Bob MacDonald Ministries

Dearth Upon the Earth – By Irene MacDonald

When I committed my life totally to Jesus Christ, not only did my heart change but the brightness of my physical world changed.  Before Christ everything seemed to have a gray tinge to it, but I didn’t know this until I got saved. I just thought this was the way the world looked.  But after Christ in my life everything became brighter, the buses on the street were brighter, the color of people were brighter, trees and flowers were brighter.  Somehow the gray tinge was gone.

The reason I tell this little story of my conversion is to draw a picture of what I see happening in the spiritual realm today and the increase of this over the past few years. I believe there is a spiritual dearth that is covering our personal lives, our province, the nation of Canada and other nations of the world.  It is like a gray tinge, a gray blanket of spiritual darkness that has covered us.  Another picture of this is that of an oil spill on a beautiful large body of water.  It leaves a thick film of black sticky sludge, the water is no longer blue and clear, but now it is polluted, leaving beautiful creatures such as ducks, birds and fish covered with this pollutant and being suffocated of their very life force.

This black spiritual darkness is covering us as Christians and it is choking us of the very life force of God.  It is very subtle, we don’t see it in the natural and because we have become so used to I, it has become a familiar way of life.  This film has caused us to slowly leave God on the back burner of our lives, church and church body life is dead to us and unimportant, thus the more important things of life actually become a god to us.  This film, this gray tinge of darkness leaves us full of fear and anxiety about life, it causes us to loose our peace and we are not sure why.  Witnessing to others about God’s righteousness seems way too out there and not a desire of our hearts. We are being swept away into mediocrity in our Christian life and are not sure why.  We wonder why no one talks about God anymore and why God seems so far away. The enemy has placed this blanket of darkness upon us and it has come upon us and we are not recognizing it as a spiritual battle. 

We will feel trapped as a body of believers until we begin to recognize and lift this veil off of our lives, our land, cities and nations.  But first we need to recognize that it is there.  It has established itself over the past 10 years or more, but more so in the last 2-3 years, because of the godlessness we have accepted into our country and nation.  One by one, each of these sins of unrighteous and offences to God have allowed the enemy to throw a dark blanket over us.  We are being choked out without even fully comprehending what is going on.

We need to recognize and pray intensely that God would have mercy and lift this film that is choking out any righteousness in our loved ones, our cities, our provinces which are literally dying for lack of unrighteousness.

I believe we can set this back in order.  We need to call upon God to have mercy on us and to remove this veil of darkness brooding over us.  If we do not act upon this we will very soon see a totally godless nation, one that has very few Christians and many abandoned church buildings. We will see less Christ centered families in our society than we presently have today. This is a crisis, it needs to be dealt with and we as those who know Christ have the authority in Jesus Christ to take dominion over this prevailing spirit of darkness. 

The victory can be won, we can see this dark dearth removed so people will not choke and die into Satan’s hands but live and light will come back again to our nation.  It is time once again to see the brightness of God’s righteousness come back to us.  We can do this because of who we are in Christ.  God is waiting for us to remove this Dearth upon the Earth.

Raising our Kids for the Kingdom of God – by Irene MacDonald

As I minister as a pastor of a church, one of the greatest heartaches I see is that of children not following the ways of Jesus Christ.

I am sensing such pressure from parents to have all the right programs, events, positive experiences for their children.  Often this means that Christian parents will run from church to church, while raising their children to adulthood, hoping that they will find the one “right” place so their children will choose the “right” path of life.  Also enormous money and effort are put out by parents to have children in hockey, piano lessons, dancing and figure skating…and more.   Parents and children running every day, every which way to cram everything imaginable into one week.

Could it be that we need to get back to some basics of Christian living?  What about a sense of peace in us as parents and a sense of peace in our homes?  Are we as parents so driven by life that we drive our children so they have no peace also.  Therefore to compensate, we feel we need to drive them with all of these “other” things.  We end up putting enormous pressure on ourselves, our children, and the church of Jesus Christ to fix them all up before it is too late.

