First Commandment

 

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:2

No wonder God starts His Commandments with this as the base for all the others, making it clear who is who. He is only God to those who see Him as the only God. He does not share this position with anyone else, even because there is no one like Him. As much as people idolize all kinds of gods, none of these “gods” can fulfill a human being like He does.

For those who have watched the Brazilian soap opera “The Ten Commandments” you have seen how the Egyptians worshiped the “gods”. It was this kind of society that God delivered His people from so it was expected that they thought He would be one more “god”… that’s why God made this clear right in the beginning. I’m not one more.

And who wants to be one more?

I don’t want to! Never do I want to be one more woman in this world, one more wife to my husband, one more mother to my son, one more friend to my friends. Inside of me, I never accepted to be one more… I believe that no one likes to be one more face in the crowd or a number in the statistics. Everyone wants to be unique.

Do you know what makes a person be one more?

When she acts like any other. When she follows the crowd. When she does not stand out in anything in life. When she is satisfied with anything…

How many women are satisfied with men who treat them anyhow… They spend the night with a man to become one more in the list of women who will sleep with him. They go to night clubs and stay with men there to join the list of women who were with them that night. They accept living together to be one more woman who doesn’t know whether she is a wife or a girlfriend…

God was not one more god for His people, nor for the Egyptians, that as much as they did not believe in Him had to see His power live and in color through the ten plagues. They had to swallow every prejudice they had against the Hebrews without water and not only that … they lost the final battle being humiliated: drowned in the Red Sea. God proved that He is the One and only God.

Only those who live this faith in the One and only God can actually see His power.

But there are those who think they live this faith, but out of ignorance they have other gods. They are believers who live as if God did not exist. They live through all the plagues that those who don’t believe in God live through. They fall into depression, think about suicide, live in misery, are always sick, they are not happy in their love life and give a terrible testimony of a Christian… What they do not know is that all of this is due to the other “gods” they serve… the “god” of money, career, husband, boyfriend, son, grandson, parents, fame, car, friends, beauty, fashion and social networks (believe it or not!).

When life revolves around something or a person, it becomes a “god”. The problem is that it will never be able to make the role of the only God, the God of Israel. That’s why people get disappointed so much. They expect a lot and receive very little. They study, work, sacrifice to achieve a status that at the end of the day will not fulfill them completely. They love, surrender and sacrifice themselves for someone who ends up betraying their trust, devaluing them and causing them to suffer for love.

Yes friends, no “god” in this world has to the power to fulfill you. There is only One God and He is only God to those who make Him the One and only God in their lives.

 What you can learn by observing successful people

 

You are and will always be surrounded by people. Whether or not they’re close to you, each of them represents a learning opportunity for you. It’s amazing to see how most people don’t understand a thing about people. They spend their whole life hurting others, ruining relationships, making the same mistakes and basically not improving as individuals. They’re lousy observers.

We can learn something from every kind of person, but incredibly, there’s a tendency to only look at those who are at our same level. Perhaps, it’s because they’re the ones who least challenge us to be and do better. However, the biggest opportunities lie in those who are either worse or better off than we are. Looking at those who are worse off than we are can challenge us to help them, whereas looking at those who are better off may challenge us to help ourselves. Do you see now why we prefer to look at those who are at our same level?

Don’t be afraid to look at people who are in a better situation than you.

Instead of being jealous, getting angry or feeling indifferent towards successful people, study them. Observe how they make decisions, their habits and actions, their approach to problems and how they deal with challenges. Try to find out what they’ve been through in order to be where they are. You’ll soon see that not everyone who seems to be successful really is; and that not all of them deserve what they have. Disregard these ones.

But set your eyes on the real warriors who fought and went through hell to become the great examples they are today. Learn from them. Imitate them.

In the future, you’ll be one of them.

Watching

Luke 12:37
Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. NKJV
Be watchful, since you do not know the hour of His coming.
QUOTE OF FAITH
Blessed is the servant who is watching

Genealogy in the Bible
 

Genealogy is the study that traces the origin, family relationships, and names and surnames of an individual.

It is present in various parts of the Bible, especially the Old Testament. At first glance, a genealogical text may seem unnecessary and tiring, but the entire Bible is inspired by God and profitable for teaching (2 Timothy 3.16), and the ultimate goal of biblical genealogy was fulfilled to prove the origin of the Lord Jesus as Messiah.

In the past, it had the function of preserving the lineage of the tribes, the land they possessed, their bloodlines and legitimizing those who would serve God as Levites, priests and high priest.

The Jewish society was patriarchal. For this reason, only males would normally appear in the genealogy. However, a striking detail appears in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, in order to show that salvation comes through faith and is extended to all: women were part of His story.

