Day 316 - God's sense of humour

Sometimes God can have a very interesting sense of humour.
He doesn't simply give us the things we ask for. Sometimes He does, but when He sees the chance of working our character through something we really want, or something we have to go through, He does the things only a loving and responsible father would do, He teaches us.

We ask, "Lord make me patient". He might give us a child who needs a lot of patience to be dealt with.
We ask, "Lord, make me kind". He might give us the worst neighbour it could be, so we will have no choice but to be kind.
We ask, "Lord, teach me to trust you". He might take away all our money to show us how we should believe in Him.
We ask, "Lord, make me holy". He might send us the stronger temptations so we can overcome them.

It would be too easy and not worth it if He just snaped His fingers and transformed us in perfect beings. Growth hurts, it needs work. So He sends us work to do. And as we work our best, He works in us.
They say "be careful what you ask for".

It's like the silver maker, He puts the metal on fire and until it's all polished and He can see His own face on it. Once He can see His reflection on our hearts, then the job is completed.
It's never easy, but it's for the best. To live and become children of God.

Day 307 - A thankful prayer

Dear God, Creator of the Universe,
I want to say Thank You.
Every time I think I was dead and blind, and now I can see less blurry,
I have this warm feeling inside of me. This eager to put myself at your feet and
bow my whole being at you.
I am nothing without you, and even when I don't pay attention, and don't rejoice,
or when I focus on myself; Lord, you know me, you know my heart and how much
I am aware that YOU are God, and that without you, there is nothingness.

Your name is so powerful, your presence is so wonderful,
Your love is unfailing, it smashed my heart, it makes me feel humbled by
how much I know that you are faithful, and I am not.

Thank you, Lord, thank you. And I am sorry. For everything, everyday. Because I am a sinner, Lord, and
everyday, as small as it can be, I make a mistake. And if wasn't for your Mercy, your Grace,
There would be no chance for me.

Thanks! :) I love you!
Only yours,
Your daughter.

Day 301 - Remembering the purpose

When life gets tough, remember that Jesus is our almighty Saviour, and if He defeated death, He can defeat anything else.

When worries come, remmeber that God left a message to us: Fear not, worry not, but rejoice.

When good things happen, lets rejoice in the Lord and give Him the Praise of the deed, let's not remember Him only in bad times, but also, and even more, in good times.

When you find yourself asking 'what am I doing on this planet?', remember that everything has a purpose under the heavens and that every hair on your head has been counted by God, and that your life is as important as everyone else's.

Remember the cross, the blood, the ressurection. Fear not, worry not, and Remember!

Day 296 - Getting used

Humans are adaptable, changeable, we do have that ability to get used to new things if we put ourselves to it, that's how God created us, to be able to change.

Throughout Bible's stories, we see several people who had been changed. People who moved from place to place, people who had their names and destinies changed, people who married people they weren't expecting to, and even people who didn't really know what and how they were supposed to do things, but relied on God's insights to give them the correct instruction.

 If God didn't know that we can be flexible when we want, He wouldn't have sent Jesus on Earth, because the main thing about Jesus is that we change and receive new life once we recognize Him as our saviour.

And the truth is, we can get used to all sorts of things, bad things and good things too. We can forget who we are and put ourselves to start a new story, or we can on purpose, rebuild a new life.

"The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person." 1 Samuel 10:6

Whenever we say 'I could never get used to this', that's when God's sense of humour comes and so He shows us the potential we didn't even know we had in the first place.

Thank you Jesus,

Amen.

Day 288 - Trusting the Lord, diving in the unknown

"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."


"I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.""

Psalms 91:1-2
 
Who knows the future?
Who knows exactly what is going to happen tomorrow? In the next few hours? This afternoon?
 
How can we, little humans predict anything, or be sure about anything?
 
Our life is not more than a dive, a leap of faith, towards the unknown future.
Some do that in peace, others do so with anxiety and anger. The difference between the two groups
is where they put their trust. The first group puts their trust in God, in the promisses He made us, and the asurance that He loves us with Jesus' death. The second group, unfortunately, trusts their own strength, money, status, a job position.
 
Let us dive into God's arms, be free, have peace in our hearts, so that the Most High will honour His children and take good care of them. Amen.
 

Day 276 - You are not into God, but He is really into you

How many people out there say "it's not my thing", "Im not into church stuff"?
I was one of them, used to avoid all church topics, got mad whenever someone said "God bless you" to me.

Today I have the honour to adore my God, to give my life to Him, but before I was a church persecuter.

I realized how much He was trying to reach me, He wanted me as His child, He loved me so much, even though I wasn't a bit interested in Him.

That's my hope, my light at the end of every tunel, to know that even though this or that person may not be into God, He is into them, and He will do the impossible to get their attention.

Day 274 - Acceptance prayer

God,
Give me the courage to change the things that I can change,
Give me the patience to accept the things that I can't change,
And give me wisdom to identify those two.


