REMEMBRANCE DAY

 All Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version

            Long before we celebrated Remembrance Day, the Lord instructed the children of Israel to keep a memorial. “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.” (Exodus 12:14).

          Why is the Lord telling the children of Israel to keep a memorial throughout their generations? The Lord is telling them to always remember the night He released them from Egyptian bondage. The children of Israel had been in bondage to the Egyptians for four hundred and thirty years. In Exodus 2:23, we pick up their story: “Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of their bondage.” God heard their groaning and remembered the covenant He made with their forefathers.

          The Lord found Moses tending a flock of sheep on the back side of the desert. In Exodus 3:7 and 8, the Lord said to Moses: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry . . .for I know their sorrows. So I have come to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. . .” The Lord told Moses that He has heard the cry of the children of Israel and He has seen their oppression and He is sending Moses to the Pharaoh to bring His people out of bondage.

          After telling the Lord how incompetent and unworthy Moses feels about this assignment, the Lord reminds him, “I will certainly be with you.” Moses finally submits to the Lord and goes before Pharaoh and performs the nine plagues as the Lord commands him to do. The plagues were to get Pharaoh to let Israel go from his bondage so they would be able to worship the Lord in the wilderness. Before each plague, Pharaoh promises to let the Israelites go. When the effects of the plague are over, the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not let the children of Israel go.

          The Lord is about to perform His final plague to cause Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Before the Lord performs the last plague that was to kill all the firstborn of Egypt, including man and beast, He gives instructions to all Israel through Moses and Aaron. First, the Lord tells the Israelites the month of Abib was to be the first month of their year. Then the Lord instructs the man of each household to take a lamb without blemish for his household. On the fourteenth day of the month Abib, they were to kill and roast the lamb, and eat it with bitter herbs.

          The Lord instructed the Israelites to take the blood of the lamb and put some on the doorposts and on the lintel of their houses. This was done because at midnight the Lord’s angel was to slay all the firstborn of the Egyptians. When the angel came to a house where there was blood on the doorposts and lintel, he was to pass over that house. Once the angel had slain all the firstborn of Egypt, there was a great cry throughout the land. “So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” (Exodus 12:30). After this final plague, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said.” (Exodus 12:31).

          “It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.” (Exodus 12:42). From the night the Lord delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, after four hundred and thirty years, they were to keep the Passover throughout their generations. The Passover Feast was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the month Abib.

          After the first World War, which was from July 28, 1914, until November 11, 1919, we celebrate the ending of the first World War, and all the other Wars which have occurred since then on November 11. Remembrance Day is observed on November 11 at 11 a.m. as that was the day and time when the first World War was over with the signing of the Armistice Agreement which ended the War. Remembrance Day was first observed in the Commonwealth states. At first it was called “Armistice Day” in honor of the men and women who gave their lives so we can live in peace and freedom today. The first Remembrance Day was held on November 11, 1931.

          Each year, on November 11, Canadians pause for a moment or two of silence to honor the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country in times of war and conflict, as well as in times of peace. We remember the 2,300,000 men and women who have served our country, as well as the 118,000 who have given their lives in the line of duty that we may live in peace and freedom. “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” (Romans 12:18). The men and women who have served in times of War have made it possible to live in peace. Now, it is up to us to keep that peace.

          This Remembrance Day, as we wear the Red Poppy, we are remembering and honoring all the men and women whose blood was shed so we could live with all the freedoms we enjoy today. On November 11, may we observe one or two minutes of silence to honor those who have given their lives on the battlefields of the world so we can live in freedom today. We also need to give the Lord thanks and praise for the freedom and abundance He has blessed our country with.

          There is another kind of freedom which cannot be obtained with any weapons of war. I am speaking of a spiritual freedom which Jesus Christ, God’s Son purchased for us on the Cross. If you would truly repent of your sin, and turn from sin and live 100% for Jesus, then pray this prayer, “Father, I come to You, to repent of my sin and live totally for You. Please cleanse me from my sin and give me the freedom in the areas of my life that You alone know of. I will follow You for the rest of my life.”

