Devotional

April 25, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

The Cycles of Life

It’s interesting to think about how our life is made of cycles. People come, people go, situations come and situations go. Hardly anything that comes stays forever. There are exceptions, but often that’s not how it works. If you say you’ve never gone through a cycle closure in your entire life, I’m sure I’ll find it very strange. Chapters I love to read and even more to write. I like to think of our lives as a book. At first, for us it is blank, but for God (the Author) it is filled with stories, situations, twists and much more, from our first little steps to the biggest decisions. God sees from the moment we arrive in this world, still in our mothers’ wombs. Closing cycles can often be a very tense chapter in life. Situations or other characters can leave the protagonist (me or you) confused and make him question: “why am I living this?” I was once talking to a friend, venting about a bunch of things that were going on. She looked deep into my eyes and said: “you are in despair because everything got out of your control, but that is normal, it is part of […]

bible changes cycles devotional

April 18, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Prayer: Cleanse me Lord

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9 We are human beings, full of sins. The Word itself says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). We are in need of the Lord’s forgiveness. And for that we need to repent. Today, I invite you to pray with me, asking the Lord to purify our hearts from any and all sins. Remembering that you don’t need to pray exactly as I wrote here, because everyone has their own way of talking to the Father. But if you want, I’ll be happy to accompany you. Prayer “Lord, my God and Father, I thank you for this day, Thank you for the chance to pour myself out in Your presence and for Your Amazing Grace that tore the veil that used to separate us. Father, I ask forgiveness for my sins, all those that I have committed. Forgive me, for I am flawed and need correction. Cleanse my heart, purifying it of all the evil present in it and help me to become someone better. That every […]

bible devotional faith forgiveness

April 11, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Wonderful Grace

Last weekend, we went through the Easter holiday and honestly, it’s one of my favorite dates of the year. I like to reflect on what brought us to celebrate this very important date. How did it start? Easter started long before Jesus, actually the celebration started in the book of Exodus. Hebrews were slaves in Egypt and I believe you remember that God raised up Moses to free them. Before the Red Sea miracle happened, we know that the Lord sent the famous 10 plagues. We started with the waters that became blood, then the frogs, the lice, the flies, the plague in animals, boils, hail, the locusts, darkness over the land of Egypt and then the tenth plague: the death of the firstborn. God guided, through Moses, that each family of the people of Israel killed a lamb, male, just one year old, without defects, and spread the blood on the doorframes. That way, the firstborn of that house would not be harmed. The lamb delivered in place of the first born symbolized what would become the work and sacrifice of Christ, our Paschal lamb, delivered in our place. By Grace Today, we celebrate Easter because we are freed […]

devotional easter god grace

April 04, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Ecclesiastes and Vanity

During the month of March, some friends and I set out to read the book of Proverbs. We liked it so much that we decided to continue and started Ecclesiastes. In just one chapter, we all felt impacted. Everything is Vanity The “Preacher” begins in the first few verses by saying: “Absolute futility, says the Teacher. Absolute futility. Everything is futile. What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?” – Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 He basically talks about how we get tired day after day for fleeting things. One day this world will end, Jesus will return and what will we take? Nothing. I’m not saying don’t go after a good and comfortable life, but that’s not all. So many people live their lives in pursuit of riches and goals that will have no value in Eternity. The Eternal Sameness The “Preacher” then continues and the title my Bible gives to the passage from verses 4 to 11 is “The Eternal Sameness”. “All things are wearisome, more than anyone can say. The eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has […]

bible devotional ecclesiastes vanity

March 28, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Friends that are like brothers

