Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

Who doesn’t want to be the first? The first gets privileges; the first of the classroom get the scholarship; the first of line get to see the singer closer; the first is supposed to mean the best. Everybody wants to be the first. One day I watched a movie interesting. It told a story about a cross country team when they lost their couch and the school hired another one. A new one with new views of training. At the beginning they couldn’t understand her methods; they seem that she wasn’t training the team to win, although she was. But first, she was teaching them endurance and count their time, managing their steps. They didn’t win the firsts and less important championship, but they got enough points to go to the national championship; and there they were ready, although they didn’t know yet. In the end, they won the national championship spite all the unbelief of the parents and almost losing her job, but the coach believed that was the way of winning. They won. ( R...

Imagine that you are in a very desperate situation. Then you cry out to God and say to him “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us”. So, Jesus will say to you “If you can? All things are possible for one who believes” ( Mark 9:22b-23 ) Now, you scoff at me with total unbelief and say, “Of course that’s not true”. I say to you, “Well my friend, I guess you will never know, will you?” But the story went on like that ( v.24 ) “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” We all have some level of unbelief, but have you ever asked God to help you with that? In many parts of the Bible, especially in the New Testament says that we don’t receive because we don’t know how to ask, especially if you ask with unbelief. Even I struggle with unbelief sometimes. Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” ( Matthew 21:22 ). You may ask, “whatever? Are you sure?” Well, what...

My reflection today is from Mark 8:27 – 38 . We notice that one-minute Peter is all sure that Jesus is the Christ, the second he gives places to the flesh and rebukes Jesus for saying that he is not going to die. Of course, Satan didn’t want that, but Satan had no saying about God’s plan for humanity. But the point I’m getting is in verse 33, when Jesus said, “But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”. Wow! Maybe we should have this verse engraved on our hand or something. How many times we spend our days thinking about the things of humans? Of course, you might say, we are humans. Yes, we are but just once. We are so small and narrowminded that most time we cannot see the bigger picture and we want things in our own way. We must set our mind on the things of God.  You ask me how. Sometimes we don’t want to let go our dreams...

So, Jesus cured a deaf-mute man ( Mark 7:31 - 37 ). It got me thinking. Are you deaf? Are we mute? In church, we have been stimulated to spread the good news. I’ve been doing it, through here. I’m content. But, how about you? Are you listening to me? Or you are simply reading it because you know me and yeah… sometimes she has something interesting to say. Or you are really listening? How about you who knows already and says that live the good news. Are you talking about or you are being mute? People will only hear if someone, out there, is speaking. If you are not speaking, then nobody is listening. You know, when Jesus performed this miracle, he did not say “your sins are forgiven, or speak up”; instead He chose to do something different, like put his fingers in the man’s ears and spit on his tongue, and then He said: “Ephphatha” which means “be opened”. Why did he do that? I believe that some people are more visual, and to believe they need to see something. It doesn...

Preocupação não vai impedir as coisas ruins de aconetcerem, ela só vai impedir você de aproveitar as boas coisas. For two days now I’m having this pain in my neck, no really able of sitting or standing for long, or looking up is not an easy job neither is to complain about it.  It has been a while since the Fibromyalgia had given me a break; I was content, but when the worries come so does the pain. It’s hard not to worry about anything, or even control the urge of worrying. Sometimes it is like an addiction, the worry, you know. You feel like you have to because if you don’t, you might feel guilty or irresponsible. But Jesus said that you and I cannot add an hour in our lifespan with worry. So why bother? Do you solve anything by worrying this much? I don’t think so. However, sometimes it is inevitable. Like, someone is about to receive the news that will change his life forever, what do you think? He will worry, I will worry, anybody would worry. We get an...

Rembrandt  - The storm on the sea of Galilee In Mark 4:35 – 41 tells us a moment when Jesus and the disciples were crossing the sea by boat. Jesus was in the boat. The disciples saw the storm coming. It started pouring. It got dangerous. Jesus was in the boat. The disciples got desperate. And yet, it took a while to them call out Jesus. Why did they take so long to call out Jesus? See? How long do you take to call for Jesus’ help? Do you wait until you get desperate? Jesus is in the boat, is He not? Why do you have to wait until the storm starts pouring or even damaging the stuff? Because you want to see if you can deal with it on your own, so you try everything you can before calling for help. When you realize that you can’t do much, so then you remember “oh yeah! Jesus is in the boat”. Jesus certainly knew what was going on, but maybe He was just waiting for them to remember that he was in there too. They have been listening to his teachings, seeing His mir...

The year is going so fast, don’t you think? I’m really satisfied and content in how it is going, how about you? Have you thought about it? So far do good? I have learned a lot lately and seen God works wonderfully all around. Psalm 37 is a beautiful one, and whenever you feel discouraged, I suggest you open your bible and read it. It has promises for our lives. You will feel encouraged and renewed. Let’s look at the first verses. He starts like this “Fret not yourself…” in other words: Calm down! Why are you so nervous about? He just wants you to feel secure. “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!” (ESV). In verse 4 “Delight yourself in the Lord…” à do you know what does it mean “delight yourself”? Have pleasure, enjoy being in the Lord’s presence; seek His presence with joy. Go to his feet with expectations as you ran to your dad when you were a child. “He will give you the desires of your heart”. This is a promise. He is sayi...

How many times we don’t know how to pray for someone who has wronged us? How many times we feel furious because our enemies seem more successful in life than us? How do we come before God with all those feelings which we are not sure if they are godly or even Christians? Yes, I understand. David understood it better. He had so many enemies, people who wanted to harm him, people who wanted him dead. What did he do? He put all those crazy feelings, anger, vengeance desires, and all that stuff before God. He simply said it all to God. Just like he wished. You know what? What do you think? That God doesn’t see those feelings in your heart? I think it was wise for David to say all that to God. First of all, God already knew; second, being honest with God and with yourself. Take the weight from your heart. God wants you to ask for help, just like David did. David knew he couldn’t go out there killing all his enemies; he also knew that God, the God of Armies, knew how to...

Happy rainy Valentine’s day (in San Diego, CA)! Last night started raining, it seems that it hasn’t stopped since then. James, the cat, got really scared. Poor cat! And for us who opted for not having a car, our Valentine’s day plan is a little frustrated. But, the important thing is that we are not dependent on this day to make it special. We have each other and that’s good enough. Yesterday I talked a little bit about the fear of the Lord. You can only fear something if you know it or have had some idea about it. Like the children, they are all fearless because they have almost none experience in life. If you don’t know God, you won’t fear him. But how can you know Him? The answer is reading the Bible, reflecting on the things He has done. Trying to imagine how big He is. The more you read, the more you know Him. The more you know Him, the bigger He gets; the bigger He gets then you start fearing Him but also admiring and loving Him, putting your hope on Him....

Yesterday I saw something that I have never expected to see in my whole life. I saw the birth of my friend’s son. It was beautiful, amazing even. So clean and perfect. Thanks be to God who was there the whole time. In Psalm 34 – Taste and see that the Lord is Good. David invites us to taste and see the goodness of God. He says he praises the Lord continually. How many of us are capable of doing that? We remember praising when we are in the church, in a good mood. But, continually makes no exceptions. Let us exalt his name together (v.3); say to the world the wonders God has done for you. Oh! You don’t see them? I’ll tell you why. Because you’re not looking. Your sight praises yourself; you think you are the one who deserves all the praises. But (v.4) I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Can you recognize your fears? If you don’t know what are your fears, how would you know if God has delivered you from them? He might be doing that ...