From the Heart by B.Demaere

  Well, the baby, we were waiting for has arrived.   We are proud Grandparents now and we are looking forward to the growing years of this new child.   This was pretty well the highlight of this Christmas season.   We have of course enjoyed the deeper meaning of this time. I have kept reading my French Bible, In Isaiah 59:9 I read in French about the reason God does not give us always what he has promised to us right away.   We seek for one thing, and he gives the opposite. Voila pourquoi Dieu met du temps a intervenir pour nous et repousse a plus tard ce qu’il a promis Nous esperons voir la Lumiere, Mais c’est partout l’obscurite. Nous attendions que le jour se leve, Mais nous marchons dans la nuit noire.   The same verse in the Common English Bible is:   Because of all this, justice is far from us, And righteousness beyond our reach. We expect light, and there is darkness; We await a gleam of light, but walk about in gloom. ...

When I struggle, there is a scripture that I go back regularly and read.   It is Psalm 37:1-4 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass And wither like the green herb.   Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, And he will give you the desires Of your heart.   No matter in what kind of situation we might find ourselves in among people, our vertical relationship with God should take the precedent over our horizontal relationships.   We cannot change people anyway and we must trust God for them and with them.   We cannot be jealous of them because they are getting away with so many things.   We must find our comfort in the fact that we in the end have the better end of the stick.   The end with the honey.   Our hope is that sweet compared to the pleasures of sin.   Even people aro...

We have some exciting news coming in our family.   My wife and I will have a new grandchild who will be born either at or after Christmas day. The date is December 27 or earlier. I cannot imagine what the atmosphere would have felt like in Mary and Joseph’s family when baby Jesus was about to be born.   We have a glimpse in the Gospel according to Luke after his birth. Life must have been very different after his birth as it will be for our daughter and my son-in-law.   A baby has somehow a way to bring newness of life into the home. It got the Magi on the move.   It got Herod worried about his kingdom and he wanted to kill him along hundreds of other children 2 years old and under.   Just think, that every time a baby is born a whole household change.   Each one of us carry around an ‘influence’ ready to potentially turn the world upside down.   But why does it not always happen this way> When even one of us make a change in our life, our e...

  And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him as did John, and said, “Look at us.”  And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold , but what I do have I give to you.   In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God…. (Acts 3:2-8) Obviously, the lame man was happy to see the apostles coming at him because he saw them as humans able to give him money.   But God had other plans for that man, and he made sure to let his servants k...

  Many in this world claim that Jesus was only human, but like in the following passage,   He is not just a carpenter.   He looks like one but maybe looks are not everything and again faith does not walk by sight.   It walks by believe. Mark 6:1-6 v.3-6 Then they scoffed. “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon.   And his sisters live right here among us.”   They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.   Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” And because of their unbelief, he could not do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them.   And he was amazed at their unbelief. I often wonder about the state of the world at present time.   For us to have any faith we must have a balanced view of who Jesus Christ is.   Is he just human or just fully s...

  Immanuel There you have it, the simple message of the Gospel in the baby Jesus.  The promised Messiah, the Son of God.  The prophets foretold his birth some 600 years prior it happened. “Behold the virgin shall be with child and give birth to a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”--- which, when translated, means, “God with us"   (Matthew 1:23) Now this might seem obvious that any god could be with us.   But this Almighty God is living and almighty. Have you heard the story in the Bible in 1 King 18:26-29 where the prophet Elijah along with the prophets of Baal called on their false gods to get some attention from them but obviously since they were not real, they never responded. (verse 27)   At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry out with a loud voice, for he is a god, either he is occupied, or he is out or he is on a journey.   Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened….   In the end, the living God is the only One who r...

                                                  Creating a Need in You God is Spirit and he is also the God of the Impossible.  Whatever is impossible to mankind is possible to God.  We, therefore, need something extra to be able to understand him.  So, he gave us faith, which is the ability to walk without seeing, just believing.  Each being has that ability. From this, we must approach God with this perspective, the perspective of faith.   It is impossible to understand this with our mind. The life we have is a gift from him and every situation and trouble we face is a call from him to come a little closer to him or to draw our attention away from ourselves unto him.   At the same time since he is so imposing, he is very approachable and does accept us as we are. Do not withhold your compassion and tender mercy from me, O ...

