JFA Blog

Reflections, studies and news for your walk with God.

November 27, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

There’s still time

The last month of 2019 is approaching. Maybe you are wondering how fast the year has gone. These times, at least for me, it is common to think of so many things I wish I had done and not done so far. Some plans that were in my heart did not materialize. However, I am sure these did not happen because the will of God was aligned. I know that being in him, what will prevail is his purpose. And it makes me rejoice to know that all your will is good, perfect and pleasant. Proverbs 19:21 There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Changes However, I think some choices still fit us and can make our lives change and be very fruitful and enjoyable on those days left to close the year. Even though we understand that New Year’s Eve is just a day after another, like all the 365 ones, our minds like to raise expectations about the big changes that can happen. My idea with this text is to offer some suggestions for readers to practice this past month to hit the road. Turn your attention to Christ […]

happiness

November 26, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

New reading plans!

Bible Offline has an area with many reading plans. And you may never have used this feature that helps our users so much. But we are sure that you will be interested in the new reading plans that are available in the app. Reading plans are super important. We are fully convinced that the Holy Spirit enlightens us in our daily readings for ourselves. But God’s Word says that it is important to seek knowledge and also to heed the instructions and counsel of the wise. Proverbs 10:14 “The wise gather up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool is an imminent ruin.” Proverbs 11:14 “If there is no wise direction, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is security.” Reading plans are meant to help you in your daily life and also to make you accumulate knowledge. How do plans work? Too easy! Just search your menu for the “Plans” section and select the one that best fits what God has spoken to your heart. After that you will click the button in the lower right corner and start your reading. Once a day you will have access to devotional content on the theme of the […]

technology

November 20, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

A study about Jonah

When I was about six or seven years old I always went to church classes while my parents attended the service. I always listened to some occasional stories about Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David, but surely one that always caught my attention was that of Jonah. After many years, already converted, I read the book of this prophet a few times to deepen. It is interesting how much of the teaching we can draw from a four-chapter book and apply it to our Christian life. The purpose of this text is to facilitate the brothers’ understanding of history and to offer a reflection for our life from the issues involved in the text. The summary of the book of Jonah Jonah was a prophet, someone who knew the Lord and was already “a messenger of God” in the Old Testament. His mission was to go to Nineveh, a large city that was very corrupted by wickedness and sin.The prophet tried to escape God’s presence and embarked on a journey to Tarshish and away from the purpose for which the Lord had called him. Along the way a great difficulty appeared through a storm sent by the Lord. There is a […]

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November 18, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

2 Features You May Not Know in the Bible Offline

If you are reading this post it is because you already use the Bible Offline and its resources. You may only use the app for daily reading of God’s Word. However, there are numerous options to help you grow more in your Christian walk. In today’s post I will mention two functions that you may never have used or that you never thought existed. 1- Inbox The inbox is very little noticed by most users. It is very common for us to receive email about people who have missed notification about the blog texts and also about the verses of the day. Here you will find absolutely everything we send you through notifications and you don’t miss a thing! The inbox is in the main menu, both on iOS and Android, see the images: 2- Bible Themes Do you know that time when you want to find comfort in the Bible or something that can help a friend or family member? Or when you want to understand more about how God views a subject? For this we have the Bible Themes. It is an option that is intended to make it easier for the user to find the things they […]

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November 14, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

What is your ministry?

Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, (12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (14) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (15) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. “What is your ministry?” Surely every Christian has heard the question “what is your ministry?” or wondered about it. No matter who we are, we always ask ourselves why we are on this earth. We are constantly wondering what part of Christ’s body we are so that we […]

faith

November 07, 2019·Gabriela Angerami

Love with actions ♥

These days I was listening people sharing on the radio generous actions they usually do at the end of the year. It was pretty cool to hear such different ideas on how to do something good for someone else. On the commemorative dates of this time of the year, people are more proactive in help others and be generous. That made me think about generosity and that we as God’s children need to love with actions all year long. So I decided to share with you a reflection on 3 points about generosity in John 3:16. John 3:16 (NIV) – 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. 1) When you are generous you express God’s nature “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” In this passage we see that He so loved the world. The term “so” has the meaning of intensity. Then God’s intense love for us resulted in giving His son. This makes clear that one of the forms of expression of God’s love is generosity. God’s nature is generous. In Him […]

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October 31, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