          If you have a Bible, or can access one online, begin reading in the Gospel of John, which is the fourth book of the New Testament. It will explain to you how much God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you.

                              

 

 

HNDERANCES TO THANKSGIVING

 

All Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version unless stated otherwise.

All through the Bible we are told to give the Lord thanks and praise for all He has done for us. “I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.” (Psalm 9:1).  “Therefore I will give thanks to You, Oh Lord, among the Gentiles, And sing praises to Your name.” (Psalm 18:49). If we are honest with ourselves, and with the Lord, we will admit that we don’t always feel as thankful as we should be. What hinders our thankfulness?

          First, I think comparing ourselves to others, to what they have or can do, hinders us from being or feeling really thankful. As soon as we start comparing ourselves with others, our minds tell us how wonderful life must be for them. Throughout my life, I have made the mistake of comparing myself with able-bodied people, which is an unfair comparison. Almost everywhere I was, my mind would go to someone who could do things faster and easier than I was able to. I struggled with this in High School, Bible College, and even while I was volunteering for a Christian Ministry, which I had always wanted to do.

Instead of being thankful to the Lord for opening this opportunity for me, I was doing the opposite and complaining, within myself, and to the Lord because I could not be as productive as the person beside me. Paul, the apostle, speaks to this issue in 2 Corinthians 10:12, “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

          We know what happens when we compare ourselves with others. We see ourselves as inferior to them. We are never “good enough.” When that is the way, we view ourselves, eventually we give up and stop even trying to do anything. This kind of attitude will be sure to hinder us from being thankful to the Lord for creating us to be the people we are.  

A second hinderance to thankfulness is discontentment. A lot of discontentment comes from comparing ourselves with others and what they have. We have heard the phase, “keeping up with the Jones.” We become discontent with what we have compared to what the next person has. Then, for some reason, our focus begins to shift from being completely on the Lord to the people and circumstances around us. We become envious of the other person in our thoughts because we think they have it better than us.

At one time, we may have been content with what we had, as well as our life circumstances, when our eyes were focused completely on the Lord and what He has blessed us with, even though it was just enough to get by on. Because we were content, we were able to be thankful to the Lord, and able to serve Him with the gifts He has given us.

Consider the parable of the Vineyard. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” (Matthew 20:1-2). The laborers were content to work for a denarius a day. The vineyard’s owner kept going to the marketplace at various times during the day – at the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour and the eleventh hour. Each time he went to the marketplace, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. So they went.” (Matthew 20:4).

When evening came, the vineyard’s owner had the steward call the laborers in to give them their wages for the day. Starting with the last laborers hired, the owner gave them each a denarius. The laborers who started first supposed that they would receive more, but they also received a denarius. They complained to the owner. “And when they had received it (a denarius), they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” (Matthew 20:12-14).

The men who were hired first were contented with their wages at first, before there was anything or anyone to compare them to. Then they did what many of us would have done and started complaining. They had suddenly become discontented with the wages they were given because someone else - who had worked less time - was receiving the same amount. This laborer thought the vineyard owner was not being fair. “But he (the vineyard owner) answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with Me for a denarius?” (Matthew 20:13).

On many occasions, we have the same attitude towards the Lord. As soon as we see others around us being treated better than us (from our perspective), we become discontented with our circumstances. Before we knew that someone else had better circumstances, we were perfectly content with our present situation.

 May I give you a personal example? I live in a Long-Term Care Home. I have always been a morning person; therefore, I like to get up as early as possible. As I am unable to get up on my own, I have to wait until a Personal Support Worker (PSW) comes and gets me ready for the day and transfers me into my wheelchair. Many times, I see residents who were gotten up before me passing by my room. Very often I have thoughts and feelings I am disappointed to have as a Christian. I am constantly asking the Lord to forgive me and let me be thankful for whatever time I get up.

