Christian

LETTING GO – PART 2

Letting Go – Part 2

October 31, 2012 |

There are reasons why I chose to analyse her experience with the man she loved, rather than analyse my own experience with her: 1) I was very familiar with her. When she did something I already knew what motivated her. When she said something, I knew what she really meant and wanted to communicate. I knew her better than she knew herself. I knew how she was before her rejection experience with that man, and how she became afterwards. 2) I am not better than her. Whatever she went through I knew that I was going to go through the same thing. I am just a human as she is, so I knew “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) 3) Often times our own experience are too painful at the time for us to analyse them logically, and often times the strong emotions…    read more 

Prayer

Our Prayer Life is Our Christian Life

October 16, 2012 |

  Why do we watch YouTube videos? Why do we spend so much time on Facebook and Flickr? Why do we read so many Wikipedia articles? Why do we play our favorite sports and watch our favorite TV shows? Why do we talk to our friends on the phone? Why do we chat? Why do we work? Why do we go shopping? The answer to these questions is either because ‘we want to’ and/or ‘we love to.’ Why do we work? Maybe it’s not because we enjoy our work but because we want to work: we want to make money, and we want to have a career, and we want to have a promotion, and we don’t want to sit home all day long. Why do we play sports? Because we enjoy playing them, we enjoy competing, and we enjoy to spending time with our friends. And we want to be in shape! If…    read more 

CHRISTIAN CARNIVAL

Christian Carnival 07:18:2012

Welcome to the July 18, 2012 edition of Christian Carnival. Each week, we bring together a selection of the best articles from across the web. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favorite site, or would like to discover something completely new, this is the best place to start! The carnival deals with a variety of topics, so look through the articles and you should find something of interest. A big thanks to all who sent in their entries. Join our Facebook page, Enjoy!     Family Centric – Modern Marriages Posted by Gbenga Owotoki From recent study done in the US, about 49% of all marriages end in divorce and you might think the odds of failure of marriages will be much less for couples heavily involved in the church but I am sorry to shock you, it is not so…. Read More     Marriage…    read more 

Education and MARRIAGE

Education and Marriage Part 3

Recently I went to a wedding and after the wedding my aunt asked me what I was looking for in a wife and I told her, “About four things”, without being specific. She laughed and said, “Only 4 things! I was looking for 40 things!” I am not concerned with my future wife’s education, body type, hair or eye colour, skin colour, ethnic background, or family history. I am not saying physical attraction is not important, it is important because God created us all with different looks and different preferences. And those different preferences help us make decisions; imagine how difficult life would be if you liked all things the same way! But what I am really interested in are: -Her mind: how she thinks; her wisdom; submitting her thoughts to the Lord by making His thoughts her thoughts; rejecting evil thoughts. -Her heart (and I don’t mean that blood…    read more 

education and marriage

Education and Marriage Part 2

June 14, 2012 |

Education is just knowledge you acquire to be able to practice a certain profession–it is nothing more and nothing less. It does not make you godlier, it does not make you love the Lord or others more, it does not make you more understanding or forgiving—it simply does not change your character to be more like Christ. The Holy Spirit is the only person who can change your character to the likeness of Christ’s character. He may use your education experience as a tool to change you, but education itself had not changed you—the Holy Spirit did. Education does not even have an eternal value unless you use it to glorify God. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Of course, you cannot choose a career that is by definition dishonouring the…    read more 

education and marriage

Education and Marriage Part 1

May 23, 2012 |

Growing in a Middle Eastern culture I was often compared with other men based on height (and I am relatively short), looks (and I am an average looking Middle Eastern man), education (and I was a general labourer/forklift driver for 4 years), wealth (and I come from a middle class family and I earned minimum wages). Because of this throughout all my life I have always wanted my wife to love me for who I am: my God-given personality and talents, my continuously conforming character to being Christ-like, faith and relationship with the Lord, and my love and commitment to her. This desire to find a woman who loves me for who I am scared me from getting education early in my life (that is, right after graduating from high school) because I was always told, “Fadi, get a good education so when you want to get married the woman…    read more 