During 2022 and early 2023 I have experienced what in the Bible is called “friend who sticks closer than a brother” in Proverbs 18:24. And I had never understood exactly what that was like. I mean, are these friends really closer than my brother? How do I find a friend like that? There were always questions that hovered in my head. In the last two years I started to understand better. How is a friend closer than a sibling? Do you know that friend you can just count on for everything? That’s the kind of friend that is like a brother. A friend who is there to listen, advise, help in moments of anguish, but I believe that mainly, the one who takes you closer to Jesus. I found friends who truly pray for me, just as I pray for them. This is not just any friendship. It was in a service when we took each other’s hands, formed a circle and started to pray, that I began to see how healthy and wonderful it was to be with them. If you’ve already met a friend or a few friends of this type, maybe when it happened you weren’t even expecting […]

bible devotional friends siblings

March 14, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Supporting the Process

During the last weekend, I was talking about this with some friends. Our life is full of processes, many of them are difficult but necessary. The process can be defined by a desert you are going through. It can also be a period of waiting for a promise to be fulfilled. You can now be at any stage of a process. Maybe you’re at the beginning, starting to realize the difficulty of going through something; or else in the middle, already tired and not in the mood to continue; or at the end, where you start to look forward and see what you’ve been waiting for. It’s hard, but it’s worth it! One of my friends said a sentence that is still in my mind: “The process serves to generate testimony. It’s great to hear our brother’s testimony, but that’s not enough. We need to have ours too.” Is very difficult. In my not so long Christian walk, I could already see one thing: generating testimony hurts. There are many situations we face along our journey. Some are so difficult that we think we will not be able to bear it, but the Lord comforts us: “…You will have suffering […]

devotional faith prayer processes

March 07, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Know your why

I’m sure you’ve already wondered about your purpose in life, your mission, why you are where you are. I’ve wondered about this myself many times! After the conversion of my family, when I was 10 years old, I grew up seeing leaders, pastors that I love until today, exhaling their wisdom, teaching and showing the Glory of God through their lives. I confess that I often wanted to be like most of them. However, I need to discern what the Lord wants for my life in particular. As much as someone’s ministry is amazing and admirable, God may have something totally different for me. My purpose is not the same as yours I still remember my first supernatural experience with God. I must have been 11 years old and they decided to play a song during EBD. I closed my eyes listening to the song and said, “God, I don’t want anything but You. Come live in my heart”. When I realized it, I was sobbing from crying, feeling all the Father’s love enveloping me. After this experience, I went through a process of a few years until I understood that the purpose of the other is different from mine. […]

devotional prayer purpose

February 28, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

It’s not you

These times I heard a song that had the following phrase “And if my voice fails, You sing for me”. That single sentence, repeated only once, in a song lasting almost 7 minutes spoke to me a lot. Then I found out that the singer had gone through a surgery on her vocal cords and, even after the surgery, she would be unable to sing. During that time she wrote this song and added this line to the lyrics. Today she is fine and is singing again. It was a miracle from God in her life. Still, it wasn’t her story that spoke to me, but the snippet of the song. If you fail, do you continue? Think about what you do. Do you preach? Play? Sing? Teach? If something happens and you can’t do it anymore, what will it be like? What really motivates you to keep going? That’s exactly what God spoke to me. In my church I work in communication, recording, editing and writing, just like I do here on Bible Offline team. And the Lord asked me why I keep doing these things and that got me thinking. I write, record, edit, take pictures, but simply […]

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February 14, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Attracted by the Presence

I wasn’t born in a Christian home, quite the contrary. Whenever I tell our testimony, I like to say that we didn’t meet Jesus, He found us, or rather, He attracted us to Himself. So many times we have the feeling that we are going after Him, but the truth is that it is very difficult for you to look at a church, a bible or whatever it is and say “I found Jesus”. He finds us, he attracts us and when we realize it, we can say “I found what I needed”, not because we looked for it, but because He called us. Moses and the Burning Bush “Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed.” – Exodus 3:1-2 What was going on in this situation? Well, the title my bible gives to this text is “God Speaks to Moses” which if […]

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February 07, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

