Joy and Satisfaction

Merry Christmas!

In my last blog post I shared about the needs for more loving people in Inner-city Winnipeg. Right now I want to testify to the joy and satisfaction that comes from doing the will of God. When I go outside intentionally, with the purpose of being available to people God leads me to, I often have thoughts of fear and timidity. I don't want to go outside. It is a clear step of obedience most of the time because if I had my way I would stay inside where I am warm and comfortable.

However, when I come home from having been available to people who need help. I come home with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. I am filled with joy and satisfaction. I feel that I have meaning and significance. There is much work to do, and I am doing my part. It is a wonderful feeling, it helps me to sleep better at night and to feel better when I am in a discouraging situation. I know that I am in the will of God and it is a wonderful place to be.

I don't want to serve and love my neighbours because I have to. I want to do it because I get to. What is better than that? God's love is so precious, his presence so wonderful. I don't want to be anywhere else... Until the next time I am about to go out for the purpose of being available, and then I don't want to anymore! Thanks be to God for his steadfast love and mercy, he is so patient, so understanding. Hallelujah.

Have a Merry Christmas, enjoy the love of God, extend the love of God to those around you. Amen.

This Little Light of Mine

I broke up a robbery in progress last night. I was disturbed with how low key it was to all of them, both the guy getting robbed and the two who were robbing him. It was right in plain sight on the sidewalk on Main St.  After running over and shouting 'what's going on here?' I was ignored by the guy who was searching the victim's socks and the lady helping hold the guy down told me to mind my own business. The poor guy, with his nose bleeding, says to me, "They're robbing me!"

I have occasionally heard of Inner-City Winnipeg being referenced as some hideous, abominable place to be avoided at all costs. And what is so very sad is that I have usually heard this idea from Christians. On the other hand, John wrote, "But if anyone has the worlds goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 John 3:17). James also wrote, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?" "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9).

Can you imagine the transformation that would occur if God provided 1000 people, full of the Spirit and practicing love, and dropped them into Inner-City Winnipeg? People who would live in community and work at bringing the kingdom of God to their neighbours? People who would come not because they are in love with concrete and noise but because that's where God is, and where God has called them! (Check out Matthew 4:12-17). Let your light SHINE!

I would encourage you to get excited about what God is doing and seek his will for how you can be involved, for how you can be available. Whether that means volunteering somewhere, moving into the core area of Winnipeg, or inviting your neighbour over for supper. Whatever God has laid on your heart, go and do it.

Here is a simple explanation to discern the source of some voices you may here: Conviction is when God tells you to do something, and once you do it the conviction lifts and you are given peace and comfort and joy. Condemnation is when you feel bad for something and there is nothing to be done about it but mope around and feel bad. The Spirit of God convicts us, the devil condemns us. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Rom 8:1)

The Source of our Longings

Have you ever wondered where your longings come from? I mean the ones beyond simply hunger and thirst, the desire to go to the bathroom urgently or for a McDonalds Milkshake. I mean longings like the you feel when listening to Jazz music, or how you feel after certain movies. Those desires can be strong in the moment but they quickly fade. Yet they seem to whisper of something deeper. 

I believe that our deepest longings betray our desperate need for God, that we are broken. But they also reveal that our God is the ultimate source and fulfillment of our longings. One longing in my heart that I notice now and then is for the final restoration of all things. I believe my longing for such a thing is evidence that one day all things will be made new. I really believe that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. I believe that God will sit on His throne with all of humanity before Him and He will satisfy justice. And everything will be good and right once more. I believe this because it has been recorded but I also believe this because it is the desire of my heart. I believe God put that desire in each of our hearts. Just as hunger leads to eating, and thirst leads to drinking, hope too must be satisfied. Or else we die.

When I lived in Steinbach I did not have lots of hope. Everything seemed well in my circles. Now that I live in Winnipeg I have lots of hope, because there is so much for which to hope! When I pray for healing of my neighbourhood, or for a restoration of virtue, or for the light of the glory of the knowledge of God to invade all of our hearts, I am basically asking Jesus to come back and make all things new. I long for the Kingdom of God to come to my neighbourhood in such a way that nobody could argue about it. And when I meet people face to face, talk with them, and hear tiny snippets of their stories that longing for the Kingdom of God to come is magnified. And so my longing for Jesus to come back is also magnified. I am confident that our God who gives us longings, yearns to satisfy our longings. And so I am also confident that the greater our longings the greater will be our satisfaction once our longings are satisfied.

God, increase our hunger, increase our desperation. Come LORD Jesus.

Back in the North End

Hey there,  I live in the North End again. I moved into a house on Redwood Ave near the end of October. It was 2 years earlier (minus a week) that I moved out of the North End and in with my good friend Tim. At the time God had been helping me to understand that I needed to live with others, I was getting lonely and it wasn't healthy for me. I really wrestled with it because I knew God had led me to move into the North End. I knew I needed room mates and the the doors that opened up involved leaving the North End. I got some wise advice from 2 people I really respect. One of them told me that just because I was leaving the North End it didn't mean that I would never move back. So I left with peace and also with hope that I would come back some day. And now 2 years later that same wise counsellor is my landlord! It's come around full circle. Pretty cool how God works, eh?