The Importance of Reforms

On October 31, most Christians celebrate the Reformation Day. Much more than creating a “new denomination”. Reformation facilitated access to the reading of the Word of God. And, aligned with new technologies, it has allowed more people over the years to access to the holy scriptures. Today’s text is not an exhortation to the brothers. But rather a collection of curiosities that marked the story. Things that have made it possible for you, the reader, to have such easy access to the words of eternal life. The first translations The first “revolution” that facilitated access to God’s Word was called ‘Septuagint’. In the first century after Christ, seventy sages were gathered to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek. This was the language most used by the Gentiles at the time. History says this was crucial for the apostles of Jesus to succeed in their preaching and spreading the gospel among people who were unaware of the Hebrew line. Remember that the Apostle Paul founded churches in Greece. Another big step taken was the Latin vulgate. In the year 386 after Christ, a great biblist named Jeronimo was appointed to translate the Bible into Latin. This facilitated diffusion throughout […]

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October 23, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

We are one in Christ

I confess that it took me a long time to decide what to write on the blog this week. When I prayed in the morning, I felt like writing about the following passage: Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. We always use this passage to talk about the importance of friendship and not walking alone. But today I believe God brought me a new revelation from the same text. The importance of walking together in equality. We are all one in Christ as it is written in Galatians 3:28 (There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.) We live in a society that seeks self-satisfaction first. We have settled in our heads the constant competition with the other people around. Throughout our lives we are conditioned to always seek first place in relation to others and not to have a pure equality. This can happen in many areas of our life. Whether in search of a better position at work, or in search of greater prominence within our ministry. I am not saying that we should conform to the […]

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October 17, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Respect God’s Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: (2) A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; (3) A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; (4) A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…” If there’s anything I feel God saying to my heart, it’s always about respecting His time in my life. I’ve always been a restless and restless person, so I don’t like it when things take a long time to happen. Anyway, when I converted, I found that things didn’t work my way. Being a servant of God, I have no right to my wills. Especially remembering that He is eternal and that He certainly understands much more than I do about life and the times needed for things to be fulfilled. Don’t be anxious The biggest problem is in fear. Almost all our problems or limitations as human beings are based on fear, in fact. Not knowing what will happen […]

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October 10, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Be like a child

On October 12, we celebrate the children’s day in Brazil. And while this date is really focused on children, I thought I’d bring to this blog a comment about a sermon from Jesus about the importance of being like them. The text is well known. Many people, however, take it literally and believe that Jesus really was talking about little children. But in this study we will see what the Lord actually meant by this passage: “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Mt 18:1-6) […]

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October 03, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Overcoming the concern

We all know, or should know, that being a Christian is not a promise of easy living. On the contrary, when we are on the path of truth, many things seem to come against us to divert our attention from the focus, which is Jesus Christ. And when I say the focus is Jesus, I have in mind the constant thought of obeying and pleasing the Father. Having full faith that the Son of God has given Himself for us. He has already acquitted us of all our sins and pains, giving us the possibility to live, through the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God. A place where there is no crying, sadness or unrest. The biggest “problem” is that even though we have been reborn in Christ, we still live in a body of flesh. This body of ours is corrupted by sin and is unable to choose God’s will. This is why Paul says in the letter to the Galatians that we strive to walk constantly in the Spirit. Now, walking in the Spirit is nothing but living with our conscience focused on Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, […]

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September 26, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Do not give up!

The days have passed very fast. Sometimes I find myself wondering even if the earth has rotated faster than normal. See, we are already closing the month of September! (When I was younger it didn’t seem like time ran as fast as it does today). Unlike other days, I will not post text about exhortations or my theological reflections. I’m going to talk about suicide. This is a much discussed theme in this “yellow september” that it is used to make people aware of something that can sometimes be happening under our eyes without we seeing it. Depression Many brothers who read my texts here may have already seen that I was, in fact, recently converted. That before I was an atheist and denied the existence of God for some years. What few know is that I had a moment of depression in my life and some thoughts of death came to mind at that time. However, this is not unique to atheists. Depression is not a lack of God, as I see many believers saying all the time. I have seen people very used by God go into crises of deep sadness, what is very painful. Trying to explain […]

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September 19, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

How to admonish a brother correctly

In recent weeks we have been dealing with such things as God’s rational love, the impossibility of walking alone, and how to be a good friend. Along the same lines, we must also learn how to correctly admonish a brother. That we may all be aligned with the will of God. Humility The first thing needed to admonish someone.Or to bear fruit from an exhortation for a brother is humility. In this is the recognition of our own mistakes and failures and the understanding that we have limited in wisdom. With this in mind, we learn to value other people’s wisdom. And we also begin to understand that it is more valid to admonish the brothers in those things we have already been purified. There is no use on me exhorting a sister about her gossip if I can’t control my tongue myself and I do the same thing. Phil 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. Biblical basis Along with humility, there must be a correct biblical knowledge. We should admonish others around us based on God’s Word. Exhort means to teach or encourage. If teaching or encouragement is […]

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September 12, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Are you being a good friend?

