Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

Algumas deficiências aparecem assim ou assim. Mas existem muitas que são invisíveis, e parecem assim. About 10% of Americans have a medical condition which could be considered an invisible disability. 96% of people with chronic medical conditions live with a condition that is invisible. These people do not use a cane or any assistive device and act as if they didn't have a medical condition. About 25% of them have some type of activity limitation, ranging from mild to severe; the remaining 75% are not disabled by their chronic conditions. Although the disability creates a challenge for the person who has it, the reality of the disability can be difficult for others to recognize or acknowledge. Others may not understand the cause of the problem if they cannot see evidence of it in a visible way. ( link ) An invisible illness is an umbrella term for any medical condition that isn’t easily visible to others. This includes chronic physical conditions such as ...

“But He knows the way that I take, when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold” Job 23:10   Have you ever seen a raw ore of gold? It looks like a regular rock. Nothing that captures your attention at first. But if you look it closely you would see that potential of that rock. If you melt on high temperature (about 1064°C = 1947°F) you would find something characterized by “softness or malleability that lends itself to being shaped into intricate structures without sophisticated metalworking equipment”.( link ) Okay! Who would have thought! Let’s imagine you find an ore of gold. And you must look closely, would wear this piece of rock on your neck? Nobody would say that is gold, would it? I didn’t think so. SO, if you want to wear that gold you must refine it. And that process demands fire, and you must give it some shape, so you can use that piece of gold. Now, let’s think this way. You and I are ores of gold. God is the refiner. He k...

Não ore por uma vida fácil, ore por força para suportar uma vida difícil. Bruce Lee Job had friends. Many of them didn’t show up to comfort him when he needed, nor his brothers or wife. They all left. Those three who showed up, they weren’t very good at comforting. At least they showed up, it is my opinion; that means that they cared (my wild guess). Although they called themselves friends, they found Job guilty. They thought Job had done something bad, something that kindled God’s anger, and that’s why he was going through all that suffering. But Job knew and we know that wasn’t the case, and yet disgrace came upon him. Meaning that even we may be living ease life, we may be living a righteous life, bad things can happen to us despite all that. Job is no superhero here, as so many claimed. Job suffered a lot. He went down to the pit, he lost all his hope, he saw the graveyard waiting for him ready ( Job 17:1 ). Many of us have seen that; he didn’t understand ...

Friends. We all have some. Job had friends too, but did they know him well? Nobody does, right? They showed up when they heard about Job’s misfortunes. This is what friends, good friends, do. They show up even if they have nothing to say. They stay there as long as needed. It was exactly what Job’s friends did. They sat on the ground and stayed there for 7 seven without saying a word! ( Job 2:13 ). After that, Job, as any other human started trying to reason what has been happening to him. He hated his life, he wished he had never been born. Have we not been there too? I certainly have. The thing is – we don’t know God’s purposes for our lives. One of the friends, after listening to what Job had said, he replied: 2 “If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?     But who can keep from speaking? 3 Think how you have instructed many,     how you have strengthened feeble hands. 4 Your words have sup...

Romanos 8:39 It is easy to serve and fear God when everything is going smoothly. There was a man on earth that God was very proud of him. “He was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” Job 1:1 ; but Satan thought that Job was like that only because God has blessed him with everything. Satan said, “ Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face ” ( Job 1: 9 – 11 ). Satan challenge God saying that if this man loses everything, he will turn away from you. And there is so true for many people; people who couldn’t bear losing a parent, or a child, people with a heartbroken or people who lost their career. They automatically will blame God.   They will start thinking that there is no Go...

How far should we go towards revenge? Not a bit far. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king”. The king said, “Impale him on it!” 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided. Esther 7:9 – 10 . Whatever it is that you are thinking of someone else, I hope it is something good. Don’t waste your time and your health thinking evil of anyone.   Don’t even go down the path to plot something evil… What we learn from this passage is what is written throughout the bible so many times. Proverbs 26:27 - “ He who digs a pit will fall into it, And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him. Psalm 7:15 – “ He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. Ecclesiastes 10:8 – “ He who digs a pit may fall into it and...

E “ Deus é fiel, e ele NÃO PERMITIRÁ que você seja tentado além de sua capacidade, mas com a tentação, ele também FORNECERÁ O CAMINHO DA FUGA, para que você possa ser capaz de suportá-lo ” 1 Coríntios 10: 13 “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands to take heed lest he falls” ( 1 Corinthians 10:12 ) First, most people who go to church regularly, read the Bible daily and pray often they tend thinking that no evil or temptation will come. Wrong! Watch it! The more you serve, the more the devil wants to pull you down. The devil is always watching you, preparing his next trick, waiting for you to fall. Don’t be so full of yourself. Don’t go to church, read the Bible or pray thinking that is the way of avoiding hardships. But do all those things with faith that when the devil makes his move you will be ready to resist with the strength that Jesus has been giving you. It is not by your deeds but by faith that you are saved ( Ephesians 2:8 ); for you don’t k...