The God’s Time

I’m sure you’ve heard the advice several times: “calm down, wait for God’s time, everything will be fine”, but it’s never easy to wait, quite the contrary, you always think that a certain thing should already be happening, but still nothing. But don’t worry, I assure you it’s always worth it. I’ve been through some situations of God’s time not being the same as mine, and honestly? If I didn’t wait, I wouldn’t be ready to live what He gave me, I don’t regret waiting one bit. Life is made of processes “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:. a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; a time to search and a time to count as lost; a time to keep and a […]

bible devotional gods-time processes

January 31, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Don’t be like a fish out of water

It is very common to hear or use that expression “I feel like a fish out of water”, but at this point I would like to use this phrase with a different meaning. Our Christian life is like being a fish, living in a pond or in the sea. Just like a fish out of its natural habitat, when we leave God’s presence, we end up dying, not physically, but in our interior. The absence of God generates discouragement, anguish and emptiness, because only He is able to fill us completely. As Psalm 16:11 says: You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. That is, a path of life is only found in God. He is the source. It is in His presence that we find full joy. Responsibility in Life with God During our Christian walk we constantly hear the phrase: “Jesus loves you”, and that is a fact, because it was for love that He laid down His life for us. However, several times we end up using this as an excuse, after all “if He loves me regardless of doing something wrong […]

devotional faith relationship-with-god

January 24, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

God is not a genie

I would like to invite you now to close your eyes for a moment and stop to think about your prayers and the hours/minutes you spend with God. Analysis: what do you usually talk about? Do you ask for more or do you have quality time with the Father? Did you think about it a bit? Have you opened your eyes yet? Excellent! Let’s talk about it then. We can easily live a theology in which the human being and his will are placed above everything and God (I hope unconsciously) is reduced to a servant or a genie, etc You may be wondering where I’m going with this and if I’m implying that presenting your needs to God is wrong, but no, that’s not the point. It’s not that you shouldn’t ask, but you can’t summarize your life with the Father in just requests and more requests. Ceaseless search I recently started reading a book that is quite famous here in Brazil, called “The God Who Destroys Dreams – Rodrigo Bibo”. He has several analogies to things in our daily life to explain the central theme of the book, that no, it’s not an evil God who doesn’t let […]

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January 17, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Watch out for distractions!

I’ve been playing a mobile game called Candy Crush for a while now. I like him because he helps me distract my head and even de-stress. I noticed that, as you progress through the levels, the game starts using a new strategy to make you lose: distraction. Each level always has a goal, but it is common for other things to appear so that I focus on them and forget about the target of that stage. Us and the distractions In our lives this is exactly how it happens. We live our days often focused on what is not related to our goals. The Lord may have given you some targets: to dedicate yourself to His work, to do something He ordered, to follow the call He gave you, among others. Anyway, He can direct us to so many purposes to fulfill in Him. But the devil has many ways to divert us from our goals. The main one is distraction. How many times have you seen yourself on a path that seemed to make so much sense in your eyes, but when you turned to the Lord, He showed you that it wasn’t that? It is usually a slow […]

changes devotional distractions

January 10, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Prayer for the weary and burdened

The year is starting, but we came from a very troubled year for many people. It’s common to feel tired and overwhelmed, even if 2023 is just beginning. In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29 May we cling to Jesus and learn from Him to be meek and humble. Today, I invite you to pray for your neighbor and maybe for yourself so that God will bring you rest, remembering that you don’t need to pray the same way I will leave it here. After all, everyone has their own way of talking to our God. Prayer Lord, my God and Father, we thank You for another breath of life that You have given us. It was through Your grace that we came this far. Holy Spirit, we cry out to You to bring relief and comfort to our hearts. Bring peace and rest into our lives. That rest that can only come from above. Father, we ask for […]

devotional prayer rest tiredness

December 21, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Prayer for the New Year