  What’s your Silver?   Is it of a good quality?   If you were the silver would God want you? “They are the worst kind of rebel, Full of slander. They are as hard as bronze and iron, And they lead others into corruption. The bellows fiercely fan the flames to burn out the corruption. But it does not purify them, For the wickedness remains. I will label them ‘Rejected Silver,’ For I, the Lord, am discarding them.”(Jeremiah 6:28-30)   Let us be honest with God.   Are we as good as we claim to be, or do we put lots of makeup on our brokenness? God looks at us like an appraiser of metals.   He wants quality in his silver.   He wants to see his reflection. He wants to see Jesus in us.   We are his showpiece to the world, let’s not have too high an opinion of ourselves. What’s your silver? Too many impurities?   Too many foreign metals in it?   No, not good enough!   God wants the purest kind of silver, nice an...

  The Beauty of Community (Acts 2:42-46) “The believers devoted themselves to the apostles ‘teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone.   God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything. They would sell pieces of properties and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. Every day, the met together in the temple and ate in their homes.   They share food with gladness and simplicity. Before anything in life, you have to appreciate the beauty of it.   With community, you must dig a little deeper in details.   Close your eyes and see a family or community getting along with each other and sharing everything in common.   That would be quite an accomplishment!   Then seeing this, people come for a visit into your house and rejoice at what they see.   It would be a dream come true in any homes, but what abou...

                   “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, Before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’   You must go to everyone I send you and say whatever I command you.   Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.” declares the Lord . (Please read the rest of the commission in your Bible)   When the prophet Jeremiah was called by God for his life’s mission, it was serious business.   God made sure that he would listen only to Him.   People could have given him an opinion of what they thought of him but the message that Jeremiah was to give stood out. When Jeremiah was led by God.   He used the excuse of being too young but that did not impress God ...

  Just to Let everyone know that I usually post on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays .  I will try to keep posting during Christmas as well on those days.   Is It a Blue Christmas? For those people who are fortunate to not grieve right now please bear with us.  My mother passed away last May.  I am living now in her house with my wife.  If my wife was not with me, I would find this very difficult.  Being in this house is so emotional and everything reminds me of what it used to be when I was with my parents.  Sunday morning the pastor preached on one of the attributes of the son that was to be born to Mary and Joseph about 700 years after the prophecy in the book of Isaiah 9:6. This one name that Jesus bears is “Wonderful Counsellor” which means that he is too wonderful for words. It was explained that a counsellor is only effective when people come to him for counselling.   Have you gone to a counsellor?   Has it helped you? ...

  Focus on One I was prompted to look at something shiny and precious and low and behold, the word “Focus” came to mind. We all need to focus, not on our wealth but on the One who made it.   Shiny things and wealth and wealthy people will all disappear into eternity and be gone like grass in the wind. I was watching a short video about someone wealthy retaliating against what people were doing to him.   He was speaking to his audience with a few chosen words I would not want to repeat here.   Because of his foul language, I valued him less than I did before.   The language a person chooses de-values someone’s character very fast.   I am not saying that everyone should change their language to be a good person.   It must be a matter of heart about who you focus on while you speak. I am certainly not saying that you must focus on pleasing everyone around you.   No, you must focus on pleasing only One and that is God through Jesus Christ. ...

  Our Heart’s Cry (Isaiah 63:7 to 64:12) First, let’s start at the end of this long text.   We will understand better the heart of God toward his people.   In this case, it is Israel.   But for New Testament people, it is the born-again Christians who are God’s chosen people.   God’s people have throughout history been known to rebel at times. Isaiah 64:11-12 “Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins. Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?   Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?” We can see clearly that the prophet Isaiah is concerned with the house of worship, in our world today it would be our church or the Church of Born-again Christians. Now at the very beginning of this passage in Isaiah 63:7, he wants to remind God’s people of the goodness of the Lord and our motivation for praising him.   Have we forgotten how good he is and...