best christian articles

Christian Carnival 05:02:2012

Welcome to the May 2, 2012 edition of Christian Carnival. Each week, we bring together a selection of the best christian articles from across the web. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favorite site, or would like to discover something completely new, this is the best place to start! The carnival deals with a variety of topics, so look through the articles and you should find something of interest. A big thanks to all who sent in their entries. Join our Facebook page, Enjoy!     True Stillwater presents Fear, Faith, and the Good Fight posted at Letters, Messages, and Prayers They say let go, let God. But somehow that doesn’t get rid of the squeezing pain in my chest. I believe the loving hand of God is watching and guiding us, but that doesn’t stop the blood from rushing to my head when panic sets…    read more 

Hypocritical Christian Part 2

April 17, 2012 |

There is something else I thought about the other day while walking to work. For years I prayed and cried for something I wanted God to do. But God in His infinite love and wisdom did not give me what I had asked for! If He did allow it to happen then I would have been absolutely miserable for the rest of my life! And you know what? Five years later while I was talking to Him about it I realized He did it because He loved me, and I thanked Him! Five years later I thanked Him! You know, if a stranger holds a public door for me for 2 seconds then I would thank him whole heartedly and without hesitation, yet I waited five years to thank my Savior and Heavenly Father for freeing me from an absolutely miserable life! This is a perfect example of the idolatry…    read more 

Christian Hypocrite Part 1

April 10, 2012 |

At the Jesus in the City parade I decided to take a shortcut: instead of going with the parade around the many downtown city blocks, I decided to take a shortcut and meet the floats on the way back. As I walked through the shortcut I got a bit tired and thirsty so I bought a cool drink. It was a sunny and hot afternoon so soon I was thirsty again and the sweat on my forehead started to bother me. As I reached the end of this shortcut street and met up with the floats of the parade I saw this man who was playing the role of our Lord, Jesus Christ: he was barefoot and wearing minimum clothes under the hot sun. Being tired and annoyed by the heat I immediately thought, “Is he crazy? I would never do that!” Then almost immediately I thought, “Thank God Jesus…    read more 

PERSECUTED FOR HIS NAME PART 2

Persecuted for His Name Part 2

April 2, 2012 |

Christians can be persecuted for not only sharing the truth of Jesus Christ which is rejected by the world, but also for living a holy life. A couple of weeks ago when I wrote about modesty I remembered so many instances when as a child I attended the Roman Catholic church in Iraq where “Christian” women would ridicule a modest woman behind her back saying things such as, “Why is she wearing this? Is she this poor?”, or, “My goodness she has no sense of style!”, or, “She looks so ugly and old wearing this!”, or, “Didn’t she wear this outfit last time?” As the above example shows: often times Christians are persecuted by other “Christians”. My youngest uncle’s wife was born in Egypt to a Christian Coptic Orthodox family. In her second year of medical school she met some born-again youth, and soon after she accepted Jesus Christ as…    read more 

Persecuted for His Name Part 1

Persecuted for His Name Part 1

March 27, 2012 |

For years I wondered, “How does a Christian get persecuted in North America in comparison to other parts of the world like in communist countries or Muslim countries?” When I look at this story of king David dancing I see a godly man persecuted because of his love for God. Persecution does not always express itself through physical pain or death. I will tell you my story: I had a best friend for about 5 years–a Middle Eastern Christian lady—whom I loved dearly. She was, after God, the dearest thing to me (she was definitely more precious to me than my life), and I loved her purely, unconditionally, and sacrificially. I brought her to Christ and she started going to church, and I have no doubt in my mind that her faith is genuine. A couple of years later I fell in love with her. At the time I was…    read more 

Modesty-Your Spiritual Act of Worship Part 4

March 23, 2012 |

When I write I target a very small percentage of Christians. In this writing I am targeting even less–no more than a handful of ladies who are actually seeking to get closer to our Lord, to please Him, to live for Him a holy and blameless life. I am seeking those few ladies who are asking, “What can I do to get closer to Him? What can I do to be more like Him? What can I do to take my faith to the next level.” Let me tell you a story: Few years ago I was working in a warehouse as a general laborer. One day after I finished my lunch I decided to go sit in the warehouse reading my Bible for few minutes before my lunch time is over. So I sat on a box and I opened my Bible and prayed to the Holy Spirit to…    read more 

