Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  Ecclesiastes 9 3This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil, and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope[b]—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die,     but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward,     and even their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate     and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part     in anything that happens under the sun. 7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days...

  The brain is so much more powerful than A.I. O cérebro é muito mais poderoso do que a inteligência artificial. Lately, through social media, we hear all sorts of things. Things that please our ears, and things that displease us profoundly. What should we do about that? Well, as the first chapters of the book of Proverbs recommend seeking wisdom, seeking understanding, and seeking knowledge. Three things that, in essence, are very different.   The internet offers us a bunch of “knowledge”, for soon after to find out they are all false. We look around, we see a world deceiving and being deceived every second. The newest is the illusion that A.I. comes to facilitate our lives. Really? Really? In what sense? I don’t understand how a computer built by men, filled with information provided by men, so you and I can access this information faster, instead of going through the best computer ever designed.   A computer that doesn’t need...

  I feel very disappointed when I can't make myself understood. But there are people who just don't want to try to understand. They are set in their own opinion, like a closed door. There is nothing you can say that will change that.  I am not asking for you or anyone else to agree with me. I don't think that I ever cared about what most people thought of me. However, there are a few people whom I don't even want to care about, but I care. Because there are some people in our lives who were made for us to care about them in everything they do or think.  But can I honor that when I am always being misunderstood? When all my explanations go down the drain without a single consideration? Or sometimes a few words are picked up and thrown back at me, like I said, with the sole purpose of offending? Have you ever felt that way? There is an order in the universe that we can't change. Unless one comes to this world broken, defective. We were made to please God and honor our...

  Psalm 77: 19  “Your path led through the sea,    your way through the mighty waters, Though your footprints were not seen.”   How is the sea? Sometimes it is calm, sometimes it rages with huge waves. Sometimes we can see through the water the sand, but most of the time, we can’t. And when we are walking by the waters, the waves come and undo our footprints. The sea is like our lives and God’s will.  Our lives can have calm times, turbulent times, we can be certain where we are going, and most of the time, we can’t know for sure what we are supposed to do.  God’s ways are not like ours. We need to see what is ahead of us. We plan for the future, but we can’t see the future, and yet we still plan it. When things don’t go the way we planned, we find a way to blame someone or something. But how can we plan for something we cannot see? It is like being sure of a way in the dark. Thinking that we will be successful, trust...

The last straw that broke the camel's back. First, last Sunday, the preaching was so good that I kept thinking about it the whole week. I felt that I had to share with everyone. ( First Pres SD ) But I am going to start with another verse. Pastor Jeff started with the verse 19 – 21; Romans 12:19-21. I am going to start with Romans 12:9. “Let love be genuine.” We can utter words that we don’t really mean, can’t we? It is like watching romances on T.V. that a few moments later the couple are in love, and already saying “I love you”, next minute something happens and they are apart. Where did that love go? But that doesn’t mean that we should say “I love you”. We must say it and mean it. This is a command from God. But we must mean it. We don’t automatically love a person. We empathize with the person first. Sometimes, we can feel that we are going to be friends. Or we just don’t click, right? What is love anyway? Do you love your mother and ...