, claims based upon His own Word, confirmed by His oath. And yet He will be inquired of and argued with. That is His way of blessing . . . We are to argue our case with God, not indeed to convince Him, but to convince ourselves.”

To this Eziekel Hopkins adds:

“Now, although it be true that all the arguments that we can urge and all the reasons we can allege, cannot alter the purposes and determinations of God, as to any event that He has ordained, yet there is this twofold use and necessity of pleading them.

“First, because by considering the reasons we have to pray for such mercies, our desires will be the more earnest and fervent in the obtaining of them.

“Secondly, because reasons in prayer do mightily conduce to the strengthening of our faith and give us great encouragement to believe that we shall certainly obtain what we have so much reason to ask.”

Or as C.H. Spurgeon put it:

“Why are arguments to be used at all? The reply is, certainly not because God is slow to give, not because we can change the Divine purpose, not because God needs to be informed of any circumstance with regard to ourselves . . .

“The arguments to be used are for our own benefit, not for His. Our use of arguments teaches us the ground upon which we obtain the blessing . . . Besides, the use of arguments is intended to stir up our fervency . . .”

From what shall we construct our arguments? Where can we find weighty reasons to lay before God? Where can we derive arguments from which we can present weighty reasons along with our petitions?

1. God’s attributes. Spurgeon put it like this: “You and I may hold anytime upon the justice, the mercy, the faithfulness, the wisdom, the long-suffering, the tenderness of God and we shall find every attribute of the Most High to be, as it were, a great battering-ram with which we may open the gates of Heaven.”

For example, we can argue from 1 John 1:9 that God’s faithfulness and justice are grounds for forgiveness (cf. Psalm 51:1-3).

2. The promises of God. Spurgeon observes: “If you have a Divine promise, you need not plead that with an “if” in it; you may plead with a certainty.” (cf. 1 Kings 8:56; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

3. The Names of God. When in need of strength, should we not cry out to Elohim, the God of power and strength? When seeking a blessing from the New Covenant, should we not argue from the name “Yahweh,” which is God’s covenantal name? When appealing to God’s sovereignty, “Adonai” should be upon our lips. When confronting satanic forces, the Lord of Hosts should be our shield and high tower.

4. The sorrows of God’s people. The present condition of the church is a weighty argument for our need of revival (cf. Psalm 80:4-7; Psalm 12:1). We should also plead our own unworthiness, weakness and poverty of spirit (cf. Psalm 25:16; Luke 15:18-19). The history of redemption, God’s mighty acts in past history provides a foundation for our trust in God (cf. Psalm 30:11; 143:1-6).

5. The atoning life, death and intercession of Christ. Spurgeon observes: “When you plead that which shakes the gates of hell and which the hosts of Heaven obey and God feels the sacred power of that Divine plea. You would do better if you sometimes thought more in your prayers of Christ’s griefs and groans . . .”

The end result of using argument in prayer shall be a strengthened and energised prayer life. Faith will be emboldened to go to God’s throne and secure the petitions inquired of God. Thus, we will rejoice in seeing our prayers avail much. Spurgeon says:
“If the Holy Spirit shall teach us how to order our cause and how to fill our mouth with arguments, the result shall be that we shall have our mouth filled with praises. The man who has his mouth full of arguments in prayer shall soon have his mouth full of benedictions in answer to prayer.”

6. A study of the prayers in the Bible reveals that the saints of old - and even our Lord - set apart whole days or nights dedicated to prayer and fasting.

When something great was requested from God or whenever the situation was desperate and important decisions were soon to be made, the saints of old would give themselves to fasting and prayer. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

24-7 prayer

Hey, I've barely taken any pictures at all these last three months. Here is one my friend Mike took. One night we went into Charlotte to check out a 24-7 boiler room a place where people are constantly praying and worshipping. But unfortunately it was close for like two weeks until they had enough full time staff. But it was neat because we realized that we don't need to be in a certain building to pray so we spent a couple hours on the sidewalk praying. We talked with some of the neighbours and just had a really good time. It's neat how no-one would be up for it if I said "Hey let's drive forty minutes to a random sidewalk to pray for a couple hours." But God just brings things about in his own timing.

Keepin it real

Haha, I just googled that title and added that image. Lately I've been thinking a lot about how important honesty is. If you've ever heard of the book "blue like jazz" one of the things people most appreciate about it is how honest he is. I heard that donald miller gets comments all the time that they love his honesty and he's like "Why is that such a rare thing in the christian world". Don't you just love it when somebody is totally honest? I watched the movie phone booth once, I would never recommend it but it is one of my favourite movies ever. Just because there is this one scene where the main character breaks down and is totally beautifully honest with everyone no matter what the cost.

Randy, I love your blog and how honest you are. I really like Jeremy Sawatzky's blog almost entirely because he is just real and honest. Most of my life I have been a people-pleaser, some people call it friendly but I am constantly finding myself changing the way that I say things so that people don't get offended. I am always watching people's facial expressions as I talk to see if they are bored annoyed or confused. Sometimes when I stop wearing glasses and I feel like I can't hear anything. But a few weeks ago we had a missions conference at FIRE and it was so exciting because they were just ridiculously real with us. They shared their dissapointments and their joys and it shook me to the core how passionate they were for God and how God was using them. These are people that graduated from the same school that I'm going to now.

