Today I link our personal walks with God to Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” We must have a drive and determination to walk every day in a way that will bring forth God’s presence.
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Today I dive into the keys of effective prayer. We no longer come as beggars before the king, but enter into prayer as sons relating to a loving father. Find out what is yours according to the sacrifice of the son.
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Today I illuminate Psalms 51 through the context of David’s life. We know David as a worshiper and a man after God’s own heart, but it is important for us to study his life and understand the man behind the Psalms.
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The history of the Church is a very interesting subject, but it is not always easy to understand why so many things went so wrong. On the other hand it is important to remember that from the very beginning the church started with this idea of restoration (Acts 3:19-21). There are so many scriptures that point to the fact that …
Today I relate God’s presence in the book of Esther to God’s presence in our daily lives. God is behind the scenes orchestrating our lives, but we still have to accept and walk in the authority He has given us.
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A while ago I took part in the Spiritual Formation class my husband teaches at Shiloh University. In it, I learned about the Spiritual Disciplines. We studied several messages by John Robert Stevens and also a book titled Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster (I highly recommend this class). It was an amazing experience to participate in this course. My …
Today I talk about giving the Lord the new worship He is looking for. Worship is not about performing a lot of earthy habits, it is about presenting ourselves as we are. We must be an honest and living sacrifice to God.
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This week in our Spiritual Formation class we are studying prayer and I started meditating on the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray. Sometimes it is easy to think about prayer related to the things that we need, things we are looking for, problems that need to be solved, and circumstances that we think that …
Today I connect fasting with Matthew 22:37-40. God is not looking for us to fast in a way that shows off humility with a pious face. He is looking for us to fast in a way that changes us. What is the fast that He chooses for His disciples now? That we love one another.
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Don’t you love stories with happy endings? When the evil plot turns on its head, there is an amazing last minute deliverance and a threat is reversed that brings so much joy to all the people? If you do, you should definitely read the book of Esther in the Bible. Get a good translation like the NASB and enjoy yourself! …
Today I teach about our reaction to hearing the truth. Both Saul and David were chosen by God and both made mistakes, but only David broke his heart before the Lord when he learned the truth. Psalms 51:7 “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
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Our youngest daughter started having nightmares a couple weeks ago and it disturbed her to the point that she was afraid of going to sleep and only wanted to stay in our bed. She kept asking me why this was happening and when it would stop. I know as a mother our kids look to us to solve all their …
Today I relate God’s working in our lives to a contractor remodeling a home. God inspected the house and saw all its flaws, but still paid the highest price and sent the Holy Spirit to remodel it. It might hurt when the carpet gets torn out but we must trust God’s love during this remodel and let go of anything that would deter Him from dwelling in us.
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Today I speak about our pursuit for God’s love. Our walls protect us from the depth of love that can change us. It is time to knock the walls down and receive that God loves us to the uttermost. 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
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I just came back from visiting my family and church in Niteroi, Brazil. It was a very good time and I was invited to bring a message while I was there. The message will be published in Portuguese but here is the summary: When you look at what Saul and David went through in their lives, one thing becomes evident: …
Today I express the need for us to relate as part of God’s Family. In a family you are always learning something, even when you make mistakes you never stop belonging to God’s family.
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“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NAS) I want to pick up the thread from the last blog. I’ve been thinking about how we always think we know everything; you see …
Today I bring a communion message which encourages our daily appropriation of Christ’s provision. Christ’s love for us is the same today as it was the day he went to the cross. When we receive communion it is a matter of faith and spirit that deepens our connection with Christ’s love.
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“…but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. ” (1 Corinthians 13:10, NAS) Last week as I was talking to my daughter the Lord started talking to me about how life is one big and long transition. When you think you have things figured out, there comes the next change in our lives! A baby is born, …
Today I continue teaching out of Luke 11 where Jesus follows the disciple’s prayer with the parable about being persistent for bread. We must keep asking for bread, not to meet our personal needs, but so we can meet the needs of those God places around us.
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If you are in Christ, you are to have abundant life, increasing and overflowing. Why is it then that sometimes we don’t feel the flow of life and joy? A lot of times it is because we simply disconnected from the flow that is in our relationship with Christ. In the book of Zechariah, we read about the vision of …
I convey the difference between knowledge gained through a relationship with Christ and knowledge gained from human efforts. God wants to give us knowledge, but if we are not careful our desire for knowledge will result in the same separation that Adam and Eve experienced. Philipians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
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What is God doing now? God is working on you! So the question is, how are you relating to God’s gifts in you? How are you relating to yourself as the temple of the Holy Spirit? How do you relate to the fact that God chose you? God so loved you that He gave His Son in order for you …
As I meditated on the Lord’s Prayer I noticed some deeper truths that sometimes it is easy to forget. The first thing that we must always remember is that prayer is a relationship. It is also important to know that the Father already knows what we need (Matthew 6:8). Prayer is not giving God a to do list. Prayer is daily partaking of the bread from heaven.
We must also remember that Christ is the bread. As Jesus continued talking to His disciples after teaching them to pray, we can see that He was teaching them to not be worried about what to eat or drink (Matthew 6:25-27). And on another occasion He said, “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:50–51).
If God already knows our needs, then why do we pray for bread? In Luke 11, we can read some more details of the context of Christ teaching the disciples to pray. “And He said to them, ‘Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’’” (Luke 11:5–6). We understand that this is teaching about our persistence in prayer, but it is also teaching us that we ask for bread to feed others. We ask for the Bread of heaven to share with those in need around us. As Christians we ask the Father for our daily bread because we want to share the life of Christ that we have received.
Luke 11:2-13
Isaiah 58:6-10
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I connect our Christianity with the example of Love that Christ gave us. If we want to be like Christ, we must study how he related to the world. His life was an expression of Love and forgiveness, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:16 & 17
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I started meditating on the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray. Sometimes it is easy to think about prayer related to the things that we need, things we are looking for, problems that need to be solved, and circumstances that we think that need to change. The Lord’s Prayer starts with an identification of a …
I illuminate Jesus Christ’s desire to include us in His Father’s family. In Matthew 12:50 Jesus was not closing a door on his physical family, he was opening the door for everyone to become part of his spiritual family, “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.” We do the will of the Father by loving the Lord with all of our heart, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
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It may be hard to understand the way that God executes His plans. When Jesus Christ was born, His parents could not find a proper place for His birth. According to our way of thinking, a manger and a simple stable would not be the right place for the Son of God to be born. I think that there is …
I express the passion we must have in our walk with God. We must have a personal drive like Paul and identify with his cry in Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.”
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A while back my husband was gifted a beautiful potted Olive tree. Our last name, Oliveira, means Olive tree, and it was a sweet gift. We placed it in a corner where we can enjoy it and it receives water and sunshine every day. Around spring time it usually has a few olives on its branches which the birds around …
