From the Heart by B.Demaere

 Hello everyone It appears that my laptop is not connected to the internet and I have not figured out what is wrong yet. So I am writing this blog via my phone. The main challenge I have for myself and for those of you who want to participate is this: 1) Consistency in abiding in Christ . It’s so easy to miss this. We can abide but maybe not as long as we want to. We abide maybe 5 minutes and then slip in the flesh. Consistency every hour of every day takes practice. Let’s get better at it 2) Consistency in giving : I was raised in home where giving to the church was discouraged and made fun of. Yet from the time I became born again I have opened up and practiced consistency  with my giving. The Lord has blessed me over the years  3) Consistency in Life : another challenge is that of being consistent in loving others and having a plan in doing it.  We like to be creative at times…Why not be creative in the art of loving others. We look to google for many things but we can also look for

Almost 2000 years ago, the True (Born again) Church of Jesus was born in Jerusalem through the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.   Ever since its start the Church has been debated upon, divided, mocked and even persecuted much like what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ at the crucifixion.   Even though many forces have tried to rid the world of the Church.   The Church has survived centuries of hardship both physical and mental. Just as Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, the Church likewise is a living organism that will live on. Look at what happened to the apostle Paul also Saul who was going to destroy the Church at the very start.   In Acts 8:3 “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison”. In chapter 9:3 The same Saul is blinded by a vision of Christ: “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, And falling to the ground, he heard

As I picked this passage from my French Bible, I had to find an English translation that would be close to what it said in French.   Thus, I chose the New Living Translation for this purpose. So, we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness , along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ- which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan : At the right time he will bring together under the authority of Christ-everything in heaven and on earth.   Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.

I have read twice through the letter to the Galatian church, I realized that the whole book is linked to the fruit of the Spirit.   The ‘should’ and the ‘should not’ of the Law are erased by the belief we have in Jesus Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is produced by the faith we live by and have in Christ.   The evidence of the fruit of the Spirit is the fact we don’t do the works of the Law, but we obey by faith Jesus who lives in us. Consequently, life is simplest, and we no longer boast in our own works but in the works of Christ who died on the Cross for us.   We are only free if we believe the finished work of Christ. We have no obligation to the Law and are free to believe in the God of Love who dared to serve us and wash our feet. Our inheritance is guaranteed because of the promise made to Abraham.   We end up with the same blessings given to Abraham.   Certainly, we are not deserving of any of it, but we have them because of the promise that cannot be broken.   We serve

  Meditation A lot of books are sold on meditation of all kinds these days.  People in general are interested in the deeper meaning of life.  I, for one want to grow closer to God, meaning I know he is always with me and in me, but I just want to know him more.  I must focus more on him and all the other things like time spend on social media will fall by the wayside. The Lord seemed to be leading me to read and meditate on Him through the 23 rd Psalm that speaks about the Great Shepherd.   The Lord is my Shepherd, it starts…What a great focus point for us.   This psalm has been a great inspiration to me in the past and still is.   It is full of pictures.   A shepherd with the sheep throughout.   He is always with them in their lowest time and their best time.   In time of hunger and time of thirst.   To start with proper meditation is to focus on Christ or the Bible other than self oriented.   Teaching on m editation, I agree has been feared among people because maybe of perplexi

  Relationships As iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17) Over the years in my relationships with people and more specifically in my marriage, I have learned that God’s design for relationships was to make us better people.  This does not have to be interpreted in a certain way or another.  It means simply means that at the start of any good relationship, individuals start as being dull in the matter of life and as time goes by, each are matured and sharpened in qualities that were weak to start with. The constant friction that should always encourage communication with time is enough to make us better tools for God’s service. Daily communication is meaningful. Sharpening of tools is necessary for growth.   Creativity is constantly needed in communication, and it takes two to grow from strength to strength. In the matter of marriage for example there should be a constant molecular movement of communication of feelings and words and especially w

  What is Most Important Thing? Here, is the Apostle Paul who did not consider anything about himself as important.  According to Philippians 3:5-11, he does not even consider his past accomplishments or religion as important.  All his moral qualities and advantages, even past failures as he had persecuted the Church.  Everything about him he considers lost for the cause of knowing Christ. “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (v.8) If you read about him in the Book of Acts 9 and through his letters, he will tell you that he was a know-it-all kind of person.   Very proud of who he was and what he did.   It took a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus to convert him to Christ.   He had previously been a Pharisee of Pharisees and knew the Law of Moses inside and out.   What could have changed him so drastically, but Christ.   For delivering him from that bondage to the Law and all its religious regulations like there a

  We are born expecting We live for short term hope for the next best thing that we hope will soothe us like a pacifier. Throughout life, we are given false hope over and over like in our next paycheque. Then the proverbial carrot is moved every inch further and we hope some more. It would be so much nicer if we could be richer and we buy a lottery ticket for luck as if luck was on our side. We find ourselves in a long tunnel that is life always told by too many people how our lives should be. We end up expecting less and less toward the end when we retire in a space that is getting smaller and smaller waiting for that something to happen when we will be maybe richer. Thinking that maybe we will experience some happy moments with people. All that we have left now is people to love until the end when the space becomes a box and to dust we return as a promise given to us long time ago. To dust we have returned no longer after anything or anyone. Except yes, for the one we h