2022 was quite a year! So many things happened: elections here in Brazil, the World Cup, among other international events, not to mention what happened in our personal lives. We can say that we only got this far because the Lord kept us. Taking that into account, I believe it’s important to pray for this year that is starting too. May 2023 be a year of blessings and joy in the presence of God. Today I invite you to pray and intercede for the new year, remembering that you don’t have to pray the same way I will leave it here. After all, everyone has their own way of talking to our God. Prayer “Lord my God and Father, We thank you for this day and for another year that You Lord is giving us. Thank you also for Your faithfulness and love. Thank you for taking care of us this past year. Despite adversity and difficulties, we know that You were always present and never abandoned us. Father, we ask you for this year that is beginning. May days of joy come! May we learn to find joy in living Your purposes and Your will. May we love our […]

devotional new-year prayer

December 19, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

A new life

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard the phrase: “New Year, New Life”. At the end of the year, here in Brazil this sentence is posted on the social media and said by family members, friends, pastors… It is a typical end-of-year sentence. During this period of the year I have the habit of briefly reflecting on my year: what got better, what got worse, the best moments, the worst, among other points. A former leader once also encouraged me to think about something I take into my life: what about my relationship with God? Has it improved, worsened or stayed the same? After all, regardless of all the other things that happened (if I got a job, got into the school/college I wanted, got a car, moved house), what matters most is my relationship with God. Everything loses value if I don’t dive deeper. Relationship with God Sometimes I find myself thinking about the ups and downs I’ve had throughout the year, including my relationship with God. After all, I’m not perfect. I always end up sinning and moving away from His presence a little, but the important thing is to always return to the Father’s feet. […]

devotional life new-year

December 16, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Our Gift

This week I heard a sentence that I found very interesting. “At Christmas, it is Christ’s birthday, but we are the ones who receive the gift of love, grace and care coming directly from the Father”. And this is a fact. Thanks to the birth of Christ we are entitled to the greatest gift there is: redemption, grace and being able to enjoy the Father’s love. Tradition Have you ever wondered what is the origin of this tradition of exchanging gifts? According to what the stories say, it began with the birth of Jesus. In Matthew 2:1-12, it is told of the three wise men from the East. In this passage each of them brings a gift to Jesus after His birth: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They say that it was Pope Liberius who made it official in 354 a.C. There is also the story of Santa Claus, which began with a Bishop who delivered gifts to needy children on Christmas Eve. All these are stories that started the tradition of gifts, including the most socially accepted and passed down from generation to generation. A proof of this for me is that even if my family is not well financially, […]

christmas devotional present

December 13, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Worship: breaking the Jar

There are many ways to develop our spiritual life and be constant in our relationship with the Father: reading the Bible, praying, fasting and worship are some of them. But today I want to talk to you especially about worship. Break your jar There is a concept that worship is that time when we are in church or in our room lifting our arms and singing to the Lord. We associate it with that “ideal moment”, when we feel a shiver. But that’s not true. We need to deconstruct the idea that worship requires the right “environment” or the right song. In the Word of God we find the following passage: “And as he sat at the table in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and breaking the flask, she poured it on his face. head.” Mark 14:3 When Jesus was in Simon’s house there was no music, there was no “ideal moment” or anything like that, but there was a sincere heart ready to pour itself out and worship the only one who deserves to be worshiped. Some studies claim that that jar […]

devotional worship

December 06, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Me and Contemplation

According to research, children up to the age of five contemplate the lives of their parents to learn and reproduce what they do. At that age, my family was not Christian, but I used to observe what my parents did in their daily lives. I noticed the way my mother took care of the house, how my father participated, how they treated their parents and so on. Many of the things I do today are a reflection of their attitudes. Me, God and Contemplation “But my eyes look to you, Lord, my Lord. I seek refuge in you; do not let me die.” Psalm 141:8 Our walk with God is no different. We are called “Christians”, which means little Christs. Therefore, our attitudes must match this meaning. Not that we will be perfect like Him, but we have a duty to contemplate His attitudes, to know how to act in different situations. We know how He would act when we seek unceasingly, meditating on the Word, to grow and strengthen. To be able to imitate someone, we have to know and live with that person on a daily basis. Our search does not end, because we can be more like […]

contemplation devotional god

November 29, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Prayer for consolation