One time I went to the Moose Jaw mineral spa with my small group in high school when Chris Senger was the leader. We were in the pool part and we went outside and when a couple girls saw me they started giggling. I was kind of silly back then and I thought they liked me or something. hahaha but anyways maybe 10-15 minutes later Chris says to me "David, you have a giant booger hanging off your nose". I looked, and to my horror he was right. Haha and ever since then I subconsciously brush my nose a few times a day in the fear that it will happen again. But I loved so much the fact that he would say that.

Last year me and my friends Jearim and Curtis from Millar came into Regina one weekend to do some witnessing. We ended up going to the scarth street mall and had a good time, I went out of my comfort zone a lot but it was good. Anyways, after the weekend we were driving back to Millar. Curtis had been a missionary in the Czech republic for a year and so we were talking for a while about being a missionary and the conversation shifted to money and how some missionaries are really greedy and don't really do much. Anyways, I felt like it was a kind of edifying and good conversation. We didn't want to be like that when we became missionaries someday. But Jearim was sitting in the back with his head down totally quiet. When after about 15-20 minutes he says "So what? So what are you going to do about it? I've sat here listening to you guys for twenty minutes talking about missionaries being selfish, what are you going to do about it now?" It just blew me away when he said that. I had been fairly good and generous with money but definitely most of my money just went to my own selfish desires. It was a sobering wake up call and since then I've done a lot better. When christians aren't afraid to be honest and penetrating and say what needs to be said, true community will develop and accountablility.




And why do we lie to God?

Think about it, I know I've done it so often. Why do we say "Lord I surrender all to you" and then within a few minutes we say something we regret or are selfish. Why do we say all these prayers that we don't really mean just because we think they sound good. Why aren't we just honest with God? I know how much I love honesty in my friends, how much more does God want us to be real with him? David cried out to God "How long O lord will you forget me?" think about that. Moses flat out told God that he disagreed with his plan to destroy the Israelites and make his children the promise. And God changed his mind!! The bible is so full of examples of people being real with God and him using them in dramatic earth-changing ways.

Think about our worship, how much of it is just a verse or two from the bible made to sound nice? How much of it is fluff that we don't really mean? Do we really come back to the heart of worship every time we sing that song? What is the heart of worship? When will we begin to honestly bring our heart to God, and say Take me as I am? I don't even know the answer to all of these questions. I for one love the worship music today, but I actually find myself get closer to God through christian rap sometimes. Not the flaky pop stuff, but those who came out of the gangster or drug lifestyle and are radically saved by God.

A joke

Jokes are some of my favourite things in the world, here are a few gooders

An Irishman walks out of a bar.

A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West. He slides up to the bar and announces: "I'm lookin' for the man who shot my paw."

How much did the pirate pay for his peg leg and hook? An arm and a leg!

How can you tell if an elephant has been in your kitchen? There are footprints in your peanut butter.

How can you t

These few days

These last few days have had a whirlwind of events. Probably the most interesting was Saturday night. Chase (my roommate) just got a truck but it's standard and so he can't drive it yet. His brother couldn't drive because of a knee injury and so I was quite sure that it was legal for me to drive because Canadians drive through the states all the time on Holidays and stuff. So I drove Chase and his brother in his truck. anyways we went to this FIRE party and it was great, I played Chess with my brazillian friend André. He won once and then i won the second time. And I also learned how to play Euchre and Ratrace, two really fun card games. But we finally decide to go home and it's a cold night and Chase's truck is basically a two seat truck but we squeeze three people in usually it's really tough to shift though. Anyways that night we took Roella home, she's from Holland but I think originally from Suriname perhaps. But that's irrelevant, Chase and his brother sit in the bed of the truck and she sits up front. As we are going a police car follows us for awhile but then turns away. We were kind of scared because there is only two seat belts and four people, two of them in the back of the truck (I later on learned today that apparently that is perfectly legal in North Carolina).

So we are driving back and another cop starts following us and then he turns his lights on and pulls us over. This is my first time being pulled over so I was pretty nervous. Haha I totally misunderstoof almost everything he said, at first he got me to come out and he said "sit there" kind of pointing ambiguously in a certain direction so I sat on the curb then he said "no there" and so i tried to open the back of the cop car to sit down then he said "no up here" so I finally figured it out. We ended up talking about the Toronto Blue Jays, which is his favourite baseball team. I've never seen a single baseball game in my life but I am pretty good at picking up random facts and remembering them so I said "Yeah, didn't they win the world cup in 1996?" and he smiled and said "The world series you mean? yeah they actually won it two years in a row" Hahaha so even in my trying to be knowledgeable and impress him I totally failed. But I ended up with a $160 ticket for driving with a canadian license. I will hopefully be able to get it waved though, because it is legal for me to drive.

Anyways we have two weeks and two days of classes until school is officially done. In some ways it seemed to go by really fast but in other ways it has probably been the longest three months of my life. I have learned a lot and seen a lot of things happen. Last night for halloween we went out and instead of trick or treating we gave bags of Candy and christian tracts to houses and invited them to our home group and church and prayed for them. The reception was amazing people were really encouraged for the most part. I have a lot of homework that I want to do today though so i should probably get off. God bless!

to the extent that we are touched by God is the extent that we can go out and touch the world.

