Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  While listening to the Bible Project podcast this morning, I started thinking about what I grew up hearing in Christian surroundings. I bet most Protestant people also grew up hearing these kinds of things; I confesse I have also said the same things. But before I say what got me thinking, I want you to start thinking, too.   What do you consider worshiping? Singing songs to the LORD is worshiping, right? Praying, reading, and meditating on the Word of God are also worshiping.    Now, how many times have you sung the same song? How many times do you read the same Psalm? Have you ever used a Psalm as a prayer?   So, we repeat ourselves a lot to God. Then I realized my prejudice with our Catholic brethren. When everybody does the same thing. I have also learned about some of their prayers, which are beautiful, touching, and convicting of our sins.    And this morning when I was listening to Tim Mackie explaining the Lord’s Prayer and he said how import...

Everybody does or at least should try making a list with pros and cons about one big, important decision once in a lifetime. So, I am bringing this principle to our spiritual life. Have you ever thought about making a list of your daily sins in opposition to the daily blessings given by God? Why not give it a try? So, let’s say you’ve made this list. Now what? It's time for some deep introspection. Reflect on your beliefs and how you're living them. The Holy Spirit will guide you, but first, be brutally honest with yourself. Even in the smallest things, the ones you do without even realizing. We often try to justify or downplay our sins, but remember, God sees everything. To Him, it doesn’t matter if you believe you were right or wrong. What matters is if you have done right by Him. Your opinion, at this moment, holds little value. Let me give you some tips about how to make this list: Go over your day. All the interactions you had with each person. How did you do? What did you...

  Some people may not like to read the Bible because of its stories. There are all kinds of stories. Love stories, war stories, adultery, violence… you name it.  We like to judge ourselves. Sometimes there are some of us who likes to think of themselves as good, beautiful, smart, wise… others not so much; there are those who look at themselves badly as weak, ugly, dumb, incompetent etc.  God doesn’t take any of that into consideration when He wants to use someone. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17), meaning that none of that needs to keep being a reality. Jesus transforms and reforms. But there is one thing that hinders the work of God the most: pride. With pride comes all the rest. Pride makes you lie; Pride makes you trump over people; Pride is the opposite of forgiveness because if you want to forgive, you need to humble yourself and give in to the other person. Pride make...

  Have you heard about Adam and Eve? I believe so. If you have, you also know that they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I bet you also realized that they  chose  to do so. They decided to eat from that tree together. They decided to go against the will of God. They decided that they deserved to know what good and evil are from their perspective. They doubted God. They didn’t trust God enough to obey his command. Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, when they were outside the garden of Eden. He was tempted with anger. Anger grew inside of him, a struggle many of us can relate to. God warned him that he should rule over that because if he gave in, he knew something not good, therefore evil, would happen.  Abraham and Sara also  decided  that God was delayed to fulfill His own promise and abused a foreigner to go on with their own plan in order to fulfill God’s promise. (Crazy much?) They thought they were helping God, but in reality, they...

  I like sharing things, especially things that I like. When something is important to me, and I think it is worth sharing, I share it.   You know something about me. I found out that I like cooking. But I don’t like cooking for myself. Eating alone is no fun. I think when God created food, He made it thinking about sharing. That is why when we are happy, we share our happiness with others, often over some food. We share things that make us happy, too. We share good news. When something good has happened to us, we share it with others. God is pleased with a generous heart.   I read it, and I liked it. I am sharing it now. So here is a story from the Bible study book. The author named it “Love’s Extravagance.”   “ A great king was riding in his carriage through the forest. As the carriage passed a humble farm cottage, the king happened to look out and see a beautiful girl. She was obviously one of the poorest commoners in his kingdom. Yet, none of that mattered. The k...

"I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If  I love you more, am I to be loved less?"   "Assim, de boa vontade, por amor de vocês, gastarei tudo o que tenho e também me desgastarei pessoalmente. Visto que os amo tanto, devo ser menos amado?" 2 Corinthians 2:15// 2 Coríntios 12:15 I was listening to the #BibleProject Podcast today, and all the clarification was awesome. But one phrase that the woman said stuck in my mind. Maybe, how I am going to develop the text here has nothing to do with the context that she said, but I hope it also applies.  The phrase was: “I want you to think better of me”. Isn’t it what we all want that the person we love or the person we are trying to communicate with thinks of us? You would say, Yes, yes, yes. How many times do we get discouraged because we can’t be understood? How many times can’t we understand or even accept what the other person is trying to communicate because, in our head, it doesn’t make sense?   How many...