A third hinderance to thanksgiving is self-pity or being self-absorbed. “Self-pity is having pity on oneself; especially a self-indulgent attitude concerning one’s own difficulties.” (Dictionary definition). There can be a number of reasons why we might feel sorry for ourselves. When we are depressed or have lost hope, we may feel sorry for ourselves. Solomon, in the book of Proverbs, says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18, King James Version). I think this is the best definition of self-pity and depression.

This was the way I felt right after I graduated from High School. I felt like my “life” was over. I did not have a goal or vision to look forward to. At that time, “life” was like staring at a blank wall. I admit that during my time of depression, which lasted three years, I remember praying one day, “Lord, if this is all there is to life after High School, then why did You let me live at birth?”

When we are in a state of self-pity or depression, it is very hard to be thankful for anything or to anyone, including the Lord. Most of the time, we blame the Lord, instead of being thankful to Him. When I look back on that time of my life, I’m ashamed of the way I talked to the Lord, and the ungrateful attitude I had towards the Lord and everyone around me. “Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15).

Over the years I have learned, and continue to learn, to be content and thankful in every situation. Paul even had to learn contentment. “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11).

   There are many other issues that may be hinderances to keep us from being as thankful as we should be to the Lord, and to those around us. May we practice thankfulness. It will help us feel more grateful for what we have, and for what we are able to do. Our thankfulness will bless those around us.

 Would you like to know Jesus as your Saviour and Lord? Are you willing to repent of your sin and turn completely from your sin to living 100% for Jesus?   If you are willing to live 100% for Jesus, pray this prayer: “Jesus, I want to invite You into my life to be my Saviour and Lord. I repent of all my sin and turn to living for You. Please cleanse me by Your precious blood. I surrender my life completely to You now. I also want to be thankful for all You have done for me.”

If you have a Bible, start reading in the Gospel of John, the fourth book of the New Testament which explains who Jesus is (the Word), how much He loves you, and what He has done for you in His life, death and resurrection.

 

                                        

            

 

  

EXPANDING YOUR TERRITORY

 

All Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version

September. It is a month of change, a month full of new beginnings, new adventures and new opportunities. We can even think of new beginnings or adventures as expanding our territory. The Lord will build on the foundation He has already laid in our lives as He shows us new opportunities where we can reach out, using our particular gifts which the Lord has given each of us. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).

As trees go through the changing of the season, so the change of one season gives way to another season or a further expansion in our lives. In order to expand our territory, the Lord often has to shake us out of our comfort zone, either in one, or many areas of our lives. If you look at a single aspect of yours or my life, that is changing, we may wonder how it blends into our lives as a whole. Yet, the Lord knows what He is doing and how all the different aspects will blend together. Sometimes we may know when the Lord is about to lead us into a new territory. Yet, sometimes we might be taken by surprize and suddenly be thrown into a whole new territory we never thought we would be in, even if others around us saw it coming.

 For some people, it may be a change they never anticipated. A change can come at any time, whether we are ready for a change in our lives or not.

I don’t think that I was ready for the change which faced me in February 2020. Before I tell you of the change, I must go back and tell you what precipitated this change in my life. In 2015, I moved to Barrie, into a building which had five accessible apartments for disabled adults. I was assured that there would be PSW staff on site 24/7. It was like this for the first two years I lived there. Then, very slowly, the Head person began to make changes to the “24/7 on site PSW staff Policy.” The staff were required to move about in the community instead of being stationary in one location. This meant that there were several hour gaps when there were no PSW staff on site. I no longer felt safe in that environment. My family and friends also did not feel that I was safe in that environment. I needed the staff more than ever, at a time when they were not always available.

After two years of constantly being in and out of the hospital, one day the Director of Care came to me and said, “The next time you are admitted, you are staying here until a Long-Term Care bed becomes available.”

The Director of Care called for a Family Meeting in which she strongly urged my family to start looking for Long-Term Care Facilities. We could choose five, in order of preference.   

In February 2020, I moved from living independently in a one-bedroom apartment (I remember my brother saying to me as we were leaving the building, “Say goodbye to your apartment.”), to a shared-room at MacKenzie Health Long-Term Care. I knew all the physical and health reasons as to why I had to be here.

