JFA Blog

Reflections, studies and news for your walk with God.

July 04, 2020·Léo

A prayer from the heart!

I would like to make this prayer with you, to ask the Lord for a sincere and pure heart! We must have a heart that seeks the Lord with all of its strength! Just let me remind you that there is no need to repeat this prayer exactly as I am going to leave it here, because each of us has a specific way of communicating with the Lord. So if you want to accompany me, it will be a pleasure, but feel free to speak your way. “Lord, today I come here to ask for your forgiveness for all the times that I didn’t seek you with all my heart. Also, for the times that I didn’t worship you in spirit and in truth. I do not want my search, my life and my devotion to be superficial. I want to find fullness in You; guide my heart, show me how to overflow of joy in Your presence. I’m tired of living something shallow and meaningless. I seek you, but I feel that I do not put myself there entirely. I know that Your Word says that all those who seek with all their heart will find You, but […]

heart prayer

July 02, 2020·Léo

Be patient with the others!

Have we been thinking about each other? Have we understood that each one has their own time? Or have we easily lost patience? Today I would like to comment on a very interesting topic, which we often do not pay attention to! Will you join me? Self-control “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.” Proverbs 16:32 Self-control has to do with our ability to control our impulses, attitudes, behaviors and emotions. And it has everything to do with patience. Unfortunately it is very easy and common for us to get stressed and lose patience with the people around us, doesn’t matter if they are relatives, friends or even people we do not know. In my point of view, this happens because of the selfishness that exists within us. We always tend to think about ourselves before we think about other people. This is something of our nature and, consequently, we started to want everything to happen when and the way we want. Consequently, we tend to react in the wrong way to situations that are not as we wish. But that’s not how things are supposed to work, right? The service […]

love-of-god love-your-neighbor

June 30, 2020·Léo

Forgive me, Lord!

Today I would like to bring one more prayer! Prayer to ask the Lord for forgiveness for our sins and failures. Remembering that you don’t have to repeat this prayer exactly as I am going to leave it here, because each of us has a specific way of communicating with the Lord! So if you want to accompany me, it will be a pleasure, but feel free to speak your way. “Father, thank you for another day of life and thank you for all that the Lord has done for me! Thank you, because even without deserving it, Your grace was renewed on me again. I come here today to open my heart and ask for forgiveness I know that I have failed and I have not done Your will. I know that the Lord gives me many opportunities to escape temptation, but I continue to fall and continue to search for the wrong things in the wrong places. I don’t want to sin against You anymore. Forgive me for not give my best, not resist. Besides, I apologize for the times that I tried to cheapen Your grace, trying to justify my sin. I should receive, understand and accept […]

heart love-of-god prayer

June 26, 2020·Léo

Love and respect the others!

Have we been stressed easily? Have we respected and loved people, regardless of their opinions? Both Christians and non-Christians? Today I would like to talk a little about love and respect! I was talking to my psychologist, who is a Christian, and she showed me that love and respect goes beyond what I thought it was! Come on? Constant respect! “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,” Philippians 2: 3 In this conversation with my psychologist, I started talking about relationships with her. Through my speech, she noticed that my attitude / posture changed, depending on who I was talking to. When I talked to a person who respected herself and was respectful, I was respectful, but when I talked to a person who did not respect herself and was not respectful of others, my behavior was different. I thought about it a lot and went to research what the Bible said about respect. I found the above verse, which says that we must consider others superior to ourselves, that is, treat absolutely everyone with respect, listen to everyone and love each one of them. And that is totally related to the […]

love-of-god love-your-neighbor wisdom

June 25, 2020·Léo

There is no problem on having fear!