  ...He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word.  He did this to present her to himself without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish.  Instead she will be holy and without fault. (Ephesians 5:25-27) She is not a woman clothed with disheveled and burned attire who is weak and frail.  The Church is the Bride of Christ, glorious and white without blemish that Christ shall be welcoming back into heaven. She is not your ever decreasing nominal congregation, but she is the multitudes of saints from the nations represented before the Throne of the Glorious One worshipping in unison of ground-breaking chorus. She is as glorious as a bride at a kingly wedding ready to meet her royal groom. Do you see yourself as such in the face of what the world is throwing at you right now with the rise of Covid-19?  You must arise from this defeated state and grab as it were, the bull by the horn and chase the hope that is before you.  It won't come eas

 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too, for if you are willing to suffer for Christ, you have decided to stop sinning.   (1 Peter 4:1) As  a pastor was preaching about loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as well.  My mind wondered again to that verse in 1Peter 4:1 saying that I must be ready and willing to suffer like Christ did.  The puzzle was now complete in its entirety as loving God with all of my heart is equal to loving my neighbor as myself.  It is all connected to that willingness to suffer and give it all you have got.  It is first of all, a willingness to suffer rather than, suffering itself, and it's  a willingness to suffer for a holy result and boldness in my own life.  It is a willingness to suffer in exchange for some fruit of holy favor and flavor. It is not even if you would ever suffer, a suffering that disappoint you, but gives you hope in greater propo

  God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you.  Are you called to be a speaker?  Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.  Are you called to help others?  Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.  Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ.  All glory and power belong to him forever and ever.  Amen. All of us and each of us have at least one gift, but I think most of us have more than one gift because God is very generous.  Using those gifts is good for our well-being as well as each other and for his glory.  Shouldn't we as well be generous in using the gifts God has given us?  I think so! Our gifts are being used all the time, whether we are in the local church or not.  The Church is no longer limited to four walls.  Now the Church is truly global.  We operate differently over the borders and online.  We live in a totally d

  Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time.  He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God.  He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.  So he went and preached to the spirits in prison---those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat.  Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.  And this is a picture of baptism which now saves you by the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection.  Baptism is not the removal of dirt from your body; it is an appeal to God from a clean conscience. Now Christ has gone to heaven.  He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers are bowing before him. If you guessed that the solution to the quiz was Psalm 112, you are absolutely right.  I made it more difficult by not including the 3 first words: "Praise the Lord" which would have give it away as a p

  So think clearly and exercise self-control.  Look forward to the   special blessings that will come to you at the return of Jesus Christ.    Obey God because you are his children.  Don't slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then.  But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God---who chose you to be his children---is holy.  For he himself has said, You must be holy because I am holy." Simple as that, obey God! Why? Because you are his children.  What will give you the tenacity to never give up?  You are his son, you are his daughter.  You have a good example to follow.  Our Father!  He is holy. We are associated to that example in our daily lives.  People we meet hopefully see that example reflected in us.  It is in everything we do. Now, what keeps us motivated to do all that is the looking forward of what is coming ahead.  The return of our Lord Jesus Christ and all the blessings that come with this.  Just to see him will be

This salvation was something the prophets wanted to know more about.  They prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you, even though they had many questions as to what it all could mean.  They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ's suffering and his great glory afterward.  They wondered when and to whom all this would happen.  They were told that these things would not happen during their lifetime, but many years later, during yours.  And now this Good News has been announced by those who preached to you in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.  It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.   How exciting it is to see that this Apostle of Hope, Peter is the one who was used to launch the Church into Pentecost and now through his writings is the one to usher us into this salvation that is still to come.  The salvation of our souls. Evidently, in his wor

  Very early the next morning, the king hurried out to the lions’ den. When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you worship continually, able to rescue you from the lions?”  Daniel answered, “Long live the king!  My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted out from the den. Not a scratch was found on him because he had trusted in his God. Daniel thrown to the lions, his friends had been thrown in the furnace earlier but he missed that opportunity. Now he was thrown to the hungry lions and clearly God spared him just as much as he had saved his  friends from the fire. Just like that and almost overnight everything changed in that country. A change of leadership and a few jealous administrators and that was all that it took. Daniel was thrown to the li

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." "But we are descendants of Abraham," they said. "We have never been slaves to anyone on earth.  What do you mean,  'set free'?" Jesus replied, "I assure  you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin.  A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.  Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham.  And yet some of you are trying to kill me because my message does not find a place in your hearts.  I am telling you what I saw when I was when I was with my Father.  But you are following the advice of your father." "Our father is Abraham," they declared. "No," Jesus replied,  "for if you were children of Abraham, you would follow his good example.&quo

A song from the ascent to Jerusalem I look up to the mountain---does my help comes from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth! He will not let you stumble and fall; the one who watches over you will not sleep. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps. The Lord himself watches over you!  The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not hut you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. Looking up is safer whether or not the world says that looking here is the thing to do.  Our ultimate safety is up in the direction of the mountain.  Actually the Lord is the one who made the earth and the mountains and the heavens.  That is where my help comes from and not some material found in the mountains like diamonds and precious stones. If you want real help it's to the Lord that you should go because