Devotions

In Quebec, churches are growing at a pace that has never been seen before. What God is doing elsewhere in the world, he is also doing in our nation. We thank the Lord for the revivals in our history and the wonderful testimonies coming from all parts of the world, but we believe that the potential for God to do something new is even greater.

One of our recent church plants took place in the heart of Montreal with Pastor David Pothier and a team of passionate leaders who are fiercely convinced of the exponential potential of the gospel and the church of Christ.

For seven years, Pastor David was the pastor of Impact Jeunesse, the ministry for young adults in New Life Church. There he was bathed in a spiritual atmosphere of “We didn’t know it was impossible, so we did it!”

After preparing for a work of faith with prayer and fasting, Pastor David and several hundred people from our church responded to God's call to found La Chapelle in one of the up-and-coming neighborhoods in Montreal, a city with one of the lowest rates of evangelical Christians in the world. In barely three years, La Chapelle has become the largest French-speaking church in this metropolis. Hundreds have been baptized. The leaders have a multi-site church vision with multiple meetings on different campuses.

From Paul's letters to the early church 2,000 years ago, to the dark and busy streets of Montreal, to you and me today, God's potential is immutable and limitless for those who invite him into their lives. For me, this dynamic is not theoretical but very real. Its transformative impact is tangible and measurable. After more than three decades as a pastor, I have seen men and women of all ages, cultures and backgrounds discovering potential in a new life that was unknown to them before the moment they decided to turn their life to God and realized who he is and who they could become in Jesus Christ. I invite you too on an adventure of faith, discovery, development and destiny. May God do a work on each page of your heart.

“I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6, ESV).

_{Claude Houde is the lead pastor of Eglise Nouvelle Vie (New Life Church) in Montreal, Canada. Under his leadership New Life Church has grown from a handful of people to more than 3500 in a part of Canada with few successful Protestant churches.}

When you set your heart to walk blameless before God and to please him, you will be feared and despised by those who have lost his favor and blessing. Lukewarm or compromised Christians will be absolutely disturbed and repelled by your life.

We see this vividly illustrated in 1 Samuel. “Now Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul... And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him” (1 Samuel 18:12-15, NKJV).

David’s blameless behavior struck fear in Saul’s heart. Whenever Saul was around David, he remembered when he had enjoyed the favor of God and the high esteem of men. However, disobedience, envy, pride and self-will had cost Saul every bit of power with God; and it had robbed him of the respect of his people.

Saul had come face to face with a younger and less-experienced man who exuded the power and integrity of holiness. He was pure in heart and full of the Holy Spirit, and Saul was afraid of him.

Keep in mind that this was no idolatrous pagan who was afraid of David. No, Saul was a man who had known the power of the Holy Spirit. He had once been God’s anointed, a mighty man with a powerful destiny. Then David appears on the scene. Here was a young man simply living a clean life, and God was pouring out favor upon him. “All Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them” (1 Samuel 18:16).

This was humiliating for Saul, and he couldn’t stand having David around him. Scripture says, “Therefore Saul removed him from his presence” (1 Samuel 18:13). Sadly, Saul represents the compromised church of today, those Christians who have compromised and lost the anointing of God. He is a type of the believer who was once on fire for God but who has fallen into spiritual ruin through their disobedience, pride and lust.

There is nothing scarier to a compromised Christian than a holy, blameless life. The more your life aligns with the Lord’s will and his holiness, the more repelling you will become to backslidden believers.

According to the apostle Paul, these are the attributes of a blameless believer.

1. They live without deceit. “For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit” (1 Thessalonians 2:3, NKJV). A blameless Christian is one without any deceit in his heart. Paul was saying, “I wasn’t a fraud, preaching one thing to you and yet living another. My behavior was an open book.”

2. They touch nothing unclean. “For our exhortation did not come from . . . uncleanness” (v. 3).

Paul’s emphasis here is on sensuality or lust. He is saying, “Not an unclean word came out of my mouth. My conversation was pure, coming forth from a clean heart.” Paul had his body under control. Fleshly passion did not control him; no spirit of lust possessed his mind. He was a free man.

A believer who tells dirty jokes, makes sexual innuendoes or has roving eyes is someone whose heart has not yet been cleansed. God says, “If you are going to walk blameless before me, you must have clean ears, a clean heart and a clean tongue.”

3. They are without error. “Our exhortation did not come from deceit” (v. 3).

The Christian without error or guile is not trying to be clever, crafty or manipulative. He has no hidden agenda and is completely open and honest. Paul said, “I did not manipulate you into the kingdom of God, nor did I use clever words or try to play on your feelings. I gave the gospel to you straight.”

Paul never played word games or used psychology to get people to like him. Paul said, “But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7). But when sin came in, he rebuked it with thunder out of heaven. He loved people with all his heart, yet he didn’t want or need anyone’s approval. “For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others” (1 Thessalonians 2:5-6).

Paul was always mindful that God was watching him and checking his motives. He abstained from “every form of evil” (see 1 Thessalonians 5:22) and lived as if Jesus were coming within the hour!

“You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:10, NKJV).

This is a powerful statement to make. Call on God as a witness to your holiness! Yet, without flinching, Paul boasted to the believers in Thessalonica, “My co-workers and I lived blamelessly before you and before God. Our conduct was righteous and pure. God is witness to our holy behavior and you also are witnesses. You saw that we walked holy and blameless before God and men.”

Paul was an effective preacher, and he knew the secret to moving people toward God. He could stand boldly before every living soul and testify, “I live daily under the gaze of a holy God. I walk always as if his holy eyes are upon me, and you all are witnesses to my blameless life!”

The apostle had a passionate desire for every believer to have this same power. He prayed night and day that all of God’s children would live their lives holy and unblemished before God. “So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13).

The rich young ruler who came to Jesus had been good from his youth, and that goodness won him the love and respect of Jesus (see Matthew 19:16-20). However, something was lacking, and that one thing makes all the difference. Friend, if you do not have this same purpose fueling everything you say and do, you can never be blameless before God and man, “That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you” (2 Thessalonians 1:12). Goodness alone won’t give us eternal life or draw others to Christ. We must have the Holy Spirit working in us and through us, directing all the glory to God!

This is what motivated Paul to live a blameless life: He was jealous for the glory and name of Jesus! He knew everything had to be built on that foundation because all human goodness is as filthy rags. What distinguishes the blameless walk is a consuming desire to honor the name of Jesus before all people.