From the Heart by B.Demaere

  My wife and I went to church last Sunday to a wonderful service.  The worship was great! The preaching was on Hebrews 11 one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  On the exploits of men and women of Faith. After the service I talked with someone and became increasingly depressed.  I could not understand why. I had compared my life to those heroes and felt lousy.  What was wrong with me?  Why did I not measure up to them? 1)     The whole picture: I should have known better.  There was a blind spot and I felt like prey in the enemy's hands.  I had not gone into the details of these heroes' lives.  Some look very humans and like Elijah I was depressed when I did not get God’s perspective on the subject. I had looked at their victories, but I missed the part where it said that some did not receive what was promised   In fact, I remember when the pastor expressed jokingly his displeasure at the word “But” in verse 35 when it says “But others were tortured, refusing to turn

  Have you felt weary in your faith lately?   Not wanting to pray much?   Having a hard time going strong? I have and I was wondering if others felt the same.   We are certainly in the last days, and it would make perfect sense if Satan, the enemy of our soul would work weariness in the believer’s spirit.   Judging by the following scriptures it would seem accurate. In the Parable of the judge and the widow intended as a lesson of perseverance in prayer by Jesus we see that the unjust judge rendered a just decision in the end.   So, don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night?   Will he keep putting them off?   I tell you; he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith? (Luke 18:7-8) We must persevere in our faith by removing the distraction and weights that make us weary of well-doing.   The things that may make us weary are the constant attacks of th

                                                  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 Lord; Your lovingkindness and your truth will continually preserve me. (Psalm 40:11) (Amplified)   But again, in the French (courant) if I transla

  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 born-again Christian you h

  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. Faith is the reality of what you

  Times might be a bit tougher in our world, but I want to encourage you with this verse in 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Here Paul is giving us a message, a teaching.  He is giving us a vision, a goal. What if I put that verse in a goal mode starting with: My life-goal is to fight the good fight It is to finish the race, and to keep the faith. The good fight is fought by faith The race is being run by faith and through it all we keep the faith. Well, how do we keep our eyes on the goal.  We just keep our eyes on Jesus!(Hebrews 12:2) who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Note to you all: I will take a bit of rest from this blog for the month of October and hopefully blog again in early November for you all. I appreciate you all and hope you will all be back in November. God bless you all and he loves you. Your friend Bernard

  Are you Going to Heaven? (Romans 10:3-4) Once again, I will give you the reading of the French version of Romans 10:3-4 and then the English literal text of what it says: V3. En effet, ils n’ont pas compris comment Dieu rend les etres humains justes devant lui et ils ont cherche a etablir leur propre justice.   Ainsi ils ne se sont pas soumis a la facon dont Dieu rend les hommes justes. V4. Car le Christ a amene la loi a sa fin, pour que tous ceux qui croient soient rendu justes devant Dieu. In English now: V3. In fact, they have not understood how God make human beings just before him and they have sought to establish their own justice (or righteousness). And so they have not submitted to the way God make humans just (or righteous). V4. Because the Christ has put an end to the Law, so that all who believe are made just (righteous or born-again Christian) before God.   Many say they are going to Heaven, but will they?   Do they have what it takes?   No, no one needs speci

  Embrace Yourself Embracing yourself, we hear a lot about it these days.  What does it mean? Well, personally, I think relating to my mental illness it means that I had to pass from hating it to welcoming it as part of my life.   Make the most of every opportunity.   Use this weakness as a strength to push myself and motivate myself to be better in my life.   My mental illness is no longer a motivation to do wrong but to do right.   My mental illness is not a sin but a weakness that I can use as a stepping stool instead of a crutch.   This is my success story.   What is yours? Please leave a comment below. Embracing yourself is like giving yourself a big bear hug.   Not for what you have accomplished but for who you are.   You are a special person. I was watching a descriptive educational video at my church of the birth process inside the womb.   It was so interesting!   The conclusion I came up with is that anyone who makes it through the birth canal is in my eyes, A WINNER!

  Rich and Foolish (Luke 12:16-21) If you are at all responsive to the teaching of the Bible and Jesus, you will notice that the Bible often  teaches about finances. Well, why is that? It is because like bread we use it every day. Prior to this parable (a parable is a story to teach a biblical truth), a man wanted Jesus to interfere with his family’s affairs of inheritance. So, Jesus responded by telling him he was not the one to judge. He freed this man with the truth  by giving him this story (John 8:32). The Parable The story goes like that, a rich man has a large field with barns where he can gather his crops and one productive year, he decides to build new barns and accumulate his wealth all to himself. God intervenes and put an end  to his life and tell him that his wealth will go to someone else. God decide his fate, not money. The moral of the story is: Do not accumulate riches for yourself only but learn to share it with the poor and use it wisely for God’s glory and kingdom