Over the past few weeks I have covered topics in an attempt to show you a little of what I understand about the love we should have for each other. We learned about agape love and also reflected on how good friendships are important. Following this line of thought and this series of texts, I decided to talk about how to be a good friend in Christian ways. The only purpose The first thing to do is to understand the ultimate purpose of a Christian life. That comes down to being more like Jesus Christ. God does not just intend for us to imitate his son. But He wishes that through his sacrifice we will continue to be ever more like the Lord in a genuine way. Jo 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The friend on the walk When we understand the ultimate purpose, we […]

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September 05, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Walking alone is impossible

This Wednesday I celebrated my twenty-fourth birthday. Yes, if you have not had this knowledge, I am just a young man who loves the Lord. But anyway, I didn’t come to talk about my celebrations. And yes, something that caught my attention when I received some messages. Even before this day I was thinking of writing about friendship. In my time living outside the church I was always surrounded by people. It has never been my personality to be someone who prefers to be alone. The problem that some people have already lived in the time they were estranged from the practice of the Christian faith is that friendships hardly are deep. As I mentioned in the last text, Christian love never demands anything in return. We surrender ourselves (at least we should) to the others as Christ did for us. And by understanding that people who do not practice love are not perfected in God constantly. We understand that there will hardly be an unconditional exchange in a friendship where Christ is not the center. Friendships Strengthen Christian Walk In a short time living inside the church, I found a family. I have made friends and started to reflect on […]

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August 29, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

The love of God

These days I’ve been a little restless. Some things in earthly life made me feel discouraged, and as a result, my energy to keep pace with prayers diminished a little. Glory to Jesus. Through the maturity He has given me, I can more easily see where my refuge is and the source of my joy. In the midst of this rather bad time, feeling anguished, I threw myself into Father’s arms. I turned off everything that could get in my way, turned off the lights, and cried for his peace. Humbled myself at his greatness and apologized for the lack of wisdom in not running right into his arms at the first opportunity. I opened my mouth and said out loud what was going on and why my heart was so heavy. At that moment I felt God talking to me about His genuine love for men. I was taken with virtue and peace. Ran to open my bible and began to try to understand more deeply what had just come to my mind at that moment of prayer. I decided to share some of this with you today. The concept of love Although we use the word “love” for […]

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August 22, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Testimony: putting the heart in the right place

You must have noticed. At the end of all the texts I post, I ask you to send testimonials for us to publish here. Today, for the first time, we will have a text based on the testimony of a user. Lilian sent us a message after the post “Where is your heart?” telling how she was impacted by the message. A few days later, I got in touch to see how her walk with Jesus was, and I was very happy with the answer. I leave to all the brothers this wonderful testimony. Lilian’s first testimony Hello Marcelo! I’m here to talk about how your blog spoke DIRECTLY to me now. Yes I just read the text “Where is your heart?”. I lived something similar, but unlike you, I did not obey the voice of God. As a teenager, I had one goal in my life: to be recognized and achieve everything in the professional area. No other area of my life mattered to me. I converted before I went to college, I loved Jesus, but I followed the purpose I had set. That was “grow professionally”. So far so good, I studied, graduated, and kept working at church, […]

life-style love-of-god testimony

August 20, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

No more shame!

For those who do not know. Along with some texts I write for this blog, sometimes I make some more in-depth videos about the subjects posted and publish it on my Instagram profile. A few months ago, a follower shared one of these videos on his profile. With this, a girl found this blog and began to be interested in the content. At the same time, it began to feed her desire to know Jesus in a purer, non-religious way. This woman eventually discovered the church to which I belong (Butantã Family Christian Church – São Paulo) and one day decided to visit us. After the service, she came to me and we talked about Christianity and how God had changed my life through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The look of happiness in her eyes that day was extraordinary. It was noticeable that this woman had just been impacted by the gospel only in the way she talked about how she had found herself. I went home overjoyed that day. Even writing for a blog in an app with millions of users, I’m still a simple young man who barely understands what’s going on. So it’s normal that sometimes […]

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August 12, 2019·Gabriela Angerami

Why is it so hard to forgive?