I watched an online sermon a few months back about Nehemiah 3. Nehemiah 3:14 reads, "Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars." The entire Chapter is a list of different people and how they contributed to rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. The point is that not all of us are going to be history makers. Some of us may simply rebuild a 'dung gate'. But by doing our part, we are being faithful. I do not know exactly what my part is in Winnipeg's North End. But I want to be faithful. I also don't want to try and accomplish great things, or even small things, alone. I want to be one among many, serving one another and living out the kingdom of God in community.

Love Lives Here

Greetings,

A number of weeks ago I started volunteering at an inner city ministry called Love Lives Here. They have a church service on Thursday evenings for the homeless. They serve food and have musicians playing praise and worship music. The volunteers visit with people and pray with people. Someone will shared from the Word of God. It is located near the Salvation Army, close to Higgins and Main, down-town Winnipeg. On Friday evenings they drive a mini-bus through the North End and the West End and visit and pray with the women working on the streets. They give food and water or even Bible tracts to those who want. Some times the women don't want to talk but other times they do. Someone had put a bug in my ear a year earlier and I had made connections with one person at LLH but hadn't ever followed up on it because it didn't work with my schedule. Now I have finally started volunteering and I am very thankful for it. I have found that it is a safe place for me to grow in learning how to love my neighbours. The other volunteers are very wonderful and encouraging people. To me LLH is a community and I am glad for the fellowship I have when I am there.

It is my hope and prayer, for myself and for the church, that we would all learn to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. Jesus said, 'Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me'. LORD, teach us how to love our neighbours, amen.

Who is my Brother, Lord?

Asleep in a dumpster,

'Neath the bridge in a box,

Alone in a doorway,

Stooped as he walks.

Frost-bitten fingers,

Infected feet;

Flea-bitten, smelly,

They live on the street.

Cars whiz on by them,

The Elite look away.

Not "beautiful" people,

Those forgotten each day. 

So few to love them,

So few to care

To help mend their broken hearts

Love's warm hugs to share.

The work is so endless, 

Overloaded with stress.

The problems are complex,

For those lives are a mess.

Some jeer at the prospect, 

To work in this hell,

They just might get dirty,

They can't stand the smell.

"These men made their own bed,

Now in it they'll rot.

They've all had their chances."

What a self-righteous thought.

For but the kind grace

Of God up above,

You could be that man

On the street with no love.

"A cup of cold water,

You'll give in My Name.

To the least of my brother's

You go do the same."

"Give food for their hunger,

A coat for their back,

Give hope to their souls."

You cannot be slack.

The clocks keep on ticking,

Wounded soldiers lay down.

As people walk by them,

They bleed on the ground.

Take heed of your attitude

Lofty ideals;

Don't deafen your ears

To their silent appeals.

'Cause the ones that you sneer at

And look down your nose

The LORD Jesus died for

And for them arose.

Poem from See What God Has Done. E.D. Hughes. 1990. Union Gospel Mission. Winnipeg, MB.

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Jesus

"Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'" - Luke 14:21. Recently this verse has been a great comfort to me, for I realize that I am poor, crippled, blind and lame.

I have also been spending lots of time in Isaiah 61. "The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favour, the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn."

I used to read these verses and pray, 'Yes LORD, use me to bring good news to the poor here in Winnipeg, use me to bind up the broken hearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives, use me to comfort those who mourn.' Lately, however, I have realized that I am poor in spirit, and I am broken hearted. Many things hold me captive, and I am often in considerable need of comfort.

In Luke 4 Jesus visits his home town of Nazareth and preaches Isaiah 61, proclaiming that it is fulfilled in him. Jesus came to set people like me free! Hallelujah! The Spirit of the LORD God is upon him to do the work of rescuing people like me. That is wonderfully good news.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:3
Thank-you LORD Jesus.

Blessed are the hopeful

Greetings, 

Recently I have been learning how great is my need for God. He has been gently leading me down a path where I am forced to recognize that I am weak, poor, lame and blind. I need God's loving touch deep in my heart to bring healing and restoration to all kinds of wounds and insecurities. Yet through it all, I know that God loves me, He is good, His love endures forever. I can trust him. There is a saying that says, 'don't put all your eggs in one basket.' It means that if you're going to gamble don't gamble everything at once cause if you lose you lose it all. However, when it comes to trusting in the LORD, it is no gamble. His promises are as sure as the dawn.

When God shows me that I am weak. It is not cruel. There is a solution, the God-man Jesus Christ, who has washed me in His blood. And there is hope. The Holy Spirit, who has been given to me, is a seal upon my heart. He is a guarantee that the work God has begun in my heart will one day be completed. There is also hope in the return of Christ. When we witness crisis or experience trauma we do not despair because we have hope that one day all things will be made new. Come Lord Jesus.

"O LORD of Hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!" - Psalm 84:12

But Understand This...

Greetings,

For a long time Christians in Canada have been living in relative comfort and ease. How much longer will this last? The Bible promises that those who follow Jesus will face adversity and trials. We should not fear or dread this, but we should prepare our hearts to suffer for the name of Jesus. I can imagine a time coming for Canada where religious freedoms will be a memory, where the Bible is censored and where Pastors will be imprisoned for refusing to agree with or participate in sinful practices. Blessed are the persecuted, for they share in Christ's sufferings.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. - Matthew 5:11-12

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is within you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame. - 1 Peter 3:14-16

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. - 2 Timothy 3:1-9

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. - Matthew 24:9-13

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. - Hebrews 10:39