Day 59 - Pretty day

"For his wrath is only for a minute; in his grace there is life; weeping may be for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalms 30:5

Day 58 - What to do when your heart bleeds

Jesus has bled for us, therefore it doesn't make any sense when we feel the pain and feel like the world's weight in on our shoulders. He has taken it already, there is no need for blame or guilt.
But sometimes we do feel that way, and when that happens, what to do?
What to do when your heart hurts with frustration and disapointment?
What to do when we get sad?

I guess it is ok to be sad, just not forever and constantly. To be sad and frustrated all the time makes God's sacrifice worthless, and I may be wrong, but I guess we don't want that, right?

He is there, He will always be. When times come difficult we hold on tight to His hands, ask Him for help, He would not turn His gentle face away from us. He loves us.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

For the ones who are hurting. I pray God will help to relief your pain.

Amen.

Jesus sangrou por nós, por isso, não faz qualquer sentido quando sentimos a dor e o peso do mundo nos nossos ombros. Ele tomou-o já, não há necessidade de culpa.

Mas às vezes nos sentimos assim, e quando isso acontece, o que fazer?

O que fazer quando o coração dói de frustração e desapontamento?

O que fazer quando ficamos tristes?

Eu acho que é ok para estar triste, mas não para sempre e constantemente. Ficar triste e frustrado o tempo todo faz com que o sacrifício de Deus fez se torne inútil, e eu posso estar errada, mas eu acho que nós não queremos isso, certo?

Ele está la, Ele sempre será. Quando os tempos difíceis vierem, se mantenha firme nas mãos Dele, peca ajuda a Deus, Ele não iria retirar seu rosto gentil de perto de nós. Ele nos ama.

"Porque Deus amou o mundo, que deu o seu Filho unigênito, para que todo aquele que nele crê não pereça, mas tenha a vida eterna." João 3:16

Para aqueles que estão sofrendo. Eu oro a Deus ajudará ao alívio de sua dor.

Amen.

Day 57 - Pride

Pride is a really interesting topic to talk about. Both excess and lack of pride can be dangerous. People with over self confidence may take over God's power and praise and that is a bad sin as He is The One. People with low confidence are difficult to deal with, lack of pride and understanding your own value makes us look up to people who may not deserve praise and look down on ourselves. If God made us His image, how can we look down on ourselves? If we know and believe in Him, we must believe in ourselves.

"Pride goes before destruction, and a stiff spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18

Day 55 and 56 - Forgiveness

The forgiven, forgive. Amen

Day 54 - lessons

"My brothers, it is because of you that I have taken Apollos and myself as examples of these things, so that in us you might see that it is not wise to go farther than what is in the holy Writings, so that no one of you may be lifted up against his brother." 1 Corinthians 4:6

God created everything. He created us, and gave us His love so we would learn how good it is to be loved. But He also created the lessons we would take from our mistakes, He gave us free will so we would make our own choices and hit our heads on the wall and learn with the pain.

We are silly, and make wrong choices all the time, but the good thing about it is that He will always be there to receive us with His arms open.

Thank you Lord.

----------------------

"Meus irmãos, é porque de você ter tomado a Apolo e a mim, como exemplos dessas coisas, para que em nós, você pode ver que não é prudente ir mais longe do que aquilo que está nas Escrituras, de modo que nenhum dos você pode ser levantado contra seu irmão. "1 Coríntios 4:6

Deus criou tudo. Ele nos criou, e nos deu o Seu amor para que pudéssemos aprender como é bom ser amado. Mas Ele também criou as lições que levaria os nossos erros, Ele nos nos deu livre arbítrio para que pudéssemos fazer nossas próprias escolhas e bater a cabeça na parede e aprender com a dor.


Nós somos tolos e fazemos de escolhas erradas o tempo todo, mas o bom nisso é que ele estará sempre lá para nos receber de braços abertos.


Obrigado Senhor.

Day 53 - All the nations

One God, one big family, one love, one nation, one kingdom, the kingdom of God and all its children joined together. That's my dream, that's His dream.

"The Lord is high over all nations, and his glory is higher than the heavens." Psalms 113:4

Day 52 - God's beauty

"At the first God made the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

Genesis 1:1-3

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.

And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.

And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth." Genesis 1:26-28

Day 51 - Time

"But let your first care be for his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these other things will be given to you in addition." Matthew 6:33

I've just realized that even with a high level of faith and trust in God, I may still have some worries on the back of my mind, sometimes concerning future, people's situations and so on. Why would I concern about those things when God says to care about His things first, serving Him and loving Him and living for Him and automatically He will provide everything else and will take care of our families and needs so we don't have to worry about those things. I guess those worries come when my level of service to God drops as I am too into my own life. That's bad, I don't like it at all...It feels so much better when it's the other way around, when my life is so focused on God's kingdom and serving Him and others that there is no time and space to care about my own life, that feels right.

