Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

You know, since I was a kid, I didn’t like to be bothered about what people thought about me because I had learned some truths about the Bible and Jesus. 1- Jesus didn’t gossip either thought evil of anyone, so why should I? He is my golden standard. 2 – It’s written in Romans 14 not to pass judgment on one another. So, I’m not bothered about what people think of me, I also shouldn’t be bothered about how people are or not, I’m not to pass judgment. I know nothing about their hearts, only Jesus knows. Yeah, sometimes we don’t realize that we are doing it. We don’t realize that we are judging people. Sometimes with “small” and “inoffensive” comments, or sometimes some thoughts. “He drinks too much”, “she doesn’t eat that”, “look at the skirt! Too short”, “OMG! He’s dating that girl?” What happens when we judge? We put ourselves in a higher standard, we consider ourselves as better, more righteous, and the truth is – we are not. Don’t ever see yourself ...

Oração em ação é amor, amor em ação é serviço. Mother Teresa Love in Action 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to av...

In Romans 4:18 – 22 , Paul was explaining to the Romans that salvation has always been about faith in God and not about following the law. He gave Abraham as an example. The revealing verse for me today was v.19 ‘He (Abraham) did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about 100 years old) or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb’. v.21 ‘fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised’. What a punch in the stomach! How Abraham got that kind of faith? Look around him, there wasn’t a way for him to have a kid in that age, was there? Humanly speaking, no. But since he knew about God, he crossed-out all circumstances that told him that. For the God who created all things that exist, what is a 100-yrs-old man + a barren woman? He might have thought “piece of cake! This is the God responsible for creating the sun, the universe, the men, Oh yeah! He can totally do it. He can absolutely g...

We know at least a little bit about Hosea’s story. He was a priest who God told him to marry Gomer, a prostitute, who betrayed him and yet he had to love and forgive her and take her back in. Gomer didn’t know what she was doing, she didn’t really know who she was and why she did what she did. The thing is, after fooling around with half-world, she realized that it was better to be at her husband’s side. She had suffered a lot without him. In the end, she and her marriage were restored (Hosea). Well, we can read this story with at least 2 perspectives. Both are correct. 1º That marriage means our relationship with God. We make a covenant with Him and then for some reason or no reason at all we leave. We abandon God. We forget about our commitment. We simply put Him behind us as if He was disposable. We don’t even consider talking to Him. All the things we have learned from Him, we just put away in a box and go our own way. We betray Him. Plain and Simp...

Sometimes we think that we can’t learn a thing from history books, especially if they are historical books from the Bible. Let’s see what we can learn from 1 Chronicles 19 . David sent men to offer his condolences to the new Ammonite king, but this king had bad advisors, and he did a bad thing against David. Let’s think about this for a moment. Many time we either have bad advisors or the devil plant a bad seed in our minds with doubts and lies (then he keeps his distance to see if you take the bait); the ammonite king certainly took the bait; we do too so many times. How? Sometimes people come to us with all good intentions but our heart is poisoned and we won’t see the true intentions and a fight come about with no true reason.   Has it ever happened to you? Back to the story. They went to war. The David’s men had God in their side and they were totally open to what could happen, up to a point where they said, ‘May the LORD do what it seems ...

Do you love? How do you know that is love? Can you love someone or something that you don’t actually know? I keep telling you that God knows you better than you know yourself. So, if He knows you like that, we can only assume that He loves you a lot. He knows the deepest parts of your being. We can all agree with that. However, when hardships come, we have a hard time acknowledging the presence of God in those situations. We instead turn to our own sufferings and selfishness and make everything about ourselves (my problem, my pain, my heart, my disease, my pride, my ego, it is all about me!), and always forget that God loves, knows and cares for us much more than we care for ourselves. We often have these thoughts “if this thing is happening can’t be God’s doing”, “What did I do wrong?”, “God turned away from me”. I tell you, if this thing is happening isn’t because God turned away from us; it is likely that we turned away from God long ago or it is God...

We all want to be part of the winning team, right? But how can we be part of the winning team? We have to have something to offer in exchange, something that keeps them winning. Isn’t that the way when we watch some superhero movie? Those with some good and valuable skill get to be part of the team. Pick your side! Wait a minute, what if I don’t know what skill I own so I can offer it in exchange for being part of the winning team? Is that possible not having a skill? Well, I don’t think so. What is possible is that you have no clue about what is or are your skills. You haven’t been challenged enough yet to figure it out. We are all special. We all have something valuable. Sometimes what happens is we give too much attention to what people want or expect of us than what we can offer them, and then we disappoint them. And it comes the devil making us believe that we are useless and blinding us from our real power. In 1 Chronicles 11 and 12 , we find migh...