Devotional

October 11, 2021·Nicole Leao

The Children of Today

Building Alliances In one of our schools, we made a street with a round-trip track that surrounds some of those big plastic toys. For a parent meeting, I was visiting this unit in the evening and came across some beautiful (and well made) parked cars and trucks, neatly made out of cardboard by the parents of the small students, for a traffic education activity that would take place the next day. At the moment I thought of the pleasure and joy that both parents and children were feeling: one making the cars and the other playing and learning with something made by their parents. Seeing that, I remembered that a little over 20 years ago I was unemployed and had no money to buy presents for my twin sons…I had no doubts: I got some cardboard and Styrofoam…I took the two tricycles they had and turned them into two beautiful airplanes, with wings and tails. On the street at home (where no cars go) I drew a runway on the ground and we played all afternoon. This is how I see commemorative dates as Children’s Day (in Brazil, October 12nd): a great opportunity to celebrate the fact that we have […]

devotional

September 30, 2021·Nicole Leao

Does God have favorite children?

Have you ever wondered if God has favorite children? Perhaps at some time of difficulty you thought that God cared more for your other children, after all, you were doing everything right, but the Lord was not rewarding you as you expected. The lives of your brothers and sisters in the faith may have seemed better, more exciting, as if God had a favoritism for them. So, does God have favorite children? Am I one of them? In today’s text we are going to dig into this topic together and understand what the bible has to tell us about it. Favoritism and God For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 When I read these two words (favoritism and God), one next to the other they sound very strange to me, don’t you think so too? After all, God is just and in his justice would have preference among his children? I would also like to reflect on the above passage. Our Lord gave his only Son, not for one or two people, but for whoever believes in him. Because […]

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September 27, 2021·Nicole Leao

How do you fight your battles?

In the last weeks we have talked a lot about preparation, mortification of the flesh and all of this also having in mind the importance of fasting, because as we have been talking about here, it doesn’t make God nicer, but through the mortification of our flesh our spirit is more attentive and prepared for battle because we are strengthened. So, to begin with, reflect: how do you fight your wars? With your own strength, with total dependence on God, but forgetting to seek Him? With confidence in the Lord, but doing your part? Well, I am sure that if you have not faced any fight in the last times, you have seen someone else go through one. I say go through because there are those who don’t even fight, they just let themselves fall apart. But from today on I declare that even if you don’t know where else to get your strength from, you will not give up, you will do your part, preparing yourself and facing every evil that may be happening to you, because even if you are tired, your God is perfect and strong, so when you are weak, you are strong in Him. Put […]

bible devotional

September 13, 2021·Nicole Leao

How to heal a wounded heart?

The verbs wound, hurt, injure, and offend are applied when there is emotional suffering, which comes from the heart, for the heart as we know it is the center of emotions. Perhaps you feel or have felt unappreciated or rejected. These are wounds that can generate severe consequences in life, for a wounded person hurts another as well. So it is essential that we be healed and heal our hearts as soon as possible. How is your heart? I know that sometimes life can be hard, but do you know what? God is looking for a wounded heart to heal. We know that in this world we will have afflictions, so our heart must be protected from evil and in God we find healing. As it is written in Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and deals with their sufferings”. A wounded heart finds no peace “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.” – Isaiah 32:17 When our heart is wounded the peace that we should find seems distant and do you know why? Well, in Isaiah 32:17 we read that the fruit of righteousness will be peace. When our hearts are wounded, […]

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September 02, 2021·Nicole Leao

Is there hope for your country?

We often hear phrases like “this country is hopeless”, especially in the midst of crises like the one we and the whole world faced (and still faces) in the area of health with the coronavirus, which also impacted other areas, one of them being the economy, with unemployment, high prices and instability in various sectors. But will your country be able to get back on its feet? And what is our role as citizens? A good Christian should always be a good citizen They tell him: From Caesar. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s. Matthew 22:21 That being so, first of all Christians respect laws, obey them. A good Christian votes conscientiously, does not omit himself, but rather is present, fights for the transformation of the world and the society where he lives. He pays his taxes, no matter how heavy they are in his pocket. You can even fight for fairer taxes or for a more just society, for rulers who govern seriously, but without failing to fulfill their duties. If we want a better country, we can start by doing the right […]

devotional word-of-god

September 01, 2021·Nicole Leao

You are not alone!