I guess it is all about time, how we see things, how we measure things. For God there is no time, for us, time is always counting down as we have to get things done before we go to eternity and face God for judgement.

It's all crazy but it's worth it. I love my Lord.

Day 50 - God's standards

The ten commandments given to us by God define the standards He wants us to meet in order to become what He has planned for us. If we think of a common human, cleaned up from all social values and daily behaviours, we get to the first humans, Adam and Eve, they did not eat eggs and read the newspaper in the morning, and they still fell  into sin. What is in us that makes us not be strong enough to push the enemy's influence into our lives? Why is that we can never meet God's standards? I understand that Jesus, God Himself, is the only perfect being that has ever existed, so I guess that is why we will never be able to meet 100% of God's desires to us, but God's purposes will always be achieved despite it all.

How great He is by that, we do not do our jobs well, we do not meet His expectancies, and at the end of the day, God's will is done. I imagine how hard He works in order to fix our little mistakes and keep His work up to date.

I just pray that in our sinful mistaken lives we will be able to work hard enough and do our best, we may not reach perfection but we will die fighting for it.

"And we are certain that if we make any request to him which is right in his eyes, he will give ear to us"

1 John 5:14

Day 49 - Lord's prayer

"Our Father in heaven, (you are the Father, the Creator)

hallowed be your name. (as your name is holy and powerful)

Your kingdom come, (let us be part of your kingdom)

your will be done, (as you are the alpha and the omega)

on earth as it is in heaven. (everything that is agreed on earth is agreed in heaven)

Give us this day our daily bread, (the spiritual bread which is your word, and the necessary to our survival)

and forgive us our debts, (as we are all sinners)

as we also have forgiven our debtors. (and teach us how to forgive)

And lead us not into temptation, (please, Father, we are not strong enough to resist, so lead us away from it)

but deliver us from evil." (Amen)

Matthew 6:9-13

Day 48 - Deep in love with the Lord

Dear Lord,

Help us to love you everyday more than we did yesterday,
Help us to honour you in every single second of our lives and to
be precious to you.
Thank you for your love, thank you for your blood, thank you for you.

We are nothing without you, and it is all about you.

Amen.

Day 47 - Hope

"For our salvation is by hope: but hope which is seen is not hope: for who is hoping for what he sees?" Romans 8:24

Hoping something we can see is not hope, it's not faith, it's just waiting for something that we know will happen, faith is waiting and being sure of God's grace even though it is all dark and we can't see nothing in front of us. Hope and faith ix exercised by what is impossible for us, because nothing is impossible to Him.

Day 46 - Prophecy

"Stay on your daily walk with God...and He will guide your footsteps

He will give you aspirations....from His thoughts...and you will be a blessing....because He has called you a Blessing

your called to preach the gospel..with fire and power of the Holy Spirit....just like Paul

through debates you will win souls for Christ

Amen"

"For these words did not ever come through the impulse of men: but the prophets had them from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:21

Day 45 - Love your neighbour

How hard it is to love people when differences get on the way, Jesus tell us to love our friends and our enemies equally, but how hard that is.

We should be able to understand people from their point of view and not feel stressed and anxious when a situation comes. We should be able to resolve the problems with our neighbours with communication.

We should try to avoid gossip and and complaints to other people.

We should all be friends. We should all love each other as He loves us.

"Have a talk with your neighbour himself about your cause, but do not give away the secret of another" Proverbs 25:9

Day 44 - Willingness

How much effort are we willing to make in order to follow Jesus' commandments? I wonder, why is that I can't take myself up from the seat to go across the bus to talk to the lady who is talking about drinking and tell her how Jesus loves her and how she does not need that fake life style anymore.

It is so interesting and sad to see that we are never 100% willing to give up on our lives for Jesus whe He gave His body and blood for us. I probably am allowing myself to give abou 75% of my life and time, or even less, that crushes my heart.

I pray that all of us would be stronger and to put ourselves out there and work for Jesus. I know it takes time and effort, but that's our mission here. It's all about Him, not about us.

Day 43 - Silence of God

He sometimes hides from us so we can look for Him, He loves playing hide-and-seek just to see His children running after Him asking "Father, where are you?" and then just as a child desperate cries when doesn't see mommy and daddy, we think we abandoned us, even though He has always told us He wouldn't.

He will always love us as He is love. There is nothing to worry about.