    Law vs. Faith   Many in the world are motivated by the Law.  Continually pushed and shoved around by what they should and should not do.  The voice of legalism ruling in their churches and religions.  There are a lot of false religions in this world.  We must be aware that there is only one possible path to God.  It is narrowed not by rules and obligations but by the commandments of Jesus.  To love others as we make this path the narrowest there is.  Living by faith fulfills the command of love and faith is the only way you are going to please God (Hebrews 11:6).  Without faith it is impossible to please God.  The obedience to the Law does not fulfill.  It is belief in him that cause one to live by faith.    The Beauty of Faith   The beauty of faith is the freedom you will find in God after you start loving him and obeying his voice. Jesus should be the Only One to be worshipped by you.  It is no longer God or Jesus and something else to be worshipped.  Jesus Christ

  These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure.  It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold---and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold.  So if your faith remains strong after  being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.    You love him even though you have never seen him.  Though you do not see him, you trust him; now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy.  Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of you souls. Trials Ahead : Now this sign comes up on the road, what do you do? Panic? Lose control of the vehicle? No, you look at it and decide who should be driving! Well Jesus, your turn to take the wheels.  You look at it with the right perspective.  He is bigger than any of those trials coming up.  You can no longer view trials through the eyes of fear, but the eyes of faith since it is your faith that is being tri

  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

  And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—-the kind he will accept.  When you think of what he has done for you, is that too much to ask?  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a person by changing the way you think. Then you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. The Apostle Paul here puts the emphasis on self before speaking about the gifting given to each one to minister. He says, first of all, I plead with you, that means that what he is asking is not supposed to be overlooked.  It's important! It is not obviously the giving of 'living' bodies.  Of course, God wants 'living' bodies and not dead ones.  We know two things from scripture,  1) God is pleased by our faith: "God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith." (Hebrews 11:2)                              Verse 6: "So you s

  1. When the Israelites escaped from Egypt---when the family of Jacob left the foreign land--- 2. the land of Judah became God's sanctuary, and Israel became his kingdom, 3.The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way!  The water of the Jordan River turned away.   4. The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs!   5. What's wrong, Red Sea, that made you hurry out of their way?  What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away?   6. Why, mountains did you skip like rams?  Why, little hills, like lambs? 7. Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Israel.   8. He turned the rock into pools of water; yes, springs of water came from solid rock. Picture this with your imagination! You are walking and all of the sudden the sea at the front of you parts, the river stops running to let you through, the mountains leap out of the way and the hills skip like lambs. This is not you overdosing on something. You actually see it

I love the Lord because he hears and answers my prayers.  Because he bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I have breath!  Death had its hands around my throat; the terrors of the grave overtook me.  I saw only trouble and sorrow.  Then I called on the name of the Lord: "Please, Lord save me!"  How kind the Lord is!  How good he is!  So merciful, this God of ours!  The Lord protects those of childlike faith;   I was facing death, and then he saved me.  Now I can rest again , for the Lord has been good to me.  He has saved me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.  And so I walk in the Lord's presence as I live here on earth.... This first part of Psalm 116 has a theme and the central focus is not 'death' but a childlike faith.  A childlike faith that is strong and unmovable when facing death.  God is stronger than death and so the person with childlike faith look in the face of the Father and trust him through anything.  It's hard no

I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other friends who have never known me personally.  My goal is that  they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love.  I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself.  In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am telling you this so that no one will be able to deceive you with persuasive arguments.  For though I am away from you, my heart is with you. And I am very happy because you are living as you should and because of your strong faith in Christ. The historic background of Paul's life is that he was probably born in 5 AD and became a believer at the age of about  28-30 years.  Here in 60 AD when he writes this letter he is around 60 years old and agonizing in prayer for people he had known only while living in Ephesus. My question is then, how much more stronger must

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Well, I hope you had a great day yesterday and today. The foundation of the Word is faith.  Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2 NLT) "We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish" (the KJV says the Author).  Faith can be translated or interpreted to be Hope which in the Epistle to the Hebrews is described as an anchor.  An anchor is what keeps a boat in the place you want it to be, steady even in the storm.(Hebrews 6:19) On that foundation of faith we built. There is a thread running through the Bible, it is red and it represent, blood.  The blood of Jesus that was shed for us.  That thread appears in the book of Joshua as Rahab puts it by her window (Joshua 2:17-21).  It's there as a sign of salvation to her family.  The family of a prostitute, a Gentile and a descendant of Jesus.  The way to

Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.  So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments.  And because the king in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in.  So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames. But suddenly, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, "Didn't we tie three men and throw them into the furnace?" "Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did," they replied. "Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god* (Aramaic 'like a son of gods', who is thought to be Jesus, the Son of God which this appearance in the Old Testament of Christ is called a 'Chri