In a world with more than 7.674 billion people, we see more and more isolated people. And being isolated is not always about having or not having someone around you. This is often related to how you are feeling, with the impression of not having anyone to trust, to count on, or even feeling like you need to keep a mask of happiness all the time. Maybe you who are reading this text right now are feeling this way and I want to tell you right away: you are not alone! It is not easy to talk about, but it is necessary Honestly, today it is not easy to write this reflection, not because I have nothing to talk about, but because I have seen many times Christians disdaining when the subject is mental health by considering anxiety, depression and other mental disorders as a lack of God. So before I say anything, I want to remind you that our bodies and minds are complex and that even God-fearing people with their stories portrayed in the Bible have faced such difficulties. Elijah and Depression while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, […]

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August 23, 2021·Nicole Leao

Why make much ado about nothing?

It’s easy to see children making “scenes” that seem unnecessary to their elders. When they are little because they don’t want to eat, sleep or wear something, when they grow up a little more it’s because a friend turned his face away or got a lower grade than expected, but here’s the real point of this text, even adults thinking that none of this is necessary, sometimes we do the same or worse. We turn a simple situation into something much bigger than it should be, and this is a theme that touches on another aspect of human character, because it involves lack of patience, fear, insecurity, despair, lack of conviction in what God is doing, and so on. However, I believe that there are two the most striking aspects of this expression and in them are fear and lack of understanding. Fear Didn’t I command you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 As we have already written here fear is not always bad, it was created and is in us also as a warning of danger, but when it hinders us […]

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July 29, 2021·Nicole Leao

It’s time to overcome your insecurities

Have you ever felt inferior or self-pitying, felt that everyone was judging you, but in fact none of it was real. As human beings we sometimes have inferiority complex and insecurities that come in and make us feel too small and what does the Bible have to say about this? Well, complexes imprison us and everything that imprisons us is not good, for we have been called to freedom in Christ. Many people feel this way because they have lived in hostile environments, suffered bullying or been criticized too much, and as a result, they end up absorbing the external problems, which makes everything more complicated. But today I want to bring two biblical examples about inferiority and self-compassion. Through the stories of Gideon and the prophet Elijah, we will better understand what the word of God has to tell us about these things. Gideon and inferiority The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why […]

devotional word-of-god

July 07, 2021·Gabriela Angerami

A powerful tool for connection

Do you know what one of the most powerful tools of connection is? Generosity! Keep this in mind: generosity is a powerful tool for connection. Let’s talk a little bit about it. Paul encouraged the churches to be generous It is interesting that in the apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we see him encouraging the Gentile churches to contribute to the church of the Jews in Jerusalem. There were Jews in the Jerusalem church going through need. And Paul knew the weight that Gentile contributions to Jews would carry. The church of the new covenant in Christ Jesus, in which non-Jews, that is, Gentiles also became part of the people of God, was also new at that time. The Corinthian church’s act of generosity to the church of Jews in Jerusalem would symbolize the unity of the church. In this context, Paul was using generosity as an instrument of connection. The results of generosity in the Church In 2 Corinthians 9:13-14 it is very cool to see Paul pointing to what the results of that generous act of the Gentiles would be. “As a result of your service, (1) they will give glory to God. For your generosity to […]

devotional love-your-neighbor

July 06, 2021·Nicole Leao

In what area are you crying out for God’s care?