Modesty-Your Spiritual Act of Worship Part 3

March 13, 2012 |

I am not doubting the sincerity of Christian women’s love for Christ, and so I am not saying that those Christian women who dress immodesty are doing it because they hate Christ. But the Bible does not say we are perishing because our lack of love, no, it says we are perishing because of our lack of knowledge:   “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. ‘Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.’” (Hosea 4:6) Also, when you love someone you have to love that person the way they want and need. For example, if my wife wants to go to a certain restaurant but I take her to the restaurant I like then I have not expressed love toward her. So it is the same with Christ: we…    read more 

Modesty-Your Spiritual Act of Worship Part 2

March 8, 2012 |

Now, here is what I think are some of the reasons immodesty is such a big sensual problem in the church today: 1) I believe, the biggest problem with immodesty is that it is a very well disguised idolatry. Anything that we replace God with to make us feel whole, to fulfill us emotionally, to make us feel wanted and desired, to lift our self-image, to make us reach our goals (such as attracting a husband-to-be), or to make our lives feel complete is an idol. For example, a man does not lust for the sake of lusting: a man lusts because momentary this physically attractive woman makes him feel a satisfaction he hasn’t fulfilled with his relationship to Christ. The same applies to other sins such as getting drunk–nobody gets drunk to make a fool of himself—people get drunk to escape a reality they do not like because they…    read more 

Modesty-Your Spiritual Act of Worship Part 1

March 6, 2012 |

I was so pleased when I saw this group of youth dancing for the Lord on stage at the 2011 Jesus in the City parade in Toronto. I was particularly glad because the dancers were dressed so modestly, and so they looked so beautiful—more beautiful than any lady I have seen in a long while. Sadly, modesty was not the norm at this event: there was a worship group from Ottawa composed of two ladies who were dressed so immodesty that I didn’t photograph them (I didn’t even watch them), because I would’ve been nearly impossible for me as a photographer to edit their photos to make them acceptable with Christianity’s teaching about modesty. There was also another two ladies in the crowd who I avoided standing behind them because they wore such tight pants (both, to avoid temptation and to avoid photographing them), and so you can imagine my…    read more 

I Disagree with Christians

February 29, 2012 |

The Jesus in the City Parade was beautiful; it was beautiful to see so many children of God come together in a public square and have the freedom and right to worship and love their God. But there is something I want to talk about that’s not directly related to this event or this photo. It seems whenever I hear a preacher–whether at church, on radio, or at an event—they all seem to complain about how prayers and scripture reading were taken from public school and how that’s the work of Satan. Well, I disagree with that: first, I don’t think it’s a spiritually bad thing; second, I don’t think it’s the work of Satan—I think it’s the work of God. Here is why I don’t see a problem with that. First, it’s wrong to see Christianity as a state religion. Some preachers say that this country or that country…    read more 

When Your Joy is Complete Part 2

February 24, 2012 |

I learn by examples best, so I think the best way to explain what being born-again means is through an example: Let us say you are a cat, and you want to live as a human. So you start your day by trying to wash your face but the sink is too big for you and the faucet was not designed to be turned on by paws. Then you try to make the bed but the bed is so big–because it is a human bed–that there is no way you can do it. Then you try to put on a shirt but shirts were designed for humans so they will not fit you and you cannot button up the shirt with your paws anyway. Even if you succeeded in doing those tasks the fact of the matter is that you are still a cat. You can try to pretend to…    read more 

When Your Joy is Complete Part 1

February 22, 2012 |

Eight years ago I took a sexual purity online course, and it was the best Christian teaching I got. It was a daily online course for two months and I loved every day of it. One thing though I disagree with them is that they said many members who do not follow the precautionary rules (such as: move your computer to an open space in the house, or install Internet filtering software, or acquire an accountability partner, etc) fall back into sin even though they were free from it for a period of time. The problem I have with that statement is that I believe a person is only truly free if he is free on the inside through being set free by the power of the Holy Spirit. I think the best way to explain this topic is by talking about what it means to be born-again and what…    read more 

WHO CRUCIFIED THE LORD?