This prayer is said in many groups that help recovering drug and alcohol addicts, it is also said in mental institutions and other places where people have group therapy. Why is it that we don't use is in church? Or in our daily lives?
There are so many things we don't understand, there are so many things that are what they are and there is nothing we can do about it, just leave it in God's hands. Yet, we are so stubborn, including myself, and we get desperate over things that are beyond our power. If we have God, and we know that the world will try to hurt us, but God himself died for us, than there is nothing that could steal our joy and peace.

My prayer looks a little like this:
- God, I am sorry for trying to take control over everything,
I am sorry for getting desperate and upset over things that are beyond my power,
I should just trust you and rely on you, keeping my joy and peace.
Give me the wisdom to realize that I can't change everything,
But when I can, I need you to give me strength and courage.
Thank you for your son, for your love and mercy.
Please, fill me up again with joy and peace, and let this day be to honour your name,
So people will se your presence in my life, and I will be a testimony of your kingdom.
Thank you, Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.

Day 271 - The source of all problems

When something goes wrong, and when relationships don't work out, it's most likely than the cause of the problems is within us than in others, however, in our view, the others are most likely to be the reason of our misery.

"How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."   Luke 6:42

When we get annoyed of someone or something, the problem and the solution are inside of ourselves, with God's help to let us see clearly and give us the courage to change our own behaviour so that the we will treat the outside better and so it will respond to our change.
It is easy to criticize, but very hard to take action. Only the Holy Spirit can act in us.
 
 

 

Day 268 - Good morning, Lord

My dear Lord Jesus,

Good morning!

I give this day to you, I give all 24 hours of this day to come, to you.

To you I surrender my mind, soul and spirit.

Please, let my thoughts be like yours,

My actions should come from you,

My heart should be filled with wisdom and strength that comes from your Holy Spirit,

Thank you that I am awake this morning,

And that I can see, hear, speak, walk,

That I have food on my table, clothes to make me warm,

A soft bed to sleep on.

Thank you Lord, that you are Lord, and no one else.

All my day, Lord, I surrender;

Today there will be no pain, no worry

Today I will exercise my faith,

By praying for others, prophesying the good,

Please, Lord, if at any time of this day I forget about you,

or get caugth doing only what my flesh wants,

Let your Holy Spirit remind me that I live for you.

I want to be like you, Jesus.

And that's why I say Good Morning, Lord.

Day 267 - The Spiritless Church

I saw a quote the other day that said take the Spirit out of most churches and nobody will notice the difference. That's sad, really sad, the whole point of the death of Christ is that He died and left His spirit on Earth to dwell among us and give us the insights that Jesus wants us to have. It is through the Spirit that things happen, it is through the Spirit that we act in the church, and do the will of God.

If the Spirit is not present, there is no point in doing good acts, because God said, I will recognize you not for doing good things but for doing my will.

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" John 3:3

A murder can become blameless with Jesus pardon, but a little kind housewife, mother of children that gives food to the poor every month can go to hell if she doesn't do does things for Jesus and does not have the Holy Spirit with her.

The churches and it's Christians have become Spiritless, they go to church which is awesome, but their hearts don't belong to Christ, their lives are not led by the Spirit. How can they do God's will then?

- They can't.

Day 266 - The Love of Jesus

The whole Bible talks about one central theme: the Love of Jesus.

It goes all around the statement that we, humans, have been separated from God by sin and would not be able to enter heaven, none of us would be acceptable where God is. That's the whole point of Jesus' death. In order for us to be saved, we would need a perfect history, but none of us are perfect, the only perfect one is Jesus, God Himself that loved so much this world that wanted to save us, so gave Himself as a man, and died a death of cross.

"God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes shall receive eternal life"
John 3:16

Day 263 - Nature vs. Reason

The unbelievers use reason as an excuse to not obey God, they say it is illogical that we have been created by God and that Science is the correct one. Now, the thing that I don't understand it, when we follow God we have to use our rationality in order to push our nature away and do not follow our instincts, which would make us like animals, but the 'rational' people just follow their natural instincts as if doing that is to be rational.

It doesn't make sense, does it?
How can you say, 'I believe in science and in rational things' but the minute later you are in bed with somebody you barely know just because your hormones are telling you to. Is that being rational?

When we obey the law of God we have to go against our nature, that's the big thing about being a believer and that's why it is so hard to be a true Christian, so how can people say Christians don't use their reasons and logics?

"But these men say evil about such things as they have no knowledge of; and the things of which they have natural knowledge, like beasts without reason, are the cause of their destruction." Judas 1:10

_______________________________________

Razão x Natureza

Aqueles que não crêem em Deus usam a racionalidade como desculpa para tal, dizem que não tem lógica que tenhamos sido criados por um Deus e que a Ciência é que está correta. Agora, o que eu não entendo é, quando obedecemos a Deus temos que usar a racionalidade para deixar a natureza de lado, do contrário agiríamos como animais. Mas as pessoasl 'racionais' simplesmente seguem seus instintos, como se o fazendo estariam sendo lógicos.

Não faz sentido.

Como você pode dizer 'Eu creio na Ciência e em coisas racionais' mas no minuto seguinte está na cama com um quase estranho só porque seus instintos te disseram para fazê-lo?

