Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  Despite all the sad news I got this week, we are still standing. I am in the Book of Joshua, in my annual Bible reading. There is a part in the book that is kind of boring. It is the distribution of the cities and borders. It is tempting to skip this part, but something that I heard from the guy from the Bible Project usually says, “it is wisdom literature”, or “meditation literature”. There is something important besides geographical information in these texts. And there is. Joshua 17:18c “though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out”. In the beginning of the book and several other parts too, the LORD says to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous”. What does that mean? What is this book really about? Well, the way I see it might not be the same way you see it. The way I see this book is about how we trust God and obey Him. Then we will see Him doing amazing things. It doesn’t matter how n...

  There was another thing that I should have written yesterday, but I didn’t. Now, I have something else. I have learned that we have to be very attentive when we are reading the Bible. Look out for repeated words or sentences. Contrast of ideas or complementary ideas. Or words that were key in another story, especially words that were repeated or key in the first three chapters of the Bible. They are very important chapters that we must keep in mind. The themes of those stories are repeated throughout the Bible. Anyway. The reading of this morning was Numbers 32:1 – 42. The words that jumped off the page were “discourage” and “arm yourselves for battle”. They were repeated throughout the chapter. So, I thought about what it is that the LORD wants me to see. We all have encountered people during our lifetime who are champions at discouraging people from practically everything. There is nothing you can say to them that they will b...

  We used to say that we do our laundry at home, right? I mean, our problems we solve among four walls. No outsider needs to hear what is going on inside our family, as an example. Another thing that came to mind was, have you seen or heard how dangerous it is to face a mama bear with her cubs? No kidding. If she feels threatened by you, or feels that you impose a risk to her cubs, start making your prayers because you are about to meet your Creator.  Even though God protects his people, that is not an excuse to get a guilt-free card. In the family of God, that happens too. When we read the Bible, we notice that His people, or should I say humans, have always rebelled against God. How? Well, the main way to rebel against God is not trusting His Word. His Word is sacred, true, and worthy. During the way to the promised land, the people of Israel, all of them, I mean most of them, have rebelled against God more than once. God patiently ...

  A Santidade do Senhor I keep coming back to the same subject, I don't know why. Maybe you have realized already that I love the Hebrew Bible. I mean, the Old Testament. Why? It is not that I don’t love the New Testament, I do; the thing with the old is because, I think, it isn’t so easy to understand or at least, to our modern society. So, I like a good challenge, and to bring the Old Testament to life, to my life and try to live it out, not like the Jews do in Judaism, but as a Christian who love and appreciate the Word of God with the same respect and importance. Once, a pastor back in New York told me what the book of Leviticus was all about. He said, this is a beautiful book that teaches us about being holy. When I heard him saying that it amazed me because I have never heard someone saying something like that about the book that most of us “skip” because it is a boring, filled of laws and regulations that we Christian "don’t need it...

  I grew up hearing the word “consecrate”. I didn’t understand the meaning of it. Of course, I have read in the Bible, but I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the context. Maybe because the context in which this word appears the most is in the Old Testament, when the Tabernacle was completed, or when a priest was being anointed. Anoint is another word not common to us in our era. Although among religious people, you may hear it more often. Well, what I want with these words is to show that there is nothing in the Bible that isn’t worthy meditating. I confess that I didn’t feel very encouraged to read the first part of the Bible because of what I heard. Almost that “we don’t really need it. It is the Law, and we are living under the grace of Jesus”. Today, I see that I don’t agree with the first part of that sentence. We cannot get to the New Testament without knowing the Old Testament well. The New Covenant doesn’t exclude the Old Covenant. I w...

  When God met with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he didn’t introduce himself. It was the beginning. God tested Abraham, God gave visions and talked with Jacob, but He never said who He was. Only that He was the God of Abraham. When God met with Moses, Moses asked who He was, how the Israelites would know that he was telling the truth, or if they would believe in him. God then said, “Tell them I AM sent you. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. I always thought this to be a curious name. When we study in History class and learn about other countries' histories, we learn the names of their gods. None of them has a name like this. It hasn’t been long since I completely understood the meaning of His name. God is. He was not. He is in the present. Before everything, He is. Isn’t that interesting? He has no beginning or end, He just is. Forever. He just exists. He is. It is a very powerful name. Nothing else. He is. When people ask you who ...