It is difficult to find someone who says that life is perfect, there is always one or another thing that could be better, some area of life that needs more care and today I would like to bring an answer, a comfort to the heart of those who are anxious, in 1 Peter 5:7, it is written: “Cast all your anxiety on him, for he cares for you. Independent of the area God has the solution The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. Psalms 37:18-19 Did you know that for God there is no area of your life that is more or less important? Be it sentimental, health, employment, or even things that to our eyes are simple and we don’t even think that deserve great care. You are important to the Lord and He takes care of His children at all times. An important reminder is that God takes care of the righteous as it is written in the verse, so we always need to evaluate ourselves and ask forgiveness for our failures, forgive those around us, […]

devotional word-of-god

July 02, 2021·Nicole Leao

Impact the lives of those around you!

Do you impact the lives of those around you? Better yet, do you positively impact the lives of those around you? These are questions that lead us to reflect about how we conduct ourselves before our neighbor and about something that we have talked a lot about lately here, about our ministry as renewed in Christ. You and I have a mission to be light of the world and salt of the earth, living this way for eternity, but have we been acting this way? I would like you to think in this moment: in the last week have I blessed lives, have I been indifferent, or have I caused harm to anyone? Of course, our first mechanism is to believe that we did everything right, but we need to take responsibility. To become responsible for our faith, for our mission, and for the mistakes we make. And as a sinner who is always learning and seeking to improve, I want to admit to you that in the last week I have failed to positively impact people’s lives, I was so focused on my own issues that I didn’t prioritize those around me and more than that, I negatively impacted […]

bible devotional love-of-god love-your-neighbor

July 02, 2021·Gabriela Angerami

How to store up treasures in heaven?

Today I would like to share something about the relationship between generosity and eternity. God wants to teach us to live with eyes that can see far beyond what is visible, temporary, finite and earthly. When the Bible teaches us to be generous, it is precisely teaching us to have an eternal look with regard to our resources, possessions, and money. It is teaching us to store up treasures in heaven. Let me give a simple example here: when a mother or a father sits down with a child to do his homework, the child looks at the video game or some other toy next door and wants to play. The child thinks about what he wants at that very moment. He thinks only of the present while his parents worry about learning, about developing and about the next school years. More than that, parents dream about the future of their children. We who are already grown up are able to plan the next years, to organize ourselves for some future medium or long term dream. But more than this, our Father wants to teach us to live and plan our lives with an eye to eternity. And this also […]

devotional word-of-god

June 21, 2021·Nicole Leao

Keeping Calm in the Midst of Chaos

We get up, pray, and decide “today will be a good day” or “this will be a productive day”, the productive day begins, but then we hit traffic, get our clothes dirty leaving the house, or some other unforeseen event. In the case of those who are home office workers, the child starts to cry, the neighbor starts the drill, dogs bark non-stop. And then stress arrives With this comes stress, which accumulates, accumulates, and accumulates some more. In a short time we forget our posture at the beginning of the day and adopt a completely different one, where we start to believe that nothing works out, that we won’t be able to finish everything we need, and many times instead of following through and doing what is necessary, we just complain. Wouldn’t it be easier to choose to put these little things aside and continue having a good and productive day? Certainly, but we prefer to let the little things get in the way of our performance, finding in them excuses for our bad moods and for being grumpy with those we live with. But come on, it’s not people’s fault what happened to you. Some things are inevitable […]

devotional

June 15, 2021·Nicole Leao

The renewed in Christ are strangers in this world

These days a very dear friend of mine passed away, a person who lived to serve and in whom the image of Christ was reflected in every attitude. All my friends, as well as I, were heartbroken, because we did not expect this, but we found comfort in knowing that he was in the arms of the Father, that he had lived in an integral way, made great friends and left a precious legacy. What is our priority? I know that I am talking about a death, but this is not meant to be a sad text, only reflective. The day after the death I woke up and remembered the lessons left by this dear person. And something that throughout the day bothered me was: we are here to serve the other and spread the love of Christ, so I ask: do people feel loved by us? Do we show all this care and love? Are we so focused on our “little world” that we forget about the other? How often do we think that we are going through something much more difficult than the people around us, and so we give ourselves the false right not to give them […]

devotional word-of-god

June 11, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Living in God’s time!