What I did not know was why the Lord had me here. For months, I felt like Abram. “Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house. To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make you a blessing…So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” (Genesis 12:1-2, 4).

  Just as Abram had to leave his country and his father’s house before the Lord made any promise to him, so the Lord moved me away from family members when I moved to MacKenzie Health LTC in Richmond Hill. My brother and sister-in-law, who had been living in Richmond Hill for ten years moved to Oshawa in February 2022, exactly two years after I moved here. I believe that was the Lord moving my family members away from me. Now, I do not have any family members in close proximity to me. I feel a lot more freedom because of it.

In Genesis 13:14-15, it says, “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him; Lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.”  The Lord is saying to Abram, and I believe, to us as well, “Look from where you are—which of course means yours and mine, location. Yet, I see it meaning far more than our location. The Lord also says to us, “Look at, and for all the possibilities which are ours, which I will give you if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone.”    

It has been, since I’ve been living here in LTC, that the Lord has expanded my territory in writing. Since I have been here, I finished writing my book, “Sufficient Grace—Living Victoriously with Cerebral Palsy.” I have also written over forty devotionals here, whereas in Barrie, I only wrote twenty-five devotionals.  One year after moving in, I heard a still, small voice, one night in bed, say, “Create a Newsletter to circulate your devotionals.” I thought I had heard the Lord. To be sure, the next morning, I called Irene, my life-long friend, and told her what I believed I heard the Lord say to me. Irene not only confirmed it was the Lord, she started helping me with it. I have been sending my “Sufficient Grace Newsletters” out for 17 months now.

I believe the Lord wants to expand my territory even further by sending my devotionals and short stories out to various Christian Publications.

What possibilities do you see before you that can expand? Perhaps you cannot see any possibilities in front of you. Maybe you once had a vision of what the Lord wanted you to do, but now all you see in front of you is a vision that has died, and you are in the midst of a valley of dry bones. “The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to passed by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.” (Ezekiel 37:1-2). Is that what you see around you in your valley of depression. Take courage. The Lord may take His time, but He will not leave you there. It is you that needs to take action and speak to the dry bones that they (your vision) may live again.

“Thus says the Lord God to these bones ‘Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live.” (Ezekiel 37:5). The vision you thought was dead, the Lord will breathe fresh life into it and cause it to live again. Are you willing to pick it up again and see the Lord’s potential in it?  How far are you willing to go out of your comfort zone to fulfill the Lord’s plan for your life? Like Abram, the Lord will show you all the land He has for your vision to grow and bare fruit in.

 

Would you like to know Jesus as your Saviour and Lord? If you do, pray this prayer: “Jesus, I want to invite You into my life to be my Saviour and Lord. Please cleanse me by Your precious blood. I surrender my life to You now. I also want You to fulfill Your purpose in my life and expand my territory.”

If you have a Bible, start reading in the Gospel of John, the fourth book of the New Testament which explains who Jesus is (the Word), how much He loves you, and what He has done for you in His life and death and resurrection.

SUFFICIENT GRACE NEWS BULLETIN

 

If you would like to read more of my devotionals, please go to my Blog at: http://sufficientgracedevotionals.blogspot.com/ 

 

If you would like to receive my “Sufficient Grace Newsletter” on a regular basis, please provide me with your name and e-mail address and send it to me at: sufficientgrace59@yahoo.com  

 

Sufficient Grace Newsletters are provided entirely free of charge.

 

 If you are a financial supporter, I would like to sincerely thank you for your gift. Your contribution makes it possible for me to produce and distribute this publication.

 

If you would like to become a financial supporter of my writings with your monthly gifts or a one-time gift in any amount, you may send it by e-transfer to: sufficientgrace59@yahoo.com.  (I cannot give tax receipts at this time).  Thank you for your gift and your faithful support.

          I was notified that effective October 1 my room payment will increase by 2.5% or $67.50/month. If you are able to assist me with this additional expense, I will be very appreciative.