It is interesting that Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel or even Esther, who were important female figures in the Bible, were part of Christ’s lineage. But, seemingly insignificant women, who rebuilt their lives through faith and His mercy, were His ancestors. Take a look at some of their history:

* Tamar – was involved in a sexual conflict (Genesis 38);

* Rahab – a former prostitute (Joshua 2.1);

* Ruth – a foreigner (Ruth 4.18);

* Bathsheba – starred in a story of adultery (2 Samuel 11).

This teaches us that it does not matter who you are or what you do. Those who wish to have a new life must repent of their sins; this way, they will be able to become part of the family of God. The secret to remaining part of this family is to never allow the shadow of the past to torment you with doubts about your sincerity before God.

But, even though the Jewish people were so zealous with the tradition of genealogies and laws, they did not realize what was fundamental: the most awaited birth of all times – the Messiah, King and Savior Lord Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem, and was part of line of David. Prophecies already indicated this: Jeremiah 33.14-17; Micah 5.2; Psalms 69.9; Isaiah 9.1; Zechariah 9.9 and 11.13.

This teaches us that knowledge of Scripture, when it is not structured in faith, becomes dangerous. Unfortunately, this religious spirit has been seen in churches nowadays. People have used the practice of religious rites, biblical knowledge, positions and titles as a crutch, and lost the best of God, which is Salvation. Because, it is as the Word of God says: the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3.6

Today, we no longer use genealogy to confirm the ownership of possessions and much less to distinguish who belongs to which tribe, because we are one in the Lord Jesus, as the Apostle Paul says: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Colossians 3.11

 Parents: Don’t argue with your children

 

Recently, a mother in trouble contacted us with the following complaint:

“My six year-old daughter is very rebellious. When I tell her to do something, no matter how simple the task is, or when she asks me for something and I don’t give it to her, she makes a scene — she yells, cries, she says that I don’t love her… Then I get angry and start arguing with her.”

One thing parents need to know is that they shouldn’t argue with their small children. For instance, when this mother engages into an argument with her six-year-old daughter, she is lowering herself to the level of her child’s age — or raising her little daughter’s to the level of an adult.

A definition of a child is, “one who has not yet fully developed the capability to reason and judge”. How could one argue or debate with someone like that?

What a child needs is to perceive the authority in their parents’ words.

When was the last time you argued with an authority? With a police officer, a doctor, or a judge? You simply accept their authority because you know it’ll be pointless to argue. You may even disagree with them and look for a way to appeal against their decision, but arguing on the spot will only make matters worse; and the authorities know about that. This is why they don’t lower themselves to the level of retaliating against those who reject and tease them.

In the same way, you who are a father or mother must discern and execute your role as an authority to our children. If your child must go to bed at nine, don’t argue about it. At best, give them one reason to make them understand (e.g. you have to be up early tomorrow morning to go to school) and then, just make sure to stick to what you’ve said: turn off the TV, take the video game away from him, turn the lights off, and that’s it! No arguing about it.

They will probably complain, cry, justify themselves, accuse you of being a bad mother, compare you to their classmate’s mother — but you shouldn’t engage in an argument. The moment a father or mother lower their level to try and argue or convince their child to obey an order or a previously established rule, they lose their argument.

We don’t engage into an argument with a child. Be very clear about the rules, limit yourself to one brief explanation as to why they exist, and then just make sure you enforce them.

Your child won’t like it, but being a parent is not a popularity contest

The pain and the dream of God
 

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Genesis 2.2

The Creator rested once His work was done, but that came to an immediate end with the fall of man. Even before man began to reap the fruit of his rebellion, the Lord God began to suffer. All of man’s suffering on Earth has been analogous to the infinitely greater suffering of God in Heaven.

What happens from the moment a mother gives birth to a child? The moment she begins to care for her child, until the end of her days, will be registered in her heart – there will no longer be peace in her life. The same happens with God. Once the first sin happened, He no longer had “peace” with mankind.

Those who think God is immune to suffering are very mislead. Those who defend this idea do not truly know Him.

When Jesus said, My Father has been working until now, and I have been working. John 5.17 This means that He is constantly working, not to pay the bills, but to save souls that were created by default and are on the route to hell.

God works in every good and faithful servant to reach those who have been rejected, are suffering, are discouraged with life, especially those who are on the verge of committing suicide. He exhaustively works to convince those living in the comfort zone of salvation and do not care about the lost souls. Yes, the Spirit of God works by playing the trumpet, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Isaiah 6.8
Jesus also commanded the disciples: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16.15

And when one soul is saved, He says: I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance… Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15.4-10

Imagine: if there is joy in Heaven when a sinner repents, what happens when a sinner does not repent? The angels and, above all, God Almighty become profoundly sad; there is suffering and pain in Heaven. Unfortunately, not all Christians or people who consider themselves to be of God think this way.