This week I wrote a text about how we should not live our lives in a hurry, much less comparing ourselves to others, because each person has a time and more important than that, there is a right time for everything and God knows what it is. After all, life is a big puzzle, in which we do not know which is the final figure to be formed, but our good Father does. That is why we must trust Him, we have no way of knowing what will happen in the future, because it belongs to God, so the best we can do is to entrust it to the Lord. So, with this in mind, today I want to pray with you to deliver our goals into God’s hands and live in His time. I leave here a passage especially for you today: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born 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 […]

devotional prayer

June 10, 2021·Nicole Leao

You don’t have to live in a hurry, God has a time for everything

I see that the last generations are the ones who most talk about enjoying the moment you are in, but in a contradictory way are the ones who most want to conquer everything before 30. At 21 years old I include myself in this thought, I will finish college this year and I am already crazy about what I will do for graduate studies, when I will have my own apartment, car, and a lot of things. Also, even at such a young age I already see friends in a hurry to get married, super anxious about the wedding or even already married and thinking about children. So I ask myself, why is it that the generations that most say that you don’t have to conquer everything before 30 are the ones that are in a hurry the most? Well, there is certainly the point that the country’s economy has been in a bad way for years when we think about the rush to professional life. When we think about haste in relation to marriage, it is either because the couple wants to have a holy relationship and this leads to an earlier marriage or because of the unhappiness of […]

devotional word-of-god

June 08, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Prepare for battle!

In the last text I wrote about the importance of putting on the armor of God to prepare us for battle, whether it occurs within ourselves, when it is against our flesh, or when the enemy uses someone to get at us. We pray asking and giving thanks for so many things and sometimes we forget to put on the only armor that not only protects our physical, but also our mind and heart. Remember, your mind is meant to be a place of peace, as well as your heart, and if it hasn’t been, maybe it’s time to do a self-evaluation and understand why this has been happening. You are a child of God and called to live a life of abundance, so let’s pray together against the snares of the enemy, against the lies he tells us, for self-control and wisdom. I leave here a passage especially for you today: 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the […]

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June 08, 2021·Nicole Leao

You need to put on the armor of God

Today’s theme came up when I woke up early in the morning with my heart racing and wondered how many people didn’t wake up like that. Sometimes we face battles with ourselves, repetitive thoughts, bad feelings that come and go, and I know it can be very difficult to deal with all this, but the first step is to put on the armor of God. A battle that takes place in our mind and heart, that is, in ourselves, can be more painful and difficult than a battle with another person. Not minimizing battles that occur because the enemy is using someone else to get at you, because for those too we need to be clothed and prepared. But the battles where we have to fight against our own flesh are certainly not easy. We are masters of deceiving ourselves and telling lies to ourselves, putting ourselves in the position of victim and poor wretch. Being that we are children of God and called to live a life of abundance. Our minds and hearts should be a place of peace and tranquility, so why is our heart so troubled? This is a question I have been asking myself, after all, […]

devotional word-of-god

June 04, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Letting go of fear!

Today I had to take a test that I do every year because I have had diabetes since I was 11 years old, called the glycemic curve. It is a lengthy exam that takes about 3 hours to complete, so I spent a long time in the laboratory to collect all the necessary blood tests. In the meantime three people passed by that caught my attention. The first was a young man about my age who was scared to death of needles and as I am very communicative I started to talk to him to divert his focus, who soon calmed down and finished the exam. The second was a little 10 year old girl, who came into the room crying because she was afraid of the exam, her mother told her repeatedly not to look, but she was so afraid that she needed to see what they were doing in her arm, I started talking to her again, telling her a little about my experience with this uncomfortable exam and even though she was crying she stopped paying attention to the needle and stayed with our conversation, managing to let the nurse take the blood. The third was an […]