Many times we go through difficulties, moments of tribulation and we are afraid! And fear is a natural human feeling. The big problem is from there: in what we do in the face of fear. Have you been afraid? Have you let fear paralyze you, or have you taken advantage of that fear to grow? I would like to talk to you today about how to use fear to learn, grow, depend more on God and glorify Him more! Come on? Be afraid! “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Psalms 56: 3 It is extremely common to be afraid and, unfortunately, it is also common to think that it is wrong to be afraid! Fear is a simple reaction of our mind and thoughts. It is normal to be afraid of something. However, we need to use this fear to glorify God! But how? Use that fear to depend even more on the Lord. The moment we are afraid is the perfect time to look at ourselves and realize how small we are. That way, when we notice that we are fragile and flawed, we realize that we need to run to the Lord and put all […]

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June 23, 2020·Léo

Help me to seek You!

I would like to say a brief prayer with you, to ask for the Lord’s help! We often lose the incentive and the will to seek the Word of the Lord and His presence! You do not need to repeat this prayer exactly as I am going to leave it here, not least because each of us has a specific way of communicating with the Lord! So if you want to accompany me, it will be a pleasure, but feel free to speak your way! “Lord, I came here again today to open my heart and ask you for help! I have been having difficulties to seek You. I confess that I no longer have the same desire to talk to you, read Your Word and spend time in worship, as it was before This has been bothering me! I want to seek you with all my heart and worry about what really matters, which is pleasing You! So I ask you for mercy. Give me strength, give me hunger, give me thirst. of the Lord and without You, I cannot survive, without His Word, I have no strength to continue this journey! I ask you Lord to guide my […]

devotional faith follow-jesus grace

June 19, 2020·Léo

A sincere heart!

I would like to bring a brief and simple message, to analyze our hearts! Have we done things from the heart for the Lord? Did we fall into the routine and end up praying or reading the Bible out of obligation? Do we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth? Shall we talk about? Routine compliance It is true that we all have a routine and that, regardless of how busy the routine is, we need to have time for our spiritual life. Time for prayer, reading the Word and worship is sorely needed. However, we often fall into the routine and start doing things out of a simple obligation and do not think about the real reason we are doing that. Unfortunately, this often happens in our spiritual lives. We started to pray simply to pray, to fulfill the table. Read the Bible to fulfill the table. Is this right? With absolute certainty, it is not right at all! The Lord wants us to be whole, wants us to do things with our understanding. What does the Lord seek? “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts […]

bible devotional faith follow-jesus

June 18, 2020·Léo

God is in the smallest details

Have you been paying attention to every detail of your life? Can you see God in all things and realize that it is He who does everything? Or do you seek only the great miracles and supernatural experiences? Today, on the day I’m writing the text, I talked to a friend of mine and she helped me to realize that I haven’t seen God’s hand in the little things! Therefore, I would like to talk to you about it! Come with us! See the Lord in everything! “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139: 7-12 We are often in the habit of seeking only the great miracles and the great supernatural experiences in our lives. […]

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June 16, 2020·Maria Clara Arruda Marques

Obedience is a positioning

“If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15 Obedience has some synonyms: compliance, submission, resistance and even respect. When we accept Jesus as our only Lord and Savior of our lives we accept to live a crucified life with Him. This life is to always seek to be at the center of God’s will, respecting his commandments and being under the mission He gives us. Obediencie is a place Obedience is a place and disobedience is also. Both are positions in which we decide whether to walk or not. You can enter them, but you can also leave. You can intentionally live in one of these places or abstain completely from where you have been living. I was once being responsible and leading a ministry in my local church and had received a direction from God to deliver that leadership. I realized that as long as I did not follow and obey this direction I would be living in a place of disobedience and not fulfilling what God had said to my heart. Disobedience generates fear “But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was […]

love-of-god obedience

June 12, 2020·Léo

Rooted worship!

Is the custom of worship present in our lives? Do we understand the true importance of worshiping the Lord? Or do we leave it to praise ministers only? In these times of social isolation, I have realized how great the impact of worship on our lives. Worship must always be present in our lives! I would like to talk a little about it today! Come on? Worship is individual I always had the habit of not worrying about my secret worship, after all, the fact of praising in the church is enough, right? Quite the opposite. It is very common to think that we go to cults, conferences and events to fill up, but this is completely wrong. The moments of worship must be of surrender to the Lord. We go to church to serve, to empty ourselves and to worship the Lord. Spiritual food, receiving, being filled and filled is in everyday life, in the secret, in the place where we are not seen, where only the Lord sees our surrender. Do you think that early church leaders sought the Lord only on Sundays in their services? “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” Psalms 105: 4 Since the […]

blessings devotional faith follow-jesus

June 11, 2020·Léo

The importance of discipleship!

