Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

How about living with your white flag on the mast? In other words: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21 “This is the solution to all conflicts that ever take place among Christians”. I do believe in this statement. Why? Because when we stop putting ourselves first and start considering Christ as part of every relationship that we have, there is no space for pride and lack of forgiveness. If only every time you find yourself having a hard time with someone else and before doing or speaking anything you remember that Christ is right there by your side, you will think twice before saying anything that you might regret later. Because if you love Christ, you will do everything to please Him, and if loving Christ means anything at all for you, you will also love that person that you are in a relationship with. You will also remember exactly what love means. In case you have forgotten: Love is patient, love is kind. It does no...

CNN picture Well, we are living in a pandemic season. So, people start questioning why, how, who… often they try to find a guilty part in this as if it was solve anything. But in the Bible, we learn something different. As I was reading the text of my favorite bible study, I picked some very interesting sentences. I will use it here and, in no way, I am trying to say that they are my words. Yes, I am again copying and pasting here. Why? Because some things are so good that I cannot keep them to myself. I need to share. “Paul said in Ephesians ( 5: 15 – 17 ) that we must live wisely, understanding the nature of life (the days are evil), the nature of our opportunities, and the nature of God’s will. He is pointing out to us that evil times create opportunities for good. We must make the most of those opportunities created by evil days”. That is exactly what I am trying to say since this pandemic situation began. People don’t want to see that it might have ...

Today, I decided to share with you a blog that I like. Because as I said so time ago that I go to a bible study in the church, and this year we are studying the letter to the Ephesians. And the teacher, Peggy Baker has a blog that she posts some sort of summary of the week’s study. Although, due to the quarantine, we are only receiving by email, and we are not going to the church. I miss it a lot. Here is the link: Joy of Living Bible Study Eu estou literalmente compartilhando o blog da Peggy Baker aqui. Eu achei muito bom, e por isso resolvi traduzir para o português. Palavras que eu não ia conseguir fazer melhor.   Efésios 4: 30-5: 2 por Peggy Baker 30 Não entristeçam o Espírito Santo de Deus, com o qual vocês foram selados para o dia da redenção. 31 Livrem-se de toda amargura, indignação e ira, gritaria e calúnia, bem como de toda maldade. 32 Sejam bondosos e compassivos uns para com os outros, perdoando-se mutuamen...

A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight (Luke 18: 35 – 43) 35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. I love this passage for so many reasons, but today I’ll give you just one because it occurred to me just now. Sometimes we get so busy or attached...

In times of fear and despair, what can we do to ease our minds? Can we feel safe? Can we be without fear and have peace? In my opinion, we can. It depends on where you have your hope.  The feeling of safeness or security doesn’t come from how much food you have in my pantry.  Many might be asking where is God in the midst of this pandemic season? I answer that with another question. Have you thought about this pandemic as a gift of God to the planet? Remember, we were told that we would have less than 20 years before the world is a very hard place to live in due to climate changes. But as the people are giving this time to the earth restore, the pollution has decreased, we may have bought some extra time on the earth. Although people emptied the supermarkets that I wonder what is gonna happen when all those things they bought become trash, all practically at the same time? It may have not been worth it this time that earth had as restoration. ...

I was thinking about writing something more hopeful, but maybe I am not here to write hopeful things; maybe I am here to tell you the truth, that truth that sometimes we don’t want to hear. Well, that’s me. I am always upfront, direct and most of the time without a filter, what it isn’t a good thing, I know that, and I am working on that. Anyways. Moving on. I was reading chapter 9 of Exodus. It is about some plagues that God sent over Egypt because of the Pharaoh's hard heart. So, it got me thinking. When bad things start happening, we take a long time to acknowledge the hardness of our heart and we start making excuses, we start seeing us as victims, like we have done everything right, and God is wrong to make us suffer or go through so many trials. After all, we are His children and we deserve better, right? Wrong. We don’t deserve anything; we have no good, real good in us. We can’t accomplish anything by ourselves. We have no control over anyth...