Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

Jesus said that we would be known by our fruits. What fruits? We love saying that God is love and we also love saying that God lives in us. Do you see where I am going, don’t you? Ok. If God is love, and He lives in us, our fruit or our actions should be a reflection of what God is. Isn’t that correct? How exactly can we describe God as love?   In 1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8a, we should agree that is a description of what God is. So, I am going to substitute the word love for God in these verses and see how it goes. God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, and God is not proud. 5 God does not dishonor others, God is not self-seeking, and God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. 6 God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 God always protects, always trusts always hopes, and always perseveres. 8 God never fails.   Great. That was easy. We can all agree with that. God is all t...

Once you learn how to love, the rest comes eventually as you practice them. Uma vez que você aprende a amar, o resto vem eventualmente conforme você os pratica. So, I went to read the Bible, worried about these coming days. And before I prayed. I asked God to tell me what I needed to do. What is my mission, my part in this story? I needed to know how to break a wall that grows every day, and I don't find any solutions. But the answer was super straightforward. I didn't need to read much, I opened the application's verse of the day, and there was the answer. John 13:34. We are neither perfect nor perfect, nor can we delude ourselves that we will ever be "good" enough to deserve heaven. We never will. We sin several times a day, often committing the same sins. We live sinning, but we cannot live in sin. To sin is part of being human; we are under the curse that God gave since Eden. However, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, who shows us how sinful we are and how great ...

  Lent. Some people choose to fast for some type of food or some entertainment or whatever. But during this time of the year, I have learned that it is important to think about the last days of Jesus as a human on earth.    Can we identify ourselves in our current time with that time? If we were to go back in time and find ourselves in that time in Jerusalem, where do you think you would be? Who would you be friends with? This morning I realized that our current world hasn't changed much since then.   We still find people doubting Jesus, mocking and spitting on him (if they could literally), and trying to bring down everything that He represents. Do you see these people?   Imagine if what happened then were happening now? if today were the day Jesus was on the earth walking just like you and me? If today were the day where people were gathered shouting "crucify him", where would you be? Right in the middle together with the crowd or running away as fast as you c...

  There has always been something that has bothered me a lot. Talking, in general, is what people assume. People have this bad habit of thinking they know why people did what they did, or they assume they know what is best for everybody, they assume mostly the worst in other people. People assume they know what the other person was thinking. Isn’t an absurd? You see, it is really easy to assume especially when you have something against the other person. Guess what? It will always be the worst thing, and they can’t even imagine how wrong they can be, sometimes they don’t accept they had assumed wrong.  In the bible, there was this time when people assumed and almost, they started a war because of a wrong assumption. How many times have we gotten into a “war” with somebody because of some misunderstanding? Tell me, isn’t it terrible that the more you try to explain yourself the uglier the things get? It is like you are sinking into the mud, more like a quicksand. Then .. we giv...

Let’s talk about a taboo in the church today. There are these times that I have had some discussions with Juan, my husband, about polemic subjects. Usually, we don’t get to any conclusion. But it is a good moment of reflection. So, last time we talked about suicide. Yes. Most people think that suicide is a sin without forgiveness because once you’re dead how a person can repent and ask for forgiveness. It is a good point though. However, we find 7 people in the bible that committed suicide and there is no account of condemnation for them. (By the way, the only sin that the Bible says that there is no forgiveness is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because He is the one who convinces us that we have sinned. Without Him, we can’t even ask for forgiveness. No other sin without forgiveness is mentioned in the bible.)   Who are those people who chose to kill themselves? So, because of that should we consider suicide for ourselves as a way ...