Your difficulties, your failures, your sins … with whom have you shared? Who has helped you on your spiritual journey? I have realized the importance of having people to accompany us in our life with Christ. We cannot walk alone, because together we can grow and learn more about our Father and his principles revealed in the Word. I would like to talk to you a little about this! Come on? Have someone accompany you “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10: 24-25 The Bible makes it very clear to us the importance of having fellowship with our brothers and encouraging one another. We all know that a spiritual journey is far from easy. Every day we have struggles, problems, difficulties and sadness that we carry. We are human beings with our limitations; unable to account for all of our problems. We are often ashamed to confess our sins, to open up any difficulties. We are afraid or even think we don’t need to. However, […]

bible blessings faith follow-jesus

June 09, 2020·Maria Clara Arruda Marques

Living a constant Christian life

“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” 2 Thessalonians 3: 5 Being constant in an increasingly hectic world is really challenging. Living college, work, appointments, running and daily chores, we often end up giving more priority to the material world than to our relationship with God. Prioritize what really matters The daily rush ends up becoming one of the biggest excuses for not focusing on Jesus, we end up being carried away by the rush of the day and day and we often let ourselves be carried away by it. We leave for later what should be a priority. Jesus is the greatest example of constancy. He faced trials and suffering without deviating from his purpose. We must follow in Christ’s footsteps, even when we face temptations and difficulties. We have to learn more every day that being constant is a decision. Resignation, sacrifice and mainly priorities. To be steadfast, we need to step out of our comfort zone and act with determination in service and intimacy with God and not do this only occasionally or only when we feel excited. We need to be constant on good and bad days. And above all, we need […]

faith uncategorized-en

June 05, 2020·Léo

Lord, don’t let me yield to temptation

What has been our prayer in the midst of temptations? Who have we run to and what have we done? I want to bring something extremely simple, but profound and that has immeasurable power. I would like to say a prayer with you and I imagine that it will be of good use in your moments of temptation or difficulty. “Lord, I come here in Your presence to ask you for help. I am going through a difficult time and I cannot deal with it with my own strength. I need the Lord and Your intervention. The enemy has been trying to haunt and divert me of your ways, but I know that this is not your will for my life. I know that your will for me is to live in holiness and praising Your name forever and ever. Father, the truth is that my will is to My will is not to fulfill Your will and do the right thing, but to do my will and displease You. For myself, I will never be able to fulfill Your will, because I am a sinner, a sinner and my natural instinct is to sin against it. But I don’t […]

devotional faith prayer

June 04, 2020·Léo

Give Thanks to the Lord!

Have we recognized God’s blessings in our lives? Have we been grateful for the things we received undeservedly? In these last days I have been thinking a lot about gratitude and I started to analyze my ingratitude habits, in my relationship with God! I would like to talk to you about it! Come on? Undeserved life No. I don’t want to talk only about the goods and passing things that we receive from the Lord! I want to talk about everything, everything! I imagine that the main thing we receive from the Lord is life. I think about it a lot and the more I think about it, the more I realize that God really didn’t need any of us! His own glory is enough for Him. However, in love, He decided to create the heavens and the Earth and to place His creatures to command, care for and manage His own creation. In fact, not only has he given us the privilege of taking care of His creation, but the sovereign and sublime God has decided to share with us. It has allowed us the honor of being reached for its power, love, kindness and purity. He loved us […]

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June 02, 2020·Maria Clara Arruda Marques

Analyze your heart

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 Where is your heart? This is an important question and that over time, we must look within and analyze: Is my heart really in the right place? How to analyze our hearts The meaning of the word “treasure” is a set of riches, so this Matthew 6 biblical text is telling us that our hearts will always be in what is precious to us. What is most valuable today? What makes our hearts beat faster? What has been our motivation each day? These are questions that we need to ask daily and especially at decisive moments in our lives so that we can probe what our real intention is. When we question where our hearts are, we must investigate and analyze what has defined our priorities. So, if we want to find where our heart are, we need to realize where we put most of our stengths […]

bible faith heart

May 31, 2020·Léo

Run to the Lord!