Pictures

Hey there, here are some pictures of my life recently





Sorry if in the last few posts it felt condemnatory at all, sometimes I don't think things through and usually with these posts I write them and never even look over them. I want to preach someday, and so I think that this blog is a good place to formulate my thoughts and expand on things that God has been teaching me. A lot of crazy stuff has been happening lately in my apartment and so I've been busy. God bless

God's moving

And I'm excited. I just want to be a part of what he's doing, and not miss out because of my selfishness and refusal to deny myself and take up my cross and follow him. Yesterday I found a really great site

http://www.allathisfeet.com/

If you are ready to reconsider christianity and how it is lived out, go there. Check out the book "a day of small beginnings", I've been reading it this afternoon and it's really powerful. There's a couple times so far when God has just convicted me about how focused I am on my goals and I so little care and love the people around me except when I'm comfortable or it will advance my reputation. If there's anything I've learned from the bible it's that people who put their reputation in God's hands go down in history but those who try to make a name for themselves might be succesful and well-known for awhile but in the end their works will turn to ash on the day of judgment.

Is life a competition or a cup? Peter saw it as a competition and so he cut of Malchus's ear because they were trying to take away his saviour. Jesus saw life as a cup... he realized the suffering and things he would have to go through and he so abandoned to the will of God that none of that mattered. Do you realize that the cross looks like the biggest failure of all time. Jesus convinced so many people to believe in him and even his disciples said he was the son of God (Matthew 16:16). But it looked like everything was lost and Jesus died because he couldn't hold his tongue and be a people-pleaser even for a second.

I know these thoughts may seem kind of jumbled but God has been teaching me a lot lately. Being constant in prayer is probably my greatest desire for this year 1 Thessalonians 5:17. A really good book on it is called "Practice the presence of God" by brother lawrence

http://www.fireonthealtar.com/books/

it's the second last book on that page, the very last book called "Mr contentment and your five wooden cups" rocked my world. How should we spend money? Really when our eyes our are on eternity, none of these physical pleasure should mean anything. The more focused we are on eternity, it's exciting, we will have a greater passion for souls, a greater understanding of the ridiculousness of sin, suffering will be inconsequential compared to the joy of heaven.

Here is a cool excerpt from the top book that I was reading today called a day of small beginnings. Anyways to preface the quote this bible college proffessor just found out that one of the godliest strong christians in his class fell into temptation with his girlfriend and she is pregnant. He is crushed with the revelation and searching the word and... well read and find out what he finds out.

Spent, George lifted himself off the floor and sank wearily into his desk chair. He still had more questions than answers as he turned to face his Bible, still open from that morning. His eyes caught a phrase in Hebrews 3: “Sin’s deceitfulness.” Boy, if that doesn’t describe what happened to Rick, I don’t know what does. As George thought about the whole situation with Rick, he felt a surge of anger in his heart. He was angry, knowing the deceiver had maimed yet another one of God’s lambs through his lying tactics. Lord, does it have to be this way? Surely, there must be a way to keep this from happening. He looked again at the worn page, hoping for an answer.

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” What?! He read it again, hoping he hadn’t missed something. That’s what it says! Sin’s deceitfulness can be prevented! Truth illuminated his heart. Could obedience to one simple command really help keep people—people he loved—from being deceived and hardened by sin? It says it right here. He answered his own question, thumping the page. The Holy Spirit did write that verse, he reasoned. George’s heart began to surge with excitement and hope—hope that his efforts to care didn’t have to be forever subject to arbitrary failure.

Bringing Freedom

heartcrymissionary.com is a link to a mission society that is run by Paul Washer. There is one sermon there called shocking youth message I believe. It is the most powerful message I ever heard. He says at the beginning "The only thing you really need to decide is wether I am a false prophet or not, I know that we who teach will be judged more harshly, so I really had to approach this prayer and trepidation, but if what I'm saying is true then you need to take it seriously." But then he goes to talk about what real repentance means. It is incredible, and I believe as well soberingly biblical.

What is repentance? The simple sunday school answer would probably be "It's turning from sin". And looking at how the word is contructed and came about I believe that is right. But practically what does that mean? If we still sin after we have repented what then? Is this verse literal and true?

Hebrews 10:26
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left

I'm not saying I know all the answers, I don't even know most of them. I don't know exactly what that verse means, but I do know one thing. We do not take the word of God seriously enough. God doesn't mess around, and I don't want to see how close I can get to hell without going. If we are going to be worshipping God for all eternity, I want to get to know him as close as I can. God is holy and Matthew 5:7 says that only the pure in heart will see God. These verses scare me, as they should.

Whatever happened to the fear of the Lord?

The book of proverbs says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you say "Oh, that's Old Testament" Well then what about this verse

Acts 9:31
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.

Sometimes it seems like the church in North America is living in a constant party atmosphere. I went to an City wide Easter Sunday service in Alberta last year and they sang "How deep the Father's Love for us" In a really upbeat celebration style (Perhaps it wasn't that song but it was a similar type song). It burdened my heart, because without the fear of the Lord we begin to congratulate ourselves and lose our sensitivity to the seriousness of sin.

I'm not saying this as one who is superior because I've been there time and time again. I've never really shared this in public before, but do we need reality or what? Throughout high school I struggled with pornography, and gross lust in my mind. I would ask for forgiveness and then within a week or two fall again. It was a vicous cycle of defeat that kept getting worse. There were times when I really went into God's word and found freedom for awhile but it never lasted. What was I missing? I read all the teachings but nothing seemed to set me free. Even during bible school last year when I came home I fell sometimes. Finally I just really starting taking seriously the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5,6,7 for those who don't know. It is the greatest sermon ever preached in my opinion. Jesus takes every major problem that we will encounter in our lives and shows us how to solve them as well as be shining lights in this dark world.