 

In March, I entered my book manuscript, "Sufficient Grace: Living Victoriously with Cerebral Palsy" into The Word Guild's Writers' Contest. In July, it was announced I had made the Short List. In November, I was notified that the Judges gave me a score of 93.7%. I give the Lord all the glory!

FOCUSED ABOVE

 

All Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version

          As human beings, we are very fixated on the things of this world, the things that can be touched, seen, heard, smelt and tasted. The world is very real to us. I would even say the world is too real to us, even as Christians. We can see the things in nature and yes, God created everything for His pleasure and to enrich our lives, yet sometimes we are too attached to the world. We do not even entertain God in our thoughts. We often put our possessions first so that we do not have room for Jesus, just as the rich young ruler did. The ruler’s possessions caused him to turn and walk away from Jesus. (See Matthew 19:16-23). Would you do the same?

          We are told many times in Scripture to keep our focus on the Lord Jesus and the eternal things which will never fade away. There will be a day when this world and all that is in it, will pass away. Paul, the apostle said, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2). As a Christian, we should put our focus on things above. The Lord’s words should be occupying our minds more than worries, problems and pressures that this life brings:

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ Or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:31-34).

          If we know that the Lord is taking care of us, and every detail of our lives, why should we be concerned about these things? Scripture says, “The Lord will perfect (complete) that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” (Psalm 138:8).

          We can get overly caught up in our occupations, service or ministry for the Lord that diverts our attention from the Lord Himself. The disciples of Jesus experienced this. On one occasion, Jesus sent seventy disciples out to preach that the kingdom of God had come and to heal the sick. “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ And He (Jesus) said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven…Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather, rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17-18, 20). Here, Jesus’ disciples had returned from a mission Jesus had sent them on. However, the disciples lost their focus. They were focusing on and rejoicing in the results of their efforts, instead of rejoicing that their names were written in heaven.

          As well as having focus on possessions and occupations instead of the Lord, there is another factor that can divert our attention in a huge way. That is the area of suffering. Suffering is very real and very painful and all of us have suffered in one way or another. When we are deep in suffering – physical, emotional, or any kind – we become focused on our pain and that takes our communication and attention from the Lord. I remember the extreme pain I went through when my right hip had deteriorated. It was extremely hard to focus on anything but the pain. I will admit that my eyes were not on the Lord as much as they should have been. The pain was all consuming. The apostle Paul went through many trials and sufferings, including having a physical infirmity. Yet through it all, Paul was able to stay focused on Jesus (that is discipline) and in the midst of his sufferings, he was able to make the most incredible statements. Here is a partial list of the sufferings of Paul:

“Are they ministers of Christ? – I speak as a fool – I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;…” (2 Corinthians 11:23-24).

         

Paul also had a thorn in the flesh which he asked the Lord to remove three times. The Lord had an answer for him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a). What the Lord is doing is to re-focus Paul’s attention from his physical limitation and pain, and to put Paul’s gaze back onto Him. I can’t help being amazed at Paul’s response. “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b). I want to have the same response to the Lord as Paul did. Paul also made this incredible statement: “For our light afflictions, which is but for a moment, is working a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Corinthians 4:17).  

          There are many times when we need our focus re-directed to the Lord, when He has to become more real to us than the things of this world. Paul encourages us not to look at the temporary things of this world, but to gaze on that which is eternal and said, “We do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  (2 Corinthians 4:18).

          I want my gaze to be fixed on the Lord to the point that the things of this world will grow strangely dim, and the things of eternity will become more real to me. I pray that if you believe in Jesus, this would be your heart’s desire as well.

 

          Would you like to know Jesus as your Saviour and Lord? If you do, pray this prayer: “Jesus, I want to invite You into my life to be my Saviour and Lord. Please cleanse me by Your precious blood. I surrender my life to You now. I also want my gaze to be more on You than on the things of this world.”

If you have a Bible, start reading in the Gospel of John, the fourth book of the New Testament which explains who Jesus is (the Word), how much He loves you, and what He has done for you in His life and death and resurrection.