On a beautiful day, while I was on my way to work, I was thinking about my personal projects. I dreamed of making money and living a nice, quiet life. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I heard a loud, but soft voice say: What will it profit you to gain the whole world, and lose your own soul? Immediately, convinced by that warning, I began to worry about the salvation of my soul. I realized that no matter how much success I achieved in my family, career and health, one day I would die and everything would be over. And my soul, where would it go? The idea of ​​hell began to trouble me day and night, without ceasing.

God does suffer. And His pain is infinitely greater than all of ours. He knows very well where the souls of most people have gone; He has seen and heard their cries of torment in hell. God is aware that most of the more than seven billion souls, sooner or later, will go there.

Think: how does He feel knowing these facts? What have you done to save at least one soul from hell?

The Dream of God

Since the fall of mankind, the Creator’s the biggest dream has been to save them.

From Genesis to Revelation, we have seen God’s enormous effort to implement the Plan of Salvation. Certainly, until all the prophetic words of Revelation are fulfilled, God’s priority is to save souls.

This is why God created the nation of Israel and brought us His Son. He accomplished the Work of Salvation, established the Kingdom of God – His Church – and sent his Holy Spirit so that, through His servants, those who believe in His Message can be saved.

This shows that the Mind of God has been busy with the lost souls.

3 ways to become an admirable woman

Nowadays women are so concerned about becoming independent that they forget to become admirable women. In search of achievement, many become grumpy, irritable, impatient and even impolite.

There is nothing wrong with being an independent woman, but you can be admirable too! Here are three tips I learned from my mother (who I admire a lot!):

1.   Put yourself in the place of others and do to them what you would like them to do unto you. I remember when a new pastor and his wife arrived in the country where we were working and at the moment stayed at our house. They were exhausted from the trip, the move and the time difference. Less than an hour from their arrival, my mother (who was also visiting us at the time) offered to help the pastor’s wife iron her husband’s shirts. The young woman was obviously too shy to accept her offer but my mother insisted, took the ironing board and iron and asked her to bring some of her husband’s shirts because she was going to iron shirts for him to use that week. I remember thinking “my mom is the best!”.

2.   Always be a giver. One of my mother’s habits, which is very nice for those who know her personally, is to show her gratitude with a gift. I’m not exaggerating when I say that every time I go shopping with my mother, she buys something for someone. It can be something like: I’m going to visit her next week, I want to give her a good pair of shoes, as well as: She’s so good to us, I want to give her something, or even: It’s so and so’s  birthday next week. And to top it off, she doesn’t keep a calendar with anyone’s birthday, it’s all in her memory! How do you do that mom?

3.   Think of others more often. My mother is not the kind of woman you will find in a group. She hardly goes out, that is something greatly appreciated by my father. However, she makes it a point to let people know that she cares about them. A church driver had surgery and I watched my mother ask him how he was feeling, what he was eating and what he could do to minimize the effects post-surgery, I remembered how sometimes we are so focused in our lives that we are blind to see what is really happening around us.

Cristiane Cardoso

Daring

Exodus 2:2

So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. NKJV

Her actions portrayed the kind of faith she had: daring.

QUOTE OF FAITH

She risked her life,and hid him for three months.

A plan for your life

God devised a plan for each one of our lives, with highly privileged qualities that cover six essential areas in our life:

SPIRITUAL – new birth, baptism with the Holy Spirit, Salvation.

HEALTH – a healthy, well nourished body.

CAREER – no matter the profession, a successful outcome is inevitable.

FINANCES – besides being “blessed without measure”, which means blessings without interruptions, having the wisdom to manage what you achieve.

LOVE LIFE – find the “grace of the Lord,” the right person to love and be loved, to live with for the rest of your life while serving God.

FAMILY – build a united family whose members have the same Spirit, the same faith, the same spiritual goals, so your home can be a little piece of Heaven.

To take possession of this quality of life, we need to do two indispensable things that require SACRIFICE:

– First: let go of sin. It needs to be entirely eliminated from our relationship with the Almighty.

… For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6.14

– Second: remove, put aside “everything” and “everyone” who are consciously or unconsciously, occupying the “throne” at the core of our being, which was prepared since our birth exclusively for the Lord Jesus to take the wheel and direct our life. This space is His and His alone.

Remove EVERYTHING that can cause us to be emotionally attached, like a car, house, land, money; this is, material goods. Remove EVERYONE that we can emotionally attach ourselves to, such as children, husband, wife, father, mother, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc.

If you wish to have this quality of life, which we may call “the Kingdom of God”, follow this path and stick with God.