Matthew 5:6 says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. I clung to that promise and later on in Matthew 5 Jesus told us simply how to deal with lust. He said we need to radically amputate anything that causes us to sin. It is really as simple as taking a hold of those two truths. When I got rid of any open door to sin in my life and had high standards of where I would put my eyes, I asked God to do the rest to transform my sin desiring heart into a heart that desired God and holiness more than anything else. Life in the kingdom of God is so simple we just need to be obediant. I would really encourage anyone reading this to read the Sermon on the Mount and take it seriously. If you have any questions about any of this you can email me at davidhepting@gmail.com.

If you have habitual sin in your life there is freedom, Proverbs 24:16 says that though the righteous man falls seven times, he rises again. That is all God is asking of us, if we fall we can rise again and run after him. He is our Father! I love God, and I still fall short of Matthew 5:48 but I know that God is able to keep me from falling (Jude 1:24) and he is helping me and guiding me like a loving Father. Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us :) (Hebrews 12:1). God bless you guys

Explanation

Oh yeah so there are a few things I want to explain about those pictures. In the first picture with all my campers really covered head to toe. That week was one of the craziest, we had a wasps nest right behind the cabin and my guys kept asking if they could go hit it with sticks, and I said all right if they covered up. Anyways, throughout the week I think each guy got stung like three or four times but they just had a blast and kept on going out there. It was incredible. Then the night time picture was just this night we went into Charlotte to walk around and stuff, two of those guys are my roommates.

FIRE

I finally got internet working on my own laptop so here a just a couple of pictures from camp and tonight. There will be many more coming in the future. God bless y'all

A new day

Yesterday was a really great day, I'm still trying to process it all but God taught me a lot of things. In missionary life class we had two FI missionaries come in and speak. Eric and Casey from the Phillipines. They are so passionate about God and his glory it was exciting. But I think that the most unusual and beautiful thing was how honest they were about things. It was refreshing, I think that that is one of the greatest needs in christians today is just plain honesty. We always want to look good in front of people and make a good impression. But in reality people who are just genuinely real and honest make such a better impression. So that's something that God has been working in me.

But one of the main things that they talked about was just being comfortable in who God created you to be. Now that's definitely not being comfortable in where you are at with God and the world and not stepping out of your comfort zone. There is a huge difference. When these guys used to live in Pensacola, Eric the husband used to get up and preach anywhere and his wife had such a burden for the lost that sometimes she even stopped and picked up prostitutes and gave them a ride and talked to them about God with her kids in the back. But he was saying how if we get caught up in what the people around us are doing that we don't have then we will become so frustrated and in despair. God is leading each of us down different paths and we each have different giftings and unique callings. He doesn't fast like some of the other guys on his team do and for awhile he was wondering if he just wasn't a good christian but God affirmed that he was also on the right course.

I guess for me the reason that that message was so powerful is because here are FIRE there are so many more people that have way more passion for God than I do. Maybe I just don't express it in the same way but there is a boldness and a faith here that I really want. And being a naturally competitive person I always want to excel and outdo other people. But God has been teaching me that it's not about striving so much of this life is resting and abiding in God and following his will. If it's not something huge it's all right because God knows what is best. And if it is something huge that's ok too because God can lead me through whatever he has for me and he knows me better than I know myself.

What is my calling? Well in the summer of before high school I spent a week at my grandparents farm and it was great time but there wasn't really much tv or music to distract me so I thought a lot. One day we were driving in to Lipton a nearby town and I distinctly remember just dreaming about my future and what I would do and I really felt God calling me to Egypt, perhaps to start a farm there. Since then he has revealed more and I think he wants me to run a discipleship school there with my wife and either train North Americans for one of the biggest harvest fields in the world and toughest to reach: the Muslim world. Or else train the native Egyptian believers to change their nation for Christ. Or it might be a bit of both. Either way if anyone knows me this seems way to big to be me. There is no way that I could pull it all off apart from God. But as I read these missionary biographies and my bible I am more and more convinced that if God could lead and provide for those people then he can lead and guide me. He is the same God!!

What do you guys think? What is God calling you to?

Myspace

Hey, I just started a myspace account. here is the URL

http://www.myspace.com/zumb

I have been thinking a lot lately about the power of God. So many people are turned off of Christianity because they think it is such a dead religion and honestly sometimes we act like it. What will convince a Muslim man to become a christian other than realizing that our God is real? The more that I read the bible the more it seems that a single christian who takes a hold of his reality in Christ is like a tank.

a christian is like a tank

The bible says "We have not recieved a spirit that makes us slave again to fear. But the spirit of Sonship" We are adopted sons and daughters of God! (john 1:12) We have Jesus inside of us (Eph. 3:17) and Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) Jesus healed all the sick and cured all of their deseases Matthew 8:17. I believe that the more we abide in Christ the more we will become like him and his power and authority will be with us. We should never seek him for just his power, but let's not be afraid of it.

Not just in healing but any time we are scared or we are in any difficulty we can call on God and he will carry us through it and refine our character through suffering. Contentment is so key to life In Christ (Phil.4:11) Giving thanks in all circumstances Philippians 4:6, will keep us content and give the enemy no oppurtunity to prey upon our desires and inadequacies. It's incredibly powerful, the devil can't get a foothold when we are totally satisfied in God. It's just like advertisements they always try to make us realize that we need their product or else we will be insufficient in some way. Every single advertisement does this, and also all the devil does with our thoughts is advertise sin in the same way.

Haha anyways I guess that's just some of the ramblings and things that I have been thinking about today. I hope that I was understandable and if not I at least encouraged myself to spend more time thanking God for things and bring all my requests before him. Anyways, have a great night!