devotional prayer

June 02, 2021·Nicole Leao

Create a Powerful Morning Routine

These days I saw an image on Instagram that made me think about how is our morning routine. Well, the image compared the routine of someone who works too much and that of someone who has a balanced life. I agree that the ideal would be for all of us to have a more peaceful routine where we have the morning time, but we don’t live in an ideal world. We work, study, have families, and all of this makes life a bit of a rush, so I would like to ask you, “what are your mornings like?” I particularly identify mornings as a very precious moment of our day. God’s word instructs us to praise Him first thing in the morning. But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. Psalms 59:16 You know, one thing I realized a long time ago is that when we seek God in the morning our day is transformed and no matter how much adversity there is, we are stronger to overcome it. When we seek our father early in the morning the biblical truths, from the […]

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May 31, 2021·Nicole Leao

How is your time with God?

Maybe this is a little different from what you are expecting, but well, here we go. These days I was watching the movie “Cheaper by the Dozen”, a very famous movie that many of you may have seen more than once, about a family that has 12 children. In the movie the family deals with the challenges of everyday life, but with the message of always being united and helping each other. It is not a Christian movie, but it is a movie that when I finished watching, I felt great peace in my heart, it brought me great joy and a feeling of gratitude. But what does this have to do with time with God? Well, at the end of the movie, I looked out my window and had a moment of reflection and contemplation, thinking about how nice that evening was and thanked Him for all that God has done and for His perfect creation. Such a moment led me to reflect a bit on what it is to spend time with God. Our father is omnipresent and is with us all the time, he sees everything we do and to talk to him, we just need to […]

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May 19, 2021·Nicole Leao

God has the power to transform any situation!

Did you know that God has the power to remove from your life everything that limits you and fill it with positive feelings and company, which make you want to evolve and be a better person every day? He can transform our hearts and present a new world, but for that we need to believe and trust this promise. When we trust the Most High, we need not fear any evil, because He will always place us exactly where we need to be to achieve our happiness. God is the master of twists and turns, He knows all the ways, and He is powerful enough to turn all sadness into shouts of victory. But for this we also need to be willing to change our attitudes and allow Him to be in charge of our lives. Allowing some feelings and people to let go, even if it hurts, because God knows better than we do what will bring true joy. And how to do this? The first path to transformation for those who do not yet believe in a single savior, is to accept Jesus Christ. From then on, a whole change will begin in your life. But if you […]

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April 14, 2021·Nicole Leao

The power of intercession

As you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 We are living a moment in which intercession is so necessary, with a health crisis that directly affects the economy, causing besides deaths, unemployment, and so many evils to society. It is at this moment that we think there is nothing more to be done, we see no way out, and the only desire we have is to disappear until everything is over. However, we have what to do, we are children of God, called to freedom and to be light in a world of darkness. Now you may be asking yourself: “but what is within my power?”, and I answer you that you have a powerful weapon against all that is attacking the world, prayer, and more than that, prayer with the intentionality to intercede. So often our prayers can be shallow and selfish, focused only on ourselves, sometimes not even seeking what God wants for us, but almost begging for our own will to be done instead of the will of the Most High. But it is […]

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December 03, 2020·Nicole Leao

We are forgiven in Christ

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Micah 7: 18-19 In the above passage we find a beautiful statement about God’s forgiveness for us. Micah’s prophecy certifies the total extermination of our iniquities by our God. He not only forgives them, but throws them into the depths of the sea, that is, to an unreachable place, such is His fullness and forgiveness, through grace. Forgiven through the cross The main aspect of the Old Testament is forgiveness, while the entire legal and cultural structure established by God precedes the promise of the coming of the redeemer, Christ Jesus. God’s forgiveness is the fruit of the work of Christ, who paid the debt for our sins on the cross (Col 2:13-15), so that we can be justified no matter what good deeds we do (Rom 4:5-6). Unlike the old sacrifices, the work of Christ was definitive (Heb. 10. 11-14), so that forgiveness is within […]

devotional word-of-god