A few days ago I received an email from Barna Group, which is an American faith and culture research organization. This email motivated me to write this text. In the message, they released the results of a study on forgiveness and mercy that showed the following findings: One-quarter of practicing Christians says there is a person who they cannot forgive. Almost half of practicing Christians say mercy doesn’t influence their thoughts or actions or they haven’t thought about whether it does. One in five practicing Christians reports struggling to receive forgiveness for something they have personally done. Christians grapple with whether certain people deserve compassion or forgiveness, and they are not all that different from non-Christians when it comes to embodying merciful attitudes and actions. It is even contradictory to think that christians, that is, people who were reached by grace and who understood that they were forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus, have difficulty in forgiving. But the data showed this sad reality. We also know that when someone hurts us, it really is not easy. Forgiveness is something supernatural As soon as Jesus rose from the dead and made his first visit to the disciples, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and […]

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August 07, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

God is Father

Next Sunday carries the commemorative date of Father’s Day here in Brazil (I’m a brazilian boy, if you didn’t know yet). Trying to think outside the bubble where I live and trying to take my thinking to various realities, I understand that my conception of parenting is totally different from many of you who are reading. I confess I have never had problems with my father. The quarrels were always for something wrong I did or for my father in his love correcting me. I think my only difficulty was that my father was always very reserved and not of talking so much, but that isn’t a hard problem. I have to work hard to understand that among my readers there are people who have different views on what it is to be a parent or what it means to each other. There are some who have never known their father, others who have never had a good relationship, others who miss, and still others who have never felt loved. One thing, however, is an irrefutable fact. The presence or absence of a father has a major influence on the lives of children. God gives to the father authority to […]

love-of-god

August 01, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

How to read the Bible?

Many people ask me every day on my Instagram profile about how I read my Bible and what are the best ways to do it. Well, I’m not a pastor, much less a theologian. But I think I can go over some things that make it a little easier for me. Understanding the translations This part sometimes goes unnoticed. Many first-time believers think that every Bible is the same. But there is a difference that can make it much easier to understand the Word. The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. In the early centuries the early Christians shared the manuscripts among themselves in order to copy them so that the scriptures would spread. Years later, around 400 AD, a Christian biblist named Jerome decided to translate the Bible into Latin. You may have heard about the Latin Vulgate. One of the most important translations in the western world. It was the Bible used by the Catholic church for a few centuries. Only around 1500 AD did the Bible begin to be translated into other languages. Luther made the first German version and with the help of the invention of the press, the Bible became more accessible. Curiosity: […]

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July 25, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

God is His Word

“In the beginning, the one who is the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God ” (John 1: 1) I love the times when I begin to reflect on this verse. It is at these times that I see God as inexplicable and of incomparable size and simplicity. God himself calls himself a verb. And through that, it makes it clear that contact with Him is simple and happens naturally when we are ready to listen to Him. Things get even better when John exposes the Son as God Himself. Saying that first of all, the word of salvation already existed. It freaks me out when I think God has absolutely ready everything for us to enter the Kingdom and live in communion with Him, as He was at the beginning of all things in Eden. Nonconformity with the church I have witnessed really sad times for many churches. With society increasingly valuing a culture where the self must be fully satisfied before the next. We see man running after the earthly fullness and the satisfaction of the pleasures of the flesh. Worse still, we see the church being contaminated with this growing culture. […]

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July 18, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Do you live a shallow Christianity?

I have told you a few times about a part of the testimony of my conversion. As many of you know, I was born and raised in an evangelical church, and I got out of the way when I was about eighteen. I gave myself to God some time later. With this, I began to live Christianity in such a way that, looking back, I saw how eighteen years inside the church I was completely empty and meaningless. In fact, I’m sure that’s why I gave up living a life with God. The truth is that even years in the church, I still had no idea who my Lord was. Are we really being Christians? In this new stage of my life, trying to live with Jesus with all my heart, I began to realize that not all who call themselves Christians have lived in a way that this “title” requires living. Far from me wanting to judge or say that someone is wrong. I do not have that power and I do not want to have it. My intention is to lead you to a reflection on your own lives. About how is your practice of Christianity based on […]

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July 11, 2019·Marcelo Brandão

Switching curses for blessings

I’ve been thinking a lot about how much the words we hear create things within us. I confess that I was never the person but attentive to the way of speaking during my life. When I gave myself to Christ, however, I began to police more about things that came out of my mouth. I find it most interesting to remember that God created the heavens and the earth declaring things. He did not use his powerful hands and he was not even joking to model some things. All of His power was manifested in matter through His words. “Let there be light”, “Let the earth produce herbs” among other phrases. Seeing that after creating all these things the Bible says that “God saw that it was good” is clear that through his words the Lord was creating blessings. The Greek word for “bless” is ευλογεω (eulogeu). That is a mixture between the words “speak” and “make prosperous or happy”. This shows that our speech has the power to create happiness and prosperity around us. But have we used this power only to create good things? Enough to complain! One of the evils I see most in the day-to-day among […]

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