Lately

Hey guys this will be my first post in a while. I have been going to FIRE school of ministry down in North Carolina for nearly a month now. It has been a really amazing time of a lot of growth. Brother Yun came a couple nights ago, if you have ever read the book "The Heavenly Man" That is who he is. That book really impacted my life in high school and so to even meet him and have him pray over me was incredible. Just as God helped him escape one of the highest security jails in China he has the key to every form of bondage in the world. IF anything at all is holding you back from God he can set you free. So right now I am really tired but just walking in the freedom of God is beautiful and pure. I hope that when I go back home for the christmas break I can continue to walk like this with God.

This morning we got up at 5:30 in the morning and drove to Charlotte North Carolina. And did one of the most unique forms of ministry I have ever done. We went to an abortion clinic and stood on the sidewalk and prayed and handed out literature and talked to the people going into the clinic. They also had a microphone and just called to people and pleaded them to change their minds and I think about three couples changed their minds and saved their babies lives. The craziest thing was a husband or boyfriend who came out and talked with one of the FIRE students for about half and hour and was crying and knelt down and I believe they led him to the Lord. So that is just so exciting. Instead of wasting a Saturday morning changing destinies and saving lives. But it was really good, I am a very very non-confrontational person and so it was quite out of my comfort zone but really Good. God did some amazing things.

What's going on in your lives? I feel like my entire world has changed in the last 6 months. And I think for the most part it has been really good, God has taught me a lot and keeps breaking me of my pride. It hurts but it's so valuable, Hebrews 12. Hopefully I'll get back on here with semi-regularity. Perhaps once every couple weeks ;). Grace be with you.

Things that have happened

Here's a recent email I sent out with what's new with me. I will start updating again soon.

Do you ever step back for a few seconds, and think to yourself, How
>in the
>world did I get where I am? What has brought me to this place?
>
> I have been thinking that a fair bit these last few days.
>In fact
>these last few months for me have had a lot of new experiences. And
>I know
>that I've been away from many of you a lot, and haven't kept in
>touch as I
>should and so I thought I'd just send an email to let you guys know
>what's
>been going on in my life lately. Haha and if you think that that's
>self-centered (me talking all about myself in this email) then just
>reply
>with a friendly rebuke and I'll do my best to change ;).
>
> I guess that I'll start with greece, during my time at
>Millar
>college of the Bible in Pambrun, Saskatchewan I really felt God's
>leading to
>go on a missions trip to Greece. I kept putting it off because I
>knew that I
>wanted to go to down to North Carolina for bible college next year
>and I
>didn't think I would have enough money if I did that. But finally
>after a
>missions conference at Millar I realized that God could provide and
>so I
>applied. Throughout the trip God provided in so many ways it was
>amazing.
>
> My time in Greece was amazing. I got to help prepare their
>sailboat at a shipyard for about a week and a half. We painted and
>sanded
>and sandblasted and did all sorts of other things. The team was
>incredibly
>nice. Then I got to help with some meals for refugees in Greece and
>worship
>nights. I helped one day at their office and then the rest of the
>time I was
>at a property the mission had. We prepared it for a summer camp. As
>well as
>Operation Gideon 2, a time when they went out to half of the
>inhabited
>islands of Greece and distributed 30,000 New Testaments and other
>christian
>literature. I met so many cool people who had a fire and passion for
>God. A
>lot of good memories. Haha one of my favourite was wrestling on this
>floating dock that they had on the mediterannean sea. The best part
>of my
>trip was probably developing consistency in my walk with God. We had
>quiet
>time with God every morning and as we worked many times some of the
>people
>working there would just start praying. The coolest answer to prayer
>was for
>an albanian guy named Arturo. He had been waiting for 7 months for a
>green
>card so that he could go back and forth from Greece to Albania. But
>it
>looked like it might be another half a year. Then while we were
>there he
>found out that his son was very sick and near death. So we just
>gathered
>around him and prayed that he would get a green card and his son
>would get
>better. And it was absolutely incredible how God worked because
>within 24
>hours his green card arrived and his son took a good turn for the
>better.
>The weird thing was though that I never even realized how God had
>exactly
>answered our requests until a few hours later. I think so many times
>I miss
>thanking God for answered prayer because I don't watch out for when
>he does
>it.
>But God really gave me a lot more confidence in him that trip.
>
>3 days after I got back I started working as a cabin leader at
>dallas valley
>ranch camp. This is a really precious place to me because I have
>either
>worked there or been a camper for the last ten years and for youth
>group
>retreats we would go out there so a lot of special memories. But
>yeah this
>summer was amazing, every week was really great. The last one though
>I could
>honestly say was one of the best weeks of my life. I got to lead
>worship a
>few nights and at campfire, so that was really cool. But the best
>part was
>just how for some reason my cabin and I connected and two guys
>decided to
>become missionaries that week and another guy in my cabin really met
>God.
>They encouraged me so much. I really feel like I left getting so
>much more
>out of that week than they did.
>
>Then I had two days until I got on the bus down to North Carolina to
>go to
>FIRE school of ministry. This school I had heard about after
>listening some
>sermons on fireonthealtar.com . I checked into it a lot and it
>looked really
>solid, and passionate for God to be glorified on the earth and lives
>transformed. It's a three year program to get a bachelor of
>practical
>ministry and it just looked like the most practical and suitable
>place where
>God could train me to become a missionary. So I took the bus for two
>and
>half days to get down there. That in itself was an adventure. I met
>some
>really neat people though. I talked with this one guy named shawn
>for about
>4 hours about life and faith and computer programming and running
>and all
>sorts of stuff. Going on the bus just opens up crazy oppurtunities
>to get to
>know people you never would normally. I talked with a girl from
>Bulgaria who
>was my age for about 5 hours. It was neat because Bulgaria is right
>beside
>Greece so i knew a lot more about it because of my trip. But yeah
>she was
>super nice but a nominal christian so I encouraged her to read her
>bible.
>Then when I was getting deep south I sat beside this one black woman
>with a
>big heart. Her name was Kenyata, she saw me memorizing Titus in a
>small
>booklet and she gave me her pocket new testament to read and said
>"this has
>got more books, It's always good to take the bible with you on a
>long trip".
>She has a five foot long Iguana named Elroy, and she feeds him sour
>cream
>and onion pringles and takes him for walks everywhere. Really
>interesting
>lady, when she found out I wanted to become a missionary she said
>"You're
>not going to be one of those people we got in Detroit that ride up
>to your
>house on a bike and read the bible to you are you?" I kind of
>laughed and
>said "you never know where God's gonna lead you".
>
> 3 days ago on Friday morning I finally arrived in Concord,
>North
>Carolina. It's been an incredible three days. I've met some of the
>godliest
>young men and woman that I have ever met. There is such an
>expectancy and
>faith for God to move here that it just blows me away. And God does
>move.
>Last night some guys from here went out witnessing on the streets of
>Concord
>and 3 people ended up getting healed. Two people actually were able
>to walk
>out of their wheelchairs totally healed from lameness! Hebrews 13:8
>says
>that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. That text
>just
>came alive when I heard what happened. With such passion in a place
>I know
>that people sometimes fall into the trap of fanaticism so I am
>keeping watch
>that it stays biblical. But so far I have been just super excited at
>where
>God has led me. I want God to use me.
>
> So yeah, that's what's been happening in my life lately. I
>would
>love to hear back from every one of you what God has been doing with
>you.
>Thanks for being patient with this long email. I love you all in
>Christ. God
>bless you mightily this year as you seek to follow him. Peace out.
>
>-david hepting
>
>This is the one I esteem:
>he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
>and trembles at my word.
>Isaiah 66:2