Getting back to the basics means having a balance and trusting God for the outcomes of our children.  He is well capable of taking care of them.  Are our children surrounded by some simple structure in our homes?  Having supper together, talking through some of their day and giving them some guidance as to how God will help them and how Christ sees the situation of their lives.  Do we show respect to all of our family members that we are living with?  What about some simple family devotions, picking up the Bible and reading a portion of scripture.  Our children will read the Bible by seeing us read the Bible. Do you regularly get up on Sunday morning and go to church? It is simple stuff but it has been replaced with other things that are not so important.  Are we taking time to teach things to our children that they will need to know how to do when they are adults? Things such as cleaning our homes, buying groceries, looking after finances, teaching our children the simple art of tithing when they are young?  Is there a tendency in this generation, to give our children everything without working for it? 

Are we faithful to the body of Christ that God has placed us in?  Do you tithe and put some time and effort each week into your church so that your children will follow your example?  By the way, show them that church is not a perfect place so that they will know when they grow up it all won’t be perfect.  A church is always in process and we are to obey God in it and not be fault finders.  The church of Jesus Christ is a place to grow and give, not always a place to receive.  God didn’t design it that way. 

What about simply accepting your children for who they are and affirming them with what they are already capable of.  Seeing their potential today and slowly, by example, building into their lives of what they can become.  How about some fun times together with your children, they don’t have to be expensive times but just times to hang out and do something together.  How about sparing the rod and spoiling the child?  Have we lost the ability to correct our children and not let them be out of order?  Do your children see stability in your lives?  Are you getting some help for the areas in your life that are dysfunctional and perhaps not functioning the way they should be?  Remember, your children will most likely be what you are.    

I believe in children and youth programs in the church and having some good peers.  I believe these are important.  But what if your child doesn’t have all of these things fall into place all at the right time in his or her life?  Will they still have a sure foundation built into their lives?  Will they have some of the basics of Christianity of learning how to live their lives after they leave your care?  Our society now says our children need the best toys, clothes, homes, cars etc. for them to be successful and make it in life.  Some of these are important, but to what measure do we compensate for getting back to some of the biblical simple basics that make children feel loved and accepted in their homes and in their upbringing. 

I believe as we have some of the basics back into our homes and lives, children will then choose and accept Jesus Christ into their lives and choose to follow Him into their adult lives.  They have experienced His peace and help throughout their childhood, then why would they reject such a gift when they are older?  Yes there will be turbulent times and seasons in our children’s lives but if a strong foundation is built underneath them, they will truly stand!   

irene@bobmacdonaldministries.com

Called, Chosen and Faithful - by Irene MacDonald

God is stirring my heart about being called, faithful and chosen (Revelation 17:14).

In my pursuit to balance the real issues of work, household, marriage, personal health, God has called me, chosen me and requires me to be faithful.  If I pursue the time for Him, I find it. Even in today’s demanding society, I find the time to be intimate with Him, read His word, and carry out the works of Jesus as He instructed us to when He left this earth.  I believe that when I make the time, He, our Helper, honors my desire and gives me the time and energy I thought I didn’t have.  My ultimate goal needs to be that I first of all “seek the kingdom of God” - not the kingdom of this world. In my own life I have had to struggle with these very hard issues. 

Where are you at with your calling and service to God today?  Are you giving Him your all?  Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for our freedom to become His chosen vessels.  Now we serve Jesus Christ!  What are you doing with that freedom?  Does the desire for reading the word of God so burn in your heart that it is the most thought about book you should read?  Are you passionate about winning the lost for Jesus Christ? Have you determined what portion of the week you can give for service in the Kingdom of God?

Our society demands that we work more and more hours. Our families and homes require many hours of our time.  But God has also called us and has asked us to be faithful. He has chosen and hand picked to do His service.  Let’s re-examine how we spend our time and energies to ensure that we give some time to Jesus Christ.  Read the Bible. Pray. Witness.

The joy and peace that we gain by putting Jesus Christ’s work before all other work is really quite unspeakable.  I believe that Jesus does multiply our time when we seek first to fulfill His word to us as He beckons us to realize we are called, faithful and chosen.

I invite you to join me in changing the course of our lives so you can be a called, chosen and faithful one.

irene@bobmacdonaldministries.com