Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

You know that for a seed to sprout it need to die first. With that in mind, you’ll be able to understand what it means when people in church say that we share the death of Christ and His body. Many times, in the New Testament, Jesus, as well as Paul, speaks about seeds, death, and body ( John 12: 24 – 26 ). Imagine that you are a plant. But, no one is good on this earth. Consequently, you are not a good plant, and your fruits are not good either. When we don’t let Jesus change our lives, when we reject His truths, we will keep being a bad plant, which gives bad fruit. What are those bad fruits? They are lies that we tell, they are bad behaviors that we can’t quite control, they are our addiction that we can’t get rid of, they are the envy, hate, unforgiveness, lack of mercy, selfishness, the sexual immorality, the gossips, and so many other behaviors that out there (out of the Christian living, people know they are bad, but they don’t care – they accep...

The LORD said to Jeremiah, ‘16 And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.’ ( Jeremiah 1:16 ) It is very concerning for us who follow the LORD and His commands because idolatry is a constant subject in the Bible. We are used to thinking only about idols being an image made of wood or stone or any other material you can think of when in reality it is not that. God is constantly reminding us that idols are those things that make us forsake Him. In this verse that I chose today, it is clear two things for me: 1 – we are the ones who forsake, abandon God. Not Him. He will never abandon us. He is faithful. 2. The idols are things made by our own hands. What do we do? We work, right? Sometimes we give too much credit for our work. “I did that”, “I made those”, “I worked hard for that”. We put too much effort into a job or work that we ...

This isn't a Christian song, but it serves the purpose.  Não é uma música cristã, mas serve o propósito. You might have heard something like this, “it is not what comes at you that matters, but how you decide to react to it that matters”. That makes you a good or bad person; an educated and polite or a rude one; a Christian one or a non-believer. We Christians should be always very watchful on how we act and react. Yes, sometimes we slip in our reactions, we may fall on our old nature and act the way we are no longer proud. When we don’t have the strength of the Holy Spirit in us, we fall on that more often; it is almost like we can’t control ourselves. Some people can control themselves making a tremendous effort, and it is a struggle all the time. Some people just want to be good people on their own merits. But I tell you what, it doesn’t matter to God if you get to be a good person by human law and your own efforts if you don’t believe in Chris...

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so whether   I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened   in anything by your opponents” Philippians 1: 27 – 28. It is interesting when you have the habit of reading the Bible, and you know you have already read this passage so many times, and suddenly, you realize something new. Something new strikes your head and you are amazed! That is why the Bible is alive. Every day you read, no matter how many times you have read, you’ll find something new. So, how is your manner of life? How are you doing? Is it worth? Is it worthy of what? Paul counsels us to have a manner of life worthy of the gospel. What does he mean by that? In my understanding, he is making you analyze if the way you are living it is the way Jesus has taught us because Jesus ...

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; By knowledge the rooms are filled with all the precious and pleasant;” Proverbs 24:3 – 4 . Have you asked yourself how your house was built? What about your home, how is it established? Or should I ask if it is still standing? You know, people think that secular knowledge is a big deal. Well, it is for your secular life and job and acquaintances. But, do you know what the Bible means when it speaks about knowledge and wisdom? Let’s review Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction”. So, do you fear the LORD? Maybe, you don’t know what it means to fear the LORD. You would know if you have dedicated yourself to know Him. Because in my point of view you can only fear something if you know what you’re talking about. Right? If you know a little you fear, if you know a lot, you might trust it and fear at the same ti...

“...remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, (…) strangers to the covenants of promises, having no hope and without God in the world. ( Ephesians 2:12  ESV)”. There was a time when you and I, for some reason doubted God. For some reason you might have believed that you, by yourself can do it all; you believed that no one needs God, He might not even exist. But there was a time when life got hard, and harder; you had no strength to fight back; you had no one to hang on; you were ashamed of your sufferings. You thought all those things were in your head, but you could not get rid of it. You felt hopeless. It didn’t matter how many people you were by your side, you were still feeling alone. Lonely. Loneliness. Terrible feeling. If you are feeling this way right now, I have something to tell you. Jesus loves you no matter how you are currently living your life. He is still with open arms to receive you; to take away all your guilt,...

Psalm 121: 1 - 1; Salmos 121: 1 - 2 I am going to start today with Isaiah and then I’m going to jump to Paul. That’s right, big jump. I was going to write yesterday about Isaiah, and I got distracted because my husband chose to stay at home, and I love helping him with scientific bibliography search. Anyway, and today I started a new bible study at church about 2 Corinthians, which is amazing, because,  it seems that today is the complement of yesterday’s passage. “ Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD. (… v.3b) and they will all perish together ”. Isaiah 31: 1, 3b . Wow! That was strong! I know, right? Let’s understand it a little bit. Egypt reminds us of slavery, past, nothing really good. Horses and chariots remind us of tools, means to something or somewhere that w...