Who Crucified the Lord?

February 16, 2012 |

I took this photo at the Jesus in the City parade in Toronto. At first I wanted to make everything black and white except for the robe of the actor who is portraying our Lord Jesus Christ, then I realized this will make the robe the center of attention so I changed my mind. Here I just want to talk about the crucifixion. In 2004 a non-Christian co-worker told me that he went to watch The Passion of the Christ movie and said it was very brutal then added, “But it wasn’t the worst [physically] torture that anyone had endured.” Of course, he was right: our Lord did not endure the most physical torture in the history of mankind, because some men were crucified for days before they died, many others died more horrible physical deaths. As far as we know the two thieves who were crucified alongside our Lord…    read more 

Christian blog posts

Christian Carnival 01:27:2012

January 27, 2012 |

Welcome to the January 25, 2012 edition of christian carnival ii. Each week, we bring together a selection of the best Christian blog posts from across the web. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favorite site, or would like to discover something completely new, this is the best place to start! The carnival deals with a variety of topics, so look through the christian blog posts and you should find something of interest. A big thanks to all who sent in their entries. Join our Facebook page, Enjoy!   Shannon Christman on behalf of author Ridge Burns presents Carpenter Ants posted at Mission Blog, saying, “Kyle (not his real name) is a young man from my ministry who has been working through some spiritual challenges lately. He and I were out working in the woods to cut a load of firewood. “ Henry Neufeld presents Of…    read more 

A-NEW-CREATION-IN-CHRIST-3

A New Creation in Christ

January 2, 2012 |

When I took this photo of the white flower I remembered how in Christ we are new creation. But here I would like to just talk about the joy of being new creation in Christ, because it seems that joy is the first gift Christ gives us through the Holy Spirit when we surrender our lives to Him. Here is a little story… In the summer of 2003, I had just graduated from high school and by then I was in Canada for 4 years, I decided to find Christian chat rooms online. I had never been to a chat room before (or since) but I really wanted to join one because I needed spiritual advice on how to overcome lust, and I didn’t have any other source of help. So I went to MSN chat rooms (been closed for a while now) and I looked through few Christian chat…    read more 

Check Your Direction

November 4, 2011 |

Road trip! Map, cellular telephone, written directions, friends to take turns driving and a tank full of gasoline. You prepared for the journey and went your way knowing that you would reach your destination. On the way everything was fine, until you took that wrong turn. You then had to adjust your plans and make every effort to get back on the right route to your destination. Have you ever been in that position or heard of a similar situation? When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and commiteth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. ~ Ezekiel 33:10 He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness ~ Psalm 23:3b Your Christian walk is similar to that journey, in that, you cannot afford to make the wrong turn. The word of the Lord clearly outlines the Path to Salvation. We are even warned not to make wrong turns. As a servant of God…    read more 

INSPIKS FLICKR GROUP SHOWCASE #12

INSPIKS Flickr Group Showcase #12

October 13, 2011 |

INSPIKS Flickr Group: It is time again for another roundup of images from our Flickr group. This group features design and photography from many Christians artist around the world. Select pictures are chosen every other month to be featured in our roundup. As always, remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page. Enjoy! Thumbnail Image: Peace Coreopsis by Julie Legg   [sociallocker]                                           Artist remain the original copyright holder of all their materials. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth by Flickr is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise. Please contact the respective owners if you wish to use any of their images. (Click…    read more 

Not Religion, but Freedom and Love

September 28, 2011 |

Today I have a note from a great friend named Scott, hope you will be blessed by what he wrote: If you asked me today if I was religious, I would tell you “no”. This might seem weird if you knew that I go to church as often as I can, read and believe every word of the Bible, and pray to God. The reason I would say that is because of what people think when they hear “religion”. People tend to think things like laws, judgmental people, power, repetition, and as the result of some recent and unfortunate events, crazy people predicting the end of the world. Feel free to add your own words to the list. Chances are it’s not what Jesus Christ and His way is all about. – It’s not about religion and obligation, it’s about freedom and love. You might not know but the word…    read more 

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