We've LOST CHRISTIANITY

Despite the thousands in our megachurches today, soaking up
the warm entertainment offered to them every week, I want to put
it to you that we have lost Christianity. Despite the Christian books
now found in every Walmart, and the "crossover" of Christian
artists into the mainstream, and our Christian mega-stores and
CD's and DVD's and Study-Bibles, I want to put it to you that we
have lost Christianity.

Despite our lavish Cathedrals in the suburbs ('Charismatic or
not) with their pastel hues and comfortable pews, their projector
screens and $30,000 sound systems, I want to put it to you that
we have utterly lost Christianity.

We left it behind somewhere when we shifted our churches from
the inner city into the "comfortable" suburbs. We left it behind when
we stopped welcoming the bums off the street into our meetings
and started welcoming only the "respectable" people. We left it
behind when we stopped preaching "take up your cross" and
turned the gospel into a success formula - 'Seven Steps to your
Best Life Now.'

Somewhere in our comfortable suburban streetscape with its
manicured lawns we lost the real thing. Somehow in our concern
for "property values" and a better 'dental plan' we left it behind.
But that is not the worst part of it. The worst part is that we don't
know how to get it back again. Or perhaps we don't really WANT
to get it back again. The cost simply doesn't bear thinking about,
does it? And so, as we drive around in our nice shiny cars with
our groovy plastic toys, and attend "church" as we know it twice a
week for 2 hours;- As we live a life that is about as unlike Jesus
as you can get, a life of comfort and coddling undreamt of by
billions around the world;- a lifestyle in the top 10% of the earth
today (-in debt up to our eyeballs all the while) - the fact is that
we don't really CARE that we have lost original Christianity, do
we? We are too busy, man. Don't bother us with that kind of talk.

It will all be OK, the preacher tells us. We will all make it to
heaven in the end. We are all "decent" people here. We have
"prayed the little prayer". We have 'given our heart to the Lord'.

Oh yes. We will all make it, won't we? We are all good suburban
church-going folks here.

But what is this? What is that thundering voice I hear? "DEPART
FROM ME." 'But LORD... But LORD....'

"I said - 'DEPART FROM ME'. Don't call me Lord. You never truly
lived like I was your Lord and you know it. For I was hungry and
you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I
was a stranger and you did not take me in; naked, and you did
not clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not visit me...."

What is the essence of true Christianity that we have lost, my
friends? It is simply described by James as follows- "Pure
religion and undefiled is this: To visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
(Ja 1:27). Amen



-by Andrew Strom.

I think that there is a lot of church bashing today and to balance it out I will post another cool article I really liked. But lets not just let the thoughts of this article slip away from our minds. Matthew 25 just blows me away and we need to start living like those things are really what's important. But now onto the next article about church.

I Love the Church

It’s time to come out of the closet. At the risk of losing all credibility amongst the Alternative worship shoe gazers and the pomo-pogo arty crowd, can I just say that I think the church is actually really WONDERFUL! I'm tired of being tired of her. I'm bored of being bored. I'm willing to admit that she is me and I am part of the mess and part of the blessing too.
The church is BEAUTIFUL. I mean, where else do you get people behaving with such outrageous generosity, such counter-cultural thoughtfulness, such unstoppable and irresponsible gentleness towards one another on a regular basis?

You can hate the music, flatten the structures, moan about the meetings, disappear into a prophetic black hole but I'll still be one of them - One of those screwed up, down-trodden, out-of-touch, utterly underwhelming bunch of misfits and maniacs known as the church.