"And again he says, I will put my faith in him. And again, See, I am here, and the children which God has given to me." Hebrews 2:13

Day 42 - Cute song

"But he said, Things which are not possible with man are possible with God." Luke 18:27

Day 41 - Wonderful grace, wonderful world

"He has put an end to death for ever; and the Lord God will take away all weeping; and he will put an end to the shame of his people in all the earth: for the Lord has said it." Isaiah 25:8

I wanted to talk about our world and how beautiful God's grace acts towards us, but nevertheless, I typed  Iton my bible verses and that's the first one that showed up. That's grace right there, God taking our cry away and swallowing up our pain with His own throat despite our sinful nature and our childish behaviour. It's grace the fact that we are alive and having the chance to worship Him when we should be already condemned.

That's what He does for us, that's why we live in such a beautiful place and why our lives are so wonderful, because of grace.

Shall we not take grace for granted and pay attention to our attitudes. Shall we be open and sensitize to God's callings, because we know when that "I feel bad about this" thought comes to our minds, it is Him poking us. We better feel bad about our daily mistakes and be willing to react and change our lives so that they will fit into the Bible, and not the other way around.

Shall we not think it is just another day and "I'm just a regular person living my life". No. There is a lot more to it, we've been put onto this planet by God and built by Him in every inch of our bodies, so we better be awake, stand strong, react quickly and love deeply.

Amen

Day 40 - Blessings

God is love, therefore He loves and that's it. He doesn't makes difference from one another and He bears all things.

I love to see the little blessings God gives us daily. A smile, a hug, the rain outside, the beautiful sunrise, the lovely neighbor that comes when we are in need.

We shall praise Him at all times, in good and bad times. Our relationship with God must be for good and for bad, in poverty or wealth, in health or illness. That's true love.

Day 39 - Basic teachings

Ijust felt today we should go back to the basics of God's teachings. Sometimes we get carried away with too much on our minds and forget the principles.

1. "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
2. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
3. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
4. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Exodus 20:3-17

Day 38 - Accept it

"And let us be moving one another at all times to love and good works;

Not giving up our meetings, as is the way of some, but keeping one another strong in faith; and all the more because you see the day coming near." Hebrews 10:24-25

How hard it is to accept differences, different people, beliefs, attitudes, personalities.

God has made us all different on purpose. And we have to accept it. Let us love all around us, remembering what He would do. It may be scary sometimes, but "love your neighbor as yourself".

Day 37 - Quit quitting

"What will you give me, if I give him up to you? And the price was fixed at thirty bits of silver."
Matthew 26:15

The only thing we should quit is being a quitter. He doesn't give up on us, that's faith. How can we have faith on Him but not have faith on ourselves?

Please, don't give up. Don't be a quitter.

Day 36 - Insistence and Favor

"For to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire; and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open." Luke 11:10

As God says, we ask, He gives us. In some other part of the Scripture, God says if He doesn't answer, keep knocking and persist, and some day the door will be open.

In addition, today I read something interesting:

"As I lay there, my wet eyes shut tight and my cheeks burning from the rough carpet pile, I silently said 'God, I am not getting up from here until there is resolution in my heart. I can't lead this church one more day until you tell me what I'm supposed to do".

This text is part of a very interesting book I am reading which talks about listening to God's whispers. In this part the man didn't know what to do, but he knew he had to do something. What makes this situation different is that even though he is asking God to do something for him, to tell him what to do. He knows he is the one responsible for his actions.

That's where favor comes in, God plans the opportunities and opens the doors for us, but how are we going to walk through if we don't react to life?

Hows is it that we are going to achieve what He has planned if we are not prepared to handle the situations or if we have no capacity for it?

We could just sit down in front of our TVs and have faith that God will change our lives. Will it happen? I don't think so, as long as we stand up and say 'here I am, Lord. What should I do to prepare myself for the plans you have for me?'

Amen.

Day 35 - Him

"And you are to have love for the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Mark 12:30

Isn't is amazing? That's the secret of life. Everything we need in life is within this verse, through this commandment we shall live eternal life and receive God's blessings. It shouldn't be hard to follow through.

If we think of God in all times beforehand to all our actions, we will not sin. If we love Him with all our heart, we will love ourselves, our family, our friends and enemies the same way, according to God's heart.

If our souls are focused to Him, there will be no trouble, we will live in peace until we reach eternity and receive the call to be with Him.

If we have him in our hearts, souls, mind and strenghts, there will be no darkness, there will be no sin, there will be sadness or violence. No hateful words will come out of our lips as our hearts will be only filled with the most pure love.

Is it possible? I hope so.

Day 34 - Eternal source

He is all we need, where all good things come from.

Whatever is not good, does not come from our Father. The sin, the hate and destruction. Disrespect, disharmony, and ignorance do not come from the Lord.