  Rich or Poor? (James 2:1-13) Discrimination in the Church does not exist, right? Wrong! It might have to do with choosing between the rich and the poor.   There are other categories we might want to put people in like: business owners and farmers or employers and employees.   Even disabled physically or mentally vs. able people.   Just to name a few.   Whatever your conscience accuses you of.   If your conscience bothers you about anything, is it now time to repent? Life is full of small choices that bring us either closer to or further from God.   In the book of ‘Song of Solomon’ in your Bible. (Chapter 2:15) encourages us to take care of the ‘little foxes. It is more intended for a married couple, but it could apply to anyone.   “Little foxes” could be anywhere in the body of Christ (the Church).   Little foxes can be in families between a husband and a wife or between siblings. In various relationships at work of otherwise. ...

  Grace is Free… …To anyone who comes to Jesus and accepts him by faith. “For by Grace you have been saved through faith…it is a gift from God.” (Ephesians 2:8) But to live by faith will cost you everything if you walk by it.   But then, you will have joy because at last, you will have freedom. To Abraham, faith costs him his son although in Genesis 22:10-11 he got him back through the intervention of the angel. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said: “Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, “Here I am.”   Read also: (Hebrews 11:17)   It costs God his Son Jesus but through the Resurrection, his Son was made alive again. Mark 16:5 “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.   He has risen!” There is a principle here… Abraham got his son Isaac back with a new life… God got his Son back through his Resurrection… And as you become a bo...

  Simple as Faith Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality-faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experiences by the physical senses] Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified Bible) Many people wish that they had more, but God only wants us to operate first in the faith we have, then as we do it he will give us more. Hebrews 11:1 tells us what faith is.   Apparently, if you are a born-again Christian this is how you started.   Faith was already there in your heart, and you acted on it. What is faith? It is the certainty of what you hope for.   You were certain of what you hoped for and that was Jesus.   You acted as if you had always known him and went forward with it. Well, faith is that simple, so simple a child understands the concept.   With that assurance put your best foot forward and trust God.   He will carry you through. ...

  Words of Comfort As the past days have come and gone, now I receive words of comfort from the Bible of course.     “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing office, but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever . Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:22-25) These verses particularly brought comfort to me because as I was reading from the French Bible I was greatly encouraged by the word ‘Toujours’ which means ‘always’.   I underlined in the text the words in English which mean ‘always.   Aren’t you glad that Jesus’s priesthood is one that lasts forever and endures through everything?   To make it easier to understand, I not only like certain products for their brands but especially for any...

                                                      This must be a Phase. Grieving must be a succession of phases?    Going from one extreme to the other emotionally. My day today was spent seeing my dear wife go through several years worth of clothes that had belonged to my dear mother. She had not only kept every purse but every pair of pantyhose she had owned.   My mind cannot comprehend it, and I want to cry because not only had she kept it but also had moved from the old country with it to Canada.   Can I give a word of advice to parents today?   Get rid of your stuff before your children must.   I am dealing with mental health issues in my own life and that is the last thing I want to face right now. Some of the things my parents had were old expresso makers.   It shows that they liked their coffee, but...

  Back to Healing This blog has become more personal than I intended it to be but, maybe God ordered it to be that way for your sake.  I wonder how much of what we put out to people as a façade is to hide the hurt in us.  Do we sometimes use a “spiritual façade” of some sort? What about you? What is your face saying? This morning I felt depressed, deeply depressed to the point of staying in bed all day, but I didn’t.   I could never do that.   I am an 8 O’clock riser, not an 11 am riser. The day started very purposelessly which I hate.   Part of the day was spent in the basement of what used to be my parents.   My wife and I looked through it and found “old treasures” of the past.   I finally had to eat something and made it to the kitchen.   My wife came up with an old poem made into a card I had drawn as an adult for her birthday and another poem I had given her on Mother’s Day.   She had kept them.   I noticed that one writ...