Welcome party

A girl in our church became a follower of Jesus a while ago and her parents didn’t like it. She decided to go to University and they refused to drive her to the campus 300 miles away. So a Christian – a girl called Charlotte – drove Julia on a 600 mile round trip. And she then persuaded two car-loads of other Christians to secretly drive up in advance, so that when Julia arrived at University, nervous and uncertain, nine Christians were waiting in her room to welcome her to her new home! Normal people don’t do that.
Downs dancing

A few weeks ago in our Sunday meeting (which was, as usual, more Flashdance than Matrix) a guy with Downs Syndrome danced for us to a beautiful piece of music. As he moved his limbs awkwardly to the easy-flowing music, lost in wonder love and the glow of our praise, I wondered where else in our town that day anything remotely similar was happening.
Aghan peace

The NGO Aid agencies have abandoned Afghanistan, despite all the western promises of reconstruction. Why? Because the big money is now in Iraq. The vast majority of those left behind in Kabul are Christian mission agencies, unable to access NGO funding but with a sense of long-term calling to the Afghan people that outlasts the fads of the media frenzy. Their morals and lifestyle are far more palatable to the Afghan people than the flashy western Aid workers in search of Adventure with an Indiana Jones approach to the local culture. Meanwhile the missionaries quietly live amongst the people. They give all they can to the local people. Lets be honest about it – they really do love the local people.
Pretty in pink

I turned my entire wardrobe pink in a single wash and a guy I vaguely know at church stopped laughing long enough to give me a load of cash to buy new stuff. I was merely grateful but my friends at work were stunned. I mean the guy hardly knew me right?
Right now, the church seems to have a corporate identity crisis. She puts herself down, apologises for herself, laughs at her own peculiarities. A little too loud. If she was a 14 year old girl she’d be starving herself or cutting herself or sleeping around. But the bible says that God loves the church. He believes in her – even when she’s a slut in the gutter (check out Hosea). He is passionate about her. Revelation says she’s his bride to be. Song of Songs describes a divine romance between Christ and his people.

Of course some of the things we label as 'church' just aren't church at all! Sometimes we use the word to describe a structure. A religious club. A historical society - not the community that makes God’s heart race and his spine tingle. But wherever people gather in the name of Jesus, he promises to appear. Not out of some dull duty, some biblical handcuff. He appears because he wants to be there like lovers always do. Like lovers always will. And you can laugh at the furniture, hate her mother’s cooking and her father’s jokes but you still want to be with that girl every time she calls. And sometimes when she doesn’t.

So you can make church a place of smells and bells with free-range monks and polystyrene communion wafers or you can make it a happy clappy bless-me club with facial hair and non-alcoholic wine, you can shout in tongues or chant in Latin, you can read the King James or the Eugene Peterson versions of Scripture. But if the gathering is in the name of Jesus, I know that he’ll be there. I know that love will be there. And yes, I guess I’ll be there as well.

From Pete Greig
(Published 30 May 2003)

A new day

Hey guys and girls,

how are your lives? think about that question before you continue reading this post. What is God doing in your lives? What have you been surrendering to God lately? I think that the most important thing that we can do sometimes is just to step back and look closely at the direction that our lives are going in... look and see if this lifestyle continues the way I have been living will I be satisfied with my life in 20 years? Have I been following God's will as close as I can? Do I even know what God's will is?

I heard something neat about the will of God and it has stuck with me ever since. The best way to find God's will for your life is to read God's will for your life. God's will for your life is found all over the bible. Just as he who called you is holy so be holy in all you do. (1 Peter 1:15). Or things like that. I have found in my experience nothing opens up my mind more to hear the voice of the Lord then to be spending time in his word. And I am preaching to myself right now because in the last couple of days I haven't made much time for God or his word. But this is so important!

The other neatest thing about surrendering and living in surrender to God's will is that life is so easy. Sure the storms will come, but you don't have to worry about anything because you know that God is carrying you through the storm and his will is the best.

Anyways that wasn't what I had intended to write about when I sat down to write a new blog entry after a long silence. I have been back from Greece for about 2 days now. It was a really good experience, God has given me a lot more confidence in myself and in his provision. Next year I am going down to North Carolina to FIRE school of ministry. And the way things are looking I may not be able to get a visa in time and even my education plan stuff in order. But I have met so many people who have testified of God's amazing providence and moving that if this truly is God's will for me and I do the best I can I am sure it will all work out somehow.

I want to start posting pictures of my trip on here soon but I am going up to Dallas Valley to be a counsellor for four weeks tommorow. Haha so all of these cool ideas and things I want to do probably won't get done. Today i think I will go to Hillsdale with my brother for the first time in a year and a half. Just to see everybody again and see how it's doing. It's true that I was hurt by what happened but God has healed those wounds and I have no more resentment or bitterness. I love how God can change my heart and set me free from everything that bound me. He proclaims freedom to the captives everyday, if only we would heed his invitation more often. Anyways, I better be off now. Hopefully I will start posting a bit more now. I love you all. God bless.

Update from Greece

Hey everybody I barely ever use this blog anymore but for anybody who checks here is what is going on with me while I am in Greece for almost 3 months. God bless!