Where is our refuge? Who have we believed and trusted? In moments of anguish and pain, into whose arms have we been running? These days I have been thinking a lot about refuge. About who I have placed my hopes on. In times of suffering, we need to run to the right place. I would like to talk a little about it! Come on? Where is our heart? “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21 The Bible makes it very clear to us that what we pay attention to will greatly influence our decisions. However, several times we pay attention to things that do not matter and this brings us great losses. Whenever we have our hearts in the wrong place, as soon as we experience some difficulty, we tend not to run to God or even to blame Him, even though we have no reason to do so. However, this does not happen only when we are in an uncomfortable or painful situation. This also happens, often, when we are happy and “without problems or difficulties” in our lives. We end up forgetting that it is the Lord who does all things and […]

bible faith follow-jesus grace

May 28, 2020·Léo

Just be yourself!

Have we done things to please others? Where’s our treasure? Have we sought the approval of men and women instead of the Lord’s approval? God has spoken a lot to my heart about it and has shown me how I must seek only to please Him and no one else. We constantly do things to please other people and I would like to talk a little about this topic. Come on? God reveals our identity I have been thinking a lot and learning a lot about character, about who I am and how I should act. In this adventure of getting to know myself better, I realize more and more that I can only clearly understand who I am, when I know my Father more and more. It is no use wanting to discover, for myself, who I am, since I don’t even know what I need and don’t I was the one who grew up. I have a Creator who knows me, knows all my yearnings, all my struggles and knows more about me than I do myself. “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,” Genesis 1:26 Knowing that we are made in […]

faith follow-jesus grace happiness

May 26, 2020·Léo

The importance of interceding

We need to talk about the importance of intercession! In moments like the one we are experiencing in the world, of great crisis in several sectors, one of the best things we can do is to intercede. But do we know the true importance of intercession? Are we interceding correctly? Prayer / intercession is one of the sustenance of the body of Christ. A church that moves forward to establish the Kingdom of God is also a church that prays and intercedes. If we want to make a difference, we need to intercede! Shall we talk a little about? Intercession for those who exercise authority I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Timothy 2: 1-2 Many passages speak about prayer. But I would like to bring this biblical passage to show that there are important issues related to intercession. One is that we must intercede for the authorities and leaders who are above us. Although we often find it difficult to accept certain leaders or certain actions from our leaders, we need to […]

bible prayer

May 22, 2020·Maria Clara Arruda Marques

A study about David

David’s story is one of the best known in the Bible. He was the man chosen by God to lead his people and he was certainly a man very used by Him. The story begins to be told, in the Old Testament in the chapters of 1 and 2 Samuel and continues until 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles. It is one of the stories that most impacts and confronts my life. I was always intrigued by the fact that David was considered “a man after God’s own heart”, and as I studied his life, I began to notice that he was like that because he sought to understand God’s heart. David’s early life He was the youngest of Jesse among 8 brothers and belonged to the tribe of Judah. He was raised and trained to exercise the profession of shepherd. He also stood out for countless talents such as being a great warrior with the right to even sing in his honor, play the harp and even make musical instruments for worship in the house of the Lord (1 Chronicles 23: 5). When describing David, one of Saul’s servants used the following terms (1 Samuel 16:18): “is a talented harp […]

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May 21, 2020·Léo

Forgiveness that heals!