Where there is a constant link to our purity fountain, there will always be love. Love can last forever, as much as it keeps connected to its source.

Ele é tudo que precisamos, de onde todas as coisas boas vêm.

Tudo que não é bom, não vem de nosso Pai. O pecado, o ódio e a destruição. Desrespeito, desarmonia, e ignorância não vem do Senhor.

Sempre que há uma ligação constante à nossa fonte de pureza, sempre haverá o amor. O amor pode durar para sempre, tanto quanto ele continuar ligado à sua fonte.

Day 33 - Enjoy

"This is what I have seen: it is good and fair for a man to take meat and drink and to have joy in all his work under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; that is his reward" Ecclesiastes 5:18

 "My soul will be comforted, as with good food; and my mouth will give you praise with songs of joy;" Psalms 63:5

Let us be happy and rejoice in the presence of the Lord, let's appreciate the little things He gives us. The daily joyful moments He thoghtfully gives us. Let's complaint less and smile more often, let's be better to one another, as this is His dream for us. Life can be wonderful out of our sins.

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”

Abraham Lincoln

“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.”
William Allen White

Day 32 - Growing

"The good man will be like a tall tree in his strength; his growth will be as the wide-stretching trees of Lebanon" Psalms 92:12

It is never easy to grow. After starting growing I understood Peter Pan's troubles, it is much fun and easier to be a child, less responsibilities, less problems, when we are children life is all wonder land.

To grow may hurt sometimes, it seems like God is pulling us up by the head and we are stretching all over, in faith, size and hopefully, in wisdom., like Jesus did.

"And Jesus was increasing in wisdom and in years, and in grace before God and men." Luke 2:52

We have to grow, we need to. There is no scape. Every age has its own grace and fun, we shouldn't worry about changing. Growing is like a butterfly coming out, and we have to get rid of the old shelf in order to become a new being, with a new format, it hurts of course, but the result is mostly beautiful.

 "you have become like babies who have need of milk, and not of solid food." Hebrews 5:12

"But solid food is for men of full growth, even for those whose senses are trained by use to see what is good and what is evil." Hebrews 5:14

We should not accept to be small, we should growth, in all senses, specially on the spiritual side.

We should want to grow and be able to eat solid food as the Bible says.

And if we are not prepared, we shall pray and ask God for guidance, like we would when we were only five and couldn't tie our shoe laces. He will hold our hands, and teach us where to go. And when our heads hurt of thinking and our backs hurt of stretching, He will be there I'm sure.

Day 31 - Wait for the light

Last Monday I listened to a singer that was singing about waiting until light comes after a dark night.

We know that nothing lasts forever, neither sadness nor extreme happiness, everything in life is perishable, except for God's grace and mercy.

You know when we are in a dark time of our lives and everything is a struggle, we should not get desperate, as light will come eventually. God knows what He does, and if He forces us to struggle He has a purpose for it. We may cry for a long night, but one day it will end.

A battle in our minds may make us sick and angry, but it will go away eventually in God's time.

Help is on its way, just hang in there. What will not kill you, will make you stronger, like silver being burned on fire by the jewellery makes that polishes up his metal on hot fire until it becomes bright and shinny.

"And he said, I myself will go with you and give you rest." Exodus 33:14

"For his wrath is only for a minute; in his grace there is life; weeping may be for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalms 30:5

Day 30 Sacrifice x Obedience

According to the dictionary:

Sacrifice: the act of losing or surrendering something as a penalty for a mistake or fault or failure to perform etc.

Obedience: dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person

When Jesus died on the cross, it was sacrifice and obedience. Sacrifice for our mistakes and obedience to God's will.

When we do things for God, and we think it is so hard that we say "I'm doing this sacrifice for God" then it's obedience and not sacrifice, as God has never done anything wrong.

So whatever we do, we should think as that we are doing it bcause we love God and respect Him, and not because we want to force ourselves to do things by obligation, as obligation is not love, as love never is never forceful.

Day 29 - Rapping to God

I wanna follow you Lord
But this is so hard
Everything looks crazy
When life goes by

I know Jesus you love me
and you care about me
That's why you died
And made me see

I just wish I were stronger
And could do things straight
I just don't wanna fail
I wanna win this game

Lord please help me
And lead my way
Push me harder
Give me love and faith

I need you Lord Jesus
I'm nothing without you
My life is great
Even though I deny You

I want shout out to You
And tell others you're good
Take my life on your hands
and just change my hood

Life is so hard
I feel like I'm gonna die
If you weren't there
I would be in the grave

But you came, Jesus
And now I see
Now I live
Now I believe

I believe, Jesus