Hello everyone,

Things in Greece are going really well and God has really taught me a lot here. I left for here on May 3rd and will be here until July 20th. For those of you that don't know I am working with Hellenic Ministries here. They have a very large task as they are some of the only missionaries in Greece which has a popultation of around 11 million with only about 20,000 evangelical christians. That's just 0.17% of the population. So even though it was one of the first countries evanglized by Paul and other early christians it is now one of the most pagan countries on earth. In fact two of Paul's missionary journeys were pretty much all in Greece. Places like Corinth, Athens, Thessalonica, and Berea I believe were all here and probably a few others that I forgot. On a side note last week i got to go to Corinth. That was one of the highlights of my time here because I got to see things like the Bema seat that represents were we will all be judged. Also the best part was that when we did the books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians in bible quizzing the cover of our quiz books had some columns on it and I actually got to go to those exact columns and take a picture there. It was excellent.

So what have I been doing here? Well pretty much right after I got here I went to a shipyard at Ameliopoli. This is where the Morningstar(HM's boat they use for Island ministry and tour evangelism) was being painted and fixed up very well. They had pulled it out of the water and because of a lot of difficulties ended up keeping it there for almost a month. This was a really good experience for me because I grew up without too much experience with power tools and even a lot of manual labour so God got an oppurtunity to really humble me and put me somewhere that most of my gifts weren't there. But God also gave me contentment and patience there and it was really neat getting to meet the team there that was working on the boat. One guy named Andrew Fletcher actually grew up in Carlyle saskatchewan and is living in Three Hills Alberta now but it was really neat because we started talking and knew at least 20 of the same people. He had been to street invaders as well and also had the drums from the drummer of Calling Joshua of whom the guitarist was my guitar teacher. Haha anyways, that was really good to meet someone with whom we had more to talk about and in common.

Oh and before that one thing that really encouraged me was the focus on eternity and living for eternity that HM has. As I was picked up at the airport Jonathon Macris (the president of HM) said to me "I love picking people up at airports and watching as people see their loved ones because it reminds me of heaven when that will happen". Also it was kind of funny at the airport because he didn't even know what I looked like he had heard that maybe I was short and dark-skinned. Haha which I don't think I am. Also almost everyone in Greece is short so it's kind of neat to come from a place where I am medium height to be able to see over crowds and stuff.

After the shipyard I went to Porto Astro their property that they use for a summer sports camp and also to house the participants in Operation Gideon their summer evangelistic outreach. It gets very hot there because of a lot of rocks and not much vegetation. Also they don't have running water they need to bring it all in by boat. But it is very beautiful and a testament to hard work because it is not connected by road so every single building and everything there had to be brought in by boat.

I am amazed by the level of faith here. Right when I got here I found out that Jonathon the president had felt God telling him to make an order for 30,000 hardcover new testaments. Which would cost I believe about $100,000 canadian. and they had no money at all for this but he felt GOd's leading and so he did it. I was amazed and excited to be a part of this faith step and then just a week ago the first payment of 30,000 euros was due and honestly 10 minutes before he still needed 2,000 euros and then I think 4 minutes left he had all the money that he needed and he was at the bank and made the first payment. There is still two more of 20,000 euros but I know that as long as we rely on God he will provide.

Also my own faith has grown as I ask God my requests he has come through in really neat and crazy ways. I can't remember all the little things he has done but here are a couple. For some reason I brought a really small amount of shampoo and after praying God has made it last for a really long time. Probably the next two months as well. Also I prayed about mosquitoes and bugs and I have only gotten one bite this whole time which is rare for people. I am content either way though but it is neat when God sees to bless us in these little ways. I love him.

But yeah there a lot of amazing things going on here that I don't have time to tell all right now. I know that many of you have prayed for me and I appreciate that so much. I can definitely tell the difference. Here are a few prayer requests that I have if you want to pray more specifically.

Pray that I would develop faith
Pray that God would provide and guide Hellenic Ministries in Greece
Pray that our focus would be on God and his power and not rest on our own inadequacies
Pray that God would transform all of people at HM this summer and give us a greater vision and passion to serve him with our lives.

Thanks so much for all your prayers!! God bless you all, Kalispera!

-david hepting

Exodus 15:2
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

A New Year

Hey Everybody

well my first semester is done of Millar College of the Bible and it has been really good. God has been doing some super neat things. We had a day of prayer were we spent a whole day in prayer in different ways and that really impacted me. It was incredible how the whole atmosphere of the school changed and my own outlook was so bright and hopefilled. Everything is so much more beautiful when you are close to God. It's crazy how easy it is for me to forget that then get caught up in life and forget about putting a lot of time toward my relationship with God.

The winter break was really fun, I got to hang out with so many great people. Jonathon Danyluk just encourages and inspires me so much. I love his passion and zeal for God so much even when he's not sure he just goes for what he thinks God wants. and from what I've seen he's usually right. Also Jeff Olson is super encouraging, I love hearing his heart and experiences. We stayed up until 4:30 in the morning at Dallas Valley just talking about a lot of different things. I love it when people have faith in God, when they hear stories of miracles or God doing something really amazing and their first inclination is not doubt and skepticism. Like really maybe there is a time to be careful about believing something before we know it's true but shouldn't we give God the benefit of the doubt? Isn't it better to give glory to God at the risk of being wrong instead of saying it's man making something up. Maybe nobody knows what I'm talking about but that's what I've really been thinking of lately. I know that there is so much more to christianity than what we are living in. We have accepted mediocrity too often and not lived at the standard that God has set.

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15
I believe that we have changed Jesus's word in our understanding to "Stay where you want to be and tell people about Jesus if they bring it up in conversation" Like 30 times weaker then the command of Jesus. or even read the next two verses and how many people don't follow God's calling because they are afraid to get hurt. I learned in bible college that the number one reason that people don't follow the missionary call is because of their family pressuring%2