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. Psalms 91.14

For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Habakkuk 2.3

God bless you!

A Great Analogy for life After Death

A Hungarian writer explained the existence of the invisible God using a great analogy:

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why? Of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”

The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”

The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”

The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover, if there is life, then why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”

The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”

The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”

The first said: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”

To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and you really listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.”

– Útmutató a Léleknek

Do you know yourself?

You must be saying, yes, of course. But do you really know yourself?

Sometimes when I’m counseling someone I want to ask them this question… I get the impression that some of them, after making so many mistakes, bad choices and decisions in life, want to bring their messy lives for us to fix it… and we may even advise them, but what good will it do to teach and guide them if at the end of the day they will be making ‘new’ wrong decisions in life?

As long as the person doesn’t know themselves well and know why they do the things they do, the person will always depend on other people to help them and yet, will not be satisfied.

To know yourself well is to understand yourself.

For example…

• Why are you so jealous of your friends?
• Why are you so afraid of displeasing others?
• Why can’t you ask anyone for help?
• Why do you get easily disappointed by people?
• Why are you so shy?
• Why is it so hard for you to forgive?
• Why can’t you keep up with your responsibilities?
• Why do you close yourself up when you are near certain people?
• Why can’t you tell the truth?
• Why do you envy others?

These are just a few examples… many people deceive themselves thinking that these behaviors are normal, that there is no problem in being this way and that’s why they collect problems that over time will transform their lives into a total mess.

Darlings, learn to know who you are and identify your weaknesses to then eliminate them at once from your life.

In faith.

Perfect peace

Isaiah 26:3

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. NKJV

Fill your mind with the thoughts of God and keep perfect peace.

QUOTE OF FAITH

Whose mind is stayed on You.

The first step to rebuild trust

Rebuilding the relationship after a breakdown of trust between a couple is difficult, but not impossible. If both parties truly want to save the relationship, they must work together. It’s not just the one who made the mistake that needs to work; the other person who wants to trust again needs to work too.

The first step is to start being transparent with each other. The one who broke the trust must become an “open book” with their partner. Nothing to hide!

Don’t get angry when your partner asks you questions. Just answer them clearly and in detail. Better yet, don’t wait for them to ask you questions! Tell them everything in advance.

Vague or one-word answers don’t help. If your partner asks, “Where have you been?” and you answer, “With my brother,” your answer may seem perfect for you, but it’s too vague for the one who asked. With your brother? Note that the question wasn’t “who” but “where”. We usually do this when we resent the question. We give evasive, incomplete answers, which generate even more doubts. So, be straightforward, specific and detailed in your answer.

Don’t allow room for doubts. Clear them all!

The certain for the uncertain

How can someone, in their right mind, trade something they can see for something they cannot see? Something that exists for something that does not exist? Something tangible for something intangible? Only those who manifested their faith were able to do this, and only those who manifest it nowadays will be able to do the same.

Trading something certain for something uncertain was the speciality of the heroes of faith. Abraham traded his homeland for an unknown land; Moses traded the palace for the desert; Gideon traded the second bull for the help of a God he had only heard of; David traded the opportunity to kill the man persecuting him to wait for Divine justice; Ruth traded the comfort of her parents’ home to follow her mother-in-law; Daniel traded his physical integrity and position of authority for the lions’ den. In all cases, it was necessary for each one of these heroes to believe in the Word of God, instead of believing in what was before their eyes.

This is what distinguishes those who make a difference from those who don’t, those who succeed from those who fail: the first place their trust in God, while the others place their trust in what they can see. Those who use faith instead of their senses, are constantly trading what is certain for what is uncertain – and this is what allows them achieve what most do not achieve, and to be what most are not.

Those who do not manifest this unconditional faith always end up stuck in a life of limitations, made up of small and ordinary things. Imagine if the great heroes mentioned in the Bible had not traded the certain for the uncertain? Abraham would not be a father – not even of a boy, let alone a great nation –, Moses would not become a deliverer, Gideon and all the people of Israel would remain slaves of the Midianites, David would not be recognized as a man after God’s own heart, Ruth would serve other gods and Daniel would have been corrupted by the imposed decrees. They all knew this, but none was willing to have this future. Taking a risk was their only chance and the price to be paid for the life they wanted to live.

Therefore, trading what is certain for the uncertain is not for those who can afford to lose something, it is a necessity for those who are not content with small things. Remember: what is certain for the world is uncertain for God, and what is uncertain for the world is certain for God. This means that, in the end, you will be trading the uncertain for the certain – this is, what is human for what is godly. This trade is done all the time by those who manifest an intelligent faith, and it’s the only one that no one ever regretted and will never regret.

Maybe it is because you have never done this trade that you have regretted so many things in your life.