Quando obedecemos a Deus temos que ir contra à nossa Natureza, e é por isso que é tão difícil ser um verdadeiro Cristão. Então como as pessoas podem dizer que acreditar em Deus não é racional?

"Estes, porém, dizem mal do que não sabem; e, naquilo que naturalmente conhecem, como animais irracionais se corrompem." Judas 1:10

Day 261 - Our duties

Three passages within the same two pages talk define our duties as Christians in this life:

Since God chose you to be holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:12-13

Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. Colossians 4:5-6

For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people, He alone examines the motives of our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 1:4

Those things being said, I can only affirm that God knows what we are doing and why. We can't be hypocrites before Him. He has given us clear instructions and on the day of our judgement, the truth will prevail. He knows the truth, He IS the truth, and before Him we are just small little grasshoppers.

Let His will be done, the way He wants, how He wants. And let us follow His instructions with honest hearts.
Amen.

Day 260 - Patience

You wake up in the morning and hear the neighbour shoutting....Patience
Your kids don't want to do their chores or don't want to eat dinner....Patience
You search, search and search and can't find a job.....Patience
You are trying to show somebody that Jesus is the answer....Patience
You are in a hospital bed, and there is nothing you can't do about your condition....Patience
Your boss don't understand the things you try to explain...Patience
You want to get married, but God hasn't showed you the one yet....Patience

For everything in life there is a season, and all things are under God's mighty power, therefore He knows when it's time to plan and when it's time to harvest, and He will let us know through His Spirit. We must persevere, be strong in faith, work hard and wait for the results in every area of our lives. God is good and He knows what He is doing.


"Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." James 1:3

"We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." Hebrews 6:12

 

 

Day 259 - Finishing well

Today my day did not start very well, it kept going, and going, and it just went worse and worse. My heart felt as if it was sinking into a deep mire. As I got home and stared at the computer screen trying to find something to write about I realized, He, the Lord of it all is alpha and omega, therefore He is the beginning and the end, so even if my day has been that great, what matters is that at the end of it I still have my God's Grace with me, and that I can feel His love, that I can breathe the air He gave me, and that I can say, I am alive because of Him.

So many people with real problems out there, mine are nothing compared to lots of ill and suffering people that I don't have any idea about. Even those, they are not in the worse situation, because this life is temporary, but the ones who don't know who our Lord is or who refuse to recognize Him as Lord, those people really need help and I feel bad for them. At the end of a bad day, I can cry out to my God and say God, help me. But those who don't have Him, what can they do?

Day 256 - Blessed are those...

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." Matthew 5:3-11

I am out of words when the Word of God says it all.

Day 254 - God calls me

God calls me to do what I am not capable of doing by myself, or what I wouldn't do on my own.
That just means: 'It is not the way I wanted!'

But God also says He will be with me all the time, by my side, giving me strength and wisdom to face everything that comes my way. Isn't that beautiful?

God's Will will not take you where His Grace can't cover you up.
That said, it is better for me to go where I am insecure and I don't know what to do, but it's where God wants me to be, that to be where it feels safe and I know what to do, but God's grace will not back me up, anything could happen.
The safest place to be is in the centre of God's will.

Day 253 - Expectations

All of us have expectations, about everyone and everything, including expectations about ourselves. The question is, do our expectations match with what we are here for?
- What are we here for? To love and give, or to be loved and receive? To serve or to be served?

- God's main goals for us here is first, to love Him, then to love others as ourselves.
Of course sometimes we have to think reasonably but if God is telling us something, for example, we have saved some money and we aren't sure what we were going to do with it, we had plans, let's say a trip, or a new couch. And then God tells us, give it to the poor, or do something specific with it. We have to do it, no question.

- It may be frustrating that we have to put our desires down in order to fulfill God's desires, but it is all worth it and in cause of a bigger and better plan.

- If our expectations are to please God to begin with, our own wants will mostly match with His, and there will be no space for frustration and it will be easier for us to let go on earthly things.

Day 252- Our two natures

What makes Jesus so special is that He has two natures, a human nature and a divine nature. He has the same struggles of a free willing human but at the same time, in His Spirit He is God, what makes Him be a perfect being.

We, on the other hand, are born with one nature, the human one. Therefore since we are born we follow the wants and needs of our human nature, we cry when we are hungry, we act on emotions and feelings until one day it all changes.
The change in that pattern is when we accept Jesus in our hearts. According to the Bible, when we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, He lives inside of us in our Spirit. What was empty before, or even full of evil, now is clean and filled by Jesus' power.

That's the advantage of having a God living inside of us, controling our spirit and soul, of course we still have the wants and desires of our human nature but because our Spirit is in Jesus' control, we no longer fall for them, we now have the tools to control ourselves and do not be enslaved by wants and wishes.

Day 250 - The greatest of all

Who would you want to serve? The Loving King or the Loser of Darkness?
Why would anyone want to serve a loser???
Since there is no in between, whoever is not in light, is already in darkness, and it's just too bad for you, although Your Father will still cry in sadness for a lost child, but He will rejoice with the ones who chose to stay at His house of Glory.

"He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life." Revelation 21:6

"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Matthew 12:30

"They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings —and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." Revelation 17:14
Amen.