Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  This is one of the times of the year that some people go to church. Like Christmas, some people only go to church on some occasions. I wonder, ‘why bother?’ But who am I to judge what people do or not?   This is a pretty interesting season. This season we mourn and celebrate just two days apart. We mourn when we think about how Jesus was crucified, but we celebrate because he didn’t stay dead like everybody else. He has risen!   Some people may not believe in this. Some people don’t even know why they don’t believe or why they believe in this. Let me shock even more. This can change your life forever. If only you believe that is true, so that truth can change your life.   If you believe that God, the invisible one, the Creator of the Universe, decided to put on a face of a human being so we can relate with him; his coming was part of the plan since the beginning. Being God Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and all Soverei...

Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die?’   Sometimes we are too quick to condemn someone. Have you noticed when you are watching the news or a tv show or even a movie, and we start cheering for the good guys and wishing death to the bad guys?   It’s okay to want the good guys to prevail, but is it right to wish the death of others? Even God doesn’t take any pleasure in the death of bad people.   I am all about second chances. Can you be also in favor of second chances? Third chances? How many times are you willing to forgive? I am saying, forgiveness for real. Forgive and forget. Some people like saying “I forgave that person, but I cannot forget what he’s done”. I am going to challenge you now. Try for a moment to imagine yourself in the place ...

  It’s been a while since I last wrote here. I haven’t been able to stay in front of the computer’s screen for long. I took a break. So, today I was doing my homework and it got me thinking, why do people resist God? Once I heard in one of the Korean tv-shows that I watched, someone said something like this: “If you believe (in God) and He exists, you can have heaven, but if he doesn’t exist, you have lost nothing, but if he does exist and you didn’t believe, you might have lost everything.” So, what do you have to lose? Is there something in this world that can promise you eternal life? My point is: “just in case, believe”. My God is a righteous judge who feels indignation every day (Psalm 7:11); so … you are not alone when you look around and see the world the way it is right now. He is also love (1 John 4:8), but His love is shown by actions, not words. To love for God is an active verb. This God will fight for you, even when you were still...

  A prayer for my loved ones (Col. 1and James 1)   I always thank God, the Father of Jesus Christ for my friends, those who know Christ, and those who yet don’t know You. Because I hope one day they will hear the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to me and it is bearing fruit and increasing, so it also does among them, since the day I heard and understood the grace of God in truth.   I have not ceased to pray for them, I ask that they may be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of You, O Lord, to fully please You:  bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; I pray that they may be strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. I also ask the same for me; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified me to share in the inheritance of the...

Let’s confess Lord, I recognize You as the King of kings, Lord of lords, Creator of the Universe, and Prince of Peace. I come here today to confess. I confess that I have been failing, I fail to love my neighbors as I love myself, I fail to be merciful, I fail to be gentle, I fail to be kind, I fail to be selfless, I fail when I lose my temper, I fail to be just, and I think only my way is the best, I fail to hear other’s opinions, I fail to trust in You, I am more worried about myself, I am more worried about my career, I am more worried about politics, I only worry about my family, no one else’s, I am more worried about what people are saying about me, I am more worried about my health, I am more worried to get things done and look good, I forget how much You love me, I forget that without the breath of life You gave me, I would not exist, I forget that without Your...

  1 Kings 7; Matthew 12: 1-14; Romans 8: 18 – 30.   Lord thank You for one more day of life. Thank you for this body that you gave to me so I can glorify your name with it. Lord, help me to be generous as Solomon was. I know I don’t have and never will have the riches like Solomon’s, but I also know that you don’t need a physical temple to dwell in it; you only need my heart and I want my heart to be to you like Solomon’s temple was. I invite you to live in me and work in me; make me beautiful and worthy of your presence.   Lord, as Solomon was worried about every detail of the temple, teach me to be careful with every detail of my life; don’t let me neglect any part of it. I give all to you. Lord, thank You for the Sabbath, the day we rest. I rested my body and mind, as you have commanded. But also Lord, teach me to not also neglect to do good when it is needed, even in the Sabbath; help me to honor your commands.   ...

You sometimes don’t know how to pray, or feel like you are always praying the same thing over and over? Let me help you with that. I have been trying to make a prayer with everything I read in the Bible. Yeah, it is possible, and it is really good. As you pray what it is written you are also declaring for yourself the truths and promises that God has made us. Let’s start.   Today I prayed 1 Peter 1 – 2:12. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! You, O God, has caused me to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for me. In this, I rejoice, though now for a little while I have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of my faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.   Though I have not seen You, O Lord, I love Y...