I would like to bring up a very important topic today: Forgiveness! Have we forgiven as Christ taught us? Have we been meek of heart? Or do I fear we are easily stressed, compassionate and resentful? The question of forgiveness is a very delicate one. A theme that must be rooted in our minds, so that the Body of Christ may be built and communion may grow. Why should I forgive or ask for forgiveness? “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22 I believe that the biggest reason why we should forgive our brothers and accept a request for forgiveness is for simple fact that we are sinners and did not deserve God’s forgiveness, yet He gave His Son to forgive our sins, so if we are Christians (the meaning of the word Christians in Greek is “Little Christs”), we must follow the ways of Christ There is something very interesting about forgiveness in Jewish culture: in Judaism, it was considered honorable to forgive three times. However, in this line […]

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May 19, 2020·Léo

A teachable heart!

Today, I would like to bring you a very simple and brief word! Have we welcomed the exhortation of our leaders and brothers in the faith? Have we submitted to the leadership that has been placed upon us, by God? This is a theme that I love to think and talk about, as it helps us to grow in communion and as the Body of Christ! Come on? Teaching in my life I have always enjoyed learning new and different things, but it was very common for me not to submit to the corrections and exhortations I received. This was something that God dealt with in me through the discipleship I participate in. It was very hard for me, and it still is, to hear corrections and to hear someone saying that I am wrong, because it hurts my ego. However, as time went on, I learned that the teachings I received was for me to improve and grow in my walk with God. I still need to learn a lot to control and repress my pride, but the Lord has clearly shown me what he says in Proverbs: “Because the Lord rebukes the one he loves, as well as […]

bible love-your-neighbor simplicity-en

May 16, 2020·Maria Clara Arruda Marques

Don’t lose your faith

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” John 6:5-7 Jesus asked the disciples how they would feed all those people who were coming toward him. They looked at their insufficient resources, at their empty hands and were filled with despair and anxiety. The disciples forgot who Jesus was and the miracles he had already done, doubted Him with a perspective of limitation and impossibility. At what point had they forgotten that they were before the son of God? Jesus had just calmed an angry sea and healed several sick people. Was there anything that would be too difficult for Him? Where was the faith of the disciples hidden? Why did they stop looking at the greatness of the God they served and put their attention only on the circumstances? Jesus knows what you have been facing Jesus knew of the insufficiency […]

faith

May 14, 2020·Léo

The Bible is our guide

How much time have we invested in the study of the Word? Have we taken advantage of the time we have to read the Bible? Today we are going to talk about the importance of the Bible in our lives. I confess that I have always had a hard time finding pleasure in reading the Word, but the Lord has placed great joy in my heart, while spending time with the Bible. Follow me on this journey! The Bible in my life As I was saying, my walk with the Bible was never a good one. I have always been reluctant to spend time reading the Word and would rather have my leisure than invest time with the Bible. Without a doubt, the consequences of this in my life were not good. If I had spent more time with the Word of the Lord, when I was younger, today I could have a better understanding of who God is, who I am in Him and many other things, such as my calling. I learned in the most painful way how the lack of Bible reading damages our lives. I could have avoided mistakes like trusting myself and wanting to take […]

bible word-of-god

May 12, 2020·Maria Clara Arruda Marques

Dedicate time to your devotional life

These days, I read in an American magazine that said “Difficult subjects, train the mind. Difficult times, train the spirit”. We know that we are living atypical days, however we cannot fail to prioritize our prayer and devotional time. Creating the daily habit of reading the Word of God and meditating on it is the way to communion and an intimate and deep relationship with our God. There are ways to organize this period, in this post are some tips. #1 Start a new Bible reading plan In the Plans section of the app, reading options are available, such as “New Testament in 3 months”, “Reading the Gospel of Matthew in 28 days”, “Knowing Jesus through the Word” and many others. Following daily reading, you make it a habit to have a separate time to learn more from the Holy Scriptures and learn more about our God every day. #2 Choose a theme and go deeper Another golden tip that is worthwhile is to choose biblical themes and dedicate yourself and deepen in this subject. In the Biblical Themes part, there is a list of specific themes and which verses are related to that content. It is a great way […]

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