How many times have you lost someone? Whether it’s a matter of life and death, or someone you loved has moved away? Anyway, there are several concepts to lose someone. Perhaps one of the greatest pains we will experience in this life is to see someone we love leave. I do not say lose, for we know that those who serve the Lord are saved and will find themselves in paradise, but it is a departure from earthly life for eternal life. How many times have you lost someone? Whether it’s a matter of life and death, or someone you loved has moved away? Anyway, there are several concepts to lose someone. Perhaps one of the greatest pains we will experience in this life is to see someone we love leave. I do not say lose, for we know that those who serve the Lord are saved and will find themselves in paradise, but it is a departure from earthly life for eternal life. Prayer “Lord, my God and Father, we thank You for this day of life. Father, so many brothers and sisters have lost someone in recent times. Therefore, I ask that You Lord come with Your love […]

consolation devotional prayer

November 01, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Praising in the fight

“When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, ‘These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.’ The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully. Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.” Acts 16:19-26 This is certainly one of the stories that most impacted me. The way God took care of Paul and Silas, worked a miracle, converted the jailer, how they handled the situation, are questions […]

devotional fight praise

October 25, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Prayer for Children

In October we celebrate Children’s Day here in Brazil. Our little ones have been targets of attacks from the evil one. After all, if he wants to unbalance the Church, why not go straight to the source? If he attacks children today, he mainly affects the future and the next generations. The Bible says: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6 We must invest time teaching children the Eternal Way, but also intercede for their lives, crying out that the Lord will take care and protect them from all the evil that has plagued this world. Today, I invite you to intercede with me for the lives of our little ones, remembering that you don’t need to repeat the prayer exactly as it is here. After all, everyone has their own way of talking to God, but if you want, I’ll be happy to accompany you. Prayer “Lord, our God and Father, we thank You for Your love for our lives. Father, this world is so evil and the forces of darkness have been working to get our children out of Your way. We […]

children devotional prayer

October 18, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

What is your treasure?

I particularly am one of those people in love with books. I have a full bookcase and sometimes I haven’t read all the works and titles, but I keep them all neatly organized. Because of that, this week a friend lent me a book called “The Gutenberg Bible Enigma” (Maurício Zágari), which tells that one day a missionary took one of the 48 copies of the Gutenberg Bible (the first printed book) to a Brazilian Church and the book was stolen. The whole story revolves around this fact, because that Bible was extremely valuable and could not be lost in that way. That book was the treasure of that missionary, that church, and it could not be lost. The Hidden Treasure The story in this book reminded me of the treasure hidden in the field: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44 I’m still reading the book, so I’m imagining the ending: have they found the Bible? Who was to blame? Was there really a culprit? If they found it, imagine how happy […]

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October 10, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

And when is not the time?

Have you ever had the feeling of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Getting to the level where you clearly feel within you the Holy Spirit saying, “Get out of there!”? It’s a slightly hopeless feeling, it leaves you agitated and scared. Wrong place at the wrong time Earlier this year, I was walking home after a day at work, and while waiting for the bus, I saw a man passing by, being carried by two others. He had a strange appearance and I felt uncomfortable in his presence. It was when I felt inside me someone clearly saying “get out of there”, at that moment I knew it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me. At the same moment this happened, my bus arrived and I had no peace until the moment it left the station and I was heading home. To be ready or not to be? Later, the Lord told me that it was a much more complex situation than I had imagined, which I was not ready to handle. In another situation, maybe He would send me to the man to pray for him, but I wasn’t ready for that, I still didn’t […]

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