JFA Blog

The belief comes before the fulfillment

These days I was reading the passage of Luke 1, and I had my attention fixed on verse 45, where it is written: “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”. These words, inspired by God, were spoken by Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, to Mary, Jesus’ mother. In this chapter the story is told of when Elizabeth, a barren woman of advanced age, becomes pregnant and soon after Mary who is her cousin and virgin also becomes pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. But returning to the fact mentioned in the verse that caught my attention, the faith of Jesus’ mother came before the promise was fulfilled. Reading this passage it is also possible to identify that because of her faith she received the grace to give light to the Son of God. The answer of the Lord’s servant to the angel who announced to her what was to come, was filled with faith, she answered: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be fulfilled in me according to your word”. After reading this, I kept thinking about how many times we don’t want something to be fulfilled, but we don’t […]

Prayer: Constance to build!

Today we will pray for constancy, so necessary in our lives, because without it we won’t build anything, nor will we get anywhere. In the Bible we find countless stories of people who, through constancy, took their relationship with God to another level and were used by our Lord. Being a fickle person leads to frustration for never building anything you want, not to mention that this bad feature can lead someone to a divorce or the loss of a job, maybe you have been that way until today, but it’s ok, because I know that with the help of the Holy Spirit, you can change that in your life. Thinking about it, we will pray for constancy to be part of our lives. I leave here a passage especially for you today: May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. 2 Thessalonians 3:5 Remembering that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I will leave it here, because each of us has a specific way to communicate with the Lord. But if you want to accompany me, it will be a pleasure, feel free to speak your way. Prayer Dear God, I want […]

The important things cannot be bought

Every year the chorus “Health to give and sell” is sung in Brazil, while partygoers imagine and wish each other a Happy New Year, with lots of money in their pockets and… health to give and sell. This 2021 started with this chorus more current than ever … but with a new meaning: Many going after anyone who can give a vaccine, or willing to pay dearly for a life-saving treatment. Health to give and sell has ceased to be the personal and disinterested desire of friends, to become a profitable business strand, where countries are not asking the price; citizens are wanting the state to give them health and companies in the health sector are selling expensive; from medicines to equipment, supplies and… vaccines. After all, how much would you not pay for some physical, emotional (and political) tranquility in times like this? As I thought about these facts, I remembered this well-known passage from Isaiah 55: 1-2, where God Himself is proclaiming: “…and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” And also: “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does […]

Overcoming, when everything says no!

How many things do we no longer overcome in our lives? Living is overcoming daily. Overcoming ourselves, the opposite situations and the challenges of everyday life. Fortunately, when we serve a living God, we no longer need to do this alone, because there is a Father who watches over us. A Father who sent his son to save us and left the Holy Spirit as the guarantee of our salvation. That is why you and I are already winners by accepting Jesus Christ as our only savior, in Him we have the certainty of victory, even if things are not as we wanted. Jesus is the way But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 As I said, we do not need to overcome anything alone, as children of God we receive help directly from our father. It is written in John 14:6, that Jesus is the way to truth and life. He is not only by our side, but he is the very way to go to the Father. So the first thing we need to remember is that walking with Jesus is the first step to overcoming all […]

Prayer: Bringing peace to the afflicted heart!

How is your heart? There are some days when all we think about are problems and worries about the future. Consequently we feel a bad feeling in our hearts, a weight, a restlessness that we don’t even know how to solve. Fortunately we serve a living God who loves us and who his word tells us to cast our anxiety on him, because he cares for us, and thinking about it, today I want to pray that our Father will bring peace to our hearts. I leave here a passage especially for you today: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 Remembering that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I will leave it here, because each of us has a specific way to communicate with the Lord. But if you want to accompany me, it will be a pleasure, feel free to speak your way. Prayer Dear God, thank you for your care, for taking care of every detail and being so present in my life. I am grateful for your love and, because I know that even before I worry about something, the Lord in His infinite goodness is […]

Freed from sin!

How great is the grace of salvation, isn’t it? Think with me, sin has put us in a prison, locked behind bars, guilt, shame, deceit and fear. So sin has done nothing but chain us to a wall of unhappiness. But Jesus came and bail us out, being punished in our place, so we are set free. Christ died for us and when we gave our lives to Him, we died for our old self. Many people think of this as a burden, but in fact it is a great deliverance. Salvation does not imprison you but liberates you, in Christ we are truly free to find our identity as children of God and have the mercy of his divine forgiveness. New garments Once talking to a friend, he used a very good analogy to talk about repentance and forgiveness. Let’s think about purity as represented by a white suit, you went out to perform your daily tasks, and then it gets dirty, at the end of the day it’s not whiter as when you left. So, you come home you put her to wash and soon she is clean, free of any brand. So is repentance and forgiveness, when […]

Prayer: A quiet night’s sleep!

How are your nights sleeping? Have you been able to relax? The Bible instructs us that the night was made for sleeping, but often with the rush of day to day at bed we can not relax, a thousand and one things pass in our minds. The moment before we sleep, is not the time to look for a solution to our challenges, but to give everything in God’s hands, trusting that he is already working in each of the areas you need. Our Lord takes care of us, whether during the day or at night, and today we will pray for a quiet and safe night’s sleep, so that you wake up renewed, willing for another day of many blessings. I leave here a passage especially for you today: I lay down and slept; I woke up because the Lord sustained me. Psalms 3:5 Remembering that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I will leave it here, because each of us has a specific way to communicate with the Lord. But if you want to accompany me, it will be a pleasure, feel free to speak your way. Prayer Dear God, I thank you for another […]

Don’t let fear stop you!

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 Today when I woke up I was thinking about how fear can get in the way of simple daily tasks. Particularly I was a very fearful child, I was afraid of the dark, of dentist, hospital and a lot of things, even my parents instructing me in the ways of the Lord and knowing that “heavenly father”, as he affectionately called God, was taking care of me. This is because I did not understand where these fears came from. Many times we can feel frightened without even knowing the reason. Today, at my 20 years of age, I have overcome many of them, but there is still much to improve. Last week I started my driving lessons and I can say that in the first day I couldn’t even hear the voice of the instructor so afraid that I was hitting the car. As soon as my first lesson was over I ran to talk to several people to better understand how the clutch, the […]

Be careful with your tongue!

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. James 1:26 Today we will talk about a very important topic for the good functioning of the body of Christ, we will talk about the language, this small organ with power to bless and curse. And I would like to focus on a more specific topic that is gossip, because as we live in community, naturally we come to know more about each other’s lives and with the advent of social networks, this “word-of-mouth” has gotten worse and much worse in the churches. It seems just innocent talk Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 2 Timothy 2:16 Whoever has never seen “gossip” gain the affectionate nickname “comment”, a somewhat euphemism for something that can bring weight to the life of the one who speaks and the one who is the target. Often a simple comment passes from one to the other until it becomes something bad and as the verse above reminds us, it leads to impiety. Maybe the one who started it hadn’t seen evil in what […]

Prayer: Throwing out anxiety

Do you usually feel anxious? Well, I sometimes feel that way, I don’t have clinical anxiety, but not always a person “is” anxious, sometimes they find themselves in this condition in front of important decisions or something that is waiting for a certain time to happen. Last night I was a little anxious what impacted my sleep. I couldn’t sleep properly, I woke up countless times, had nightmares and finally it was as if I hadn’t slept. I wasn’t worried, but I knew that the next day great events were coming. The Bible teaches us that we should not look forward to the day of tomorrow, this is because it belongs to God, but we as failed human beings do not always remember this, so today I invite you to pray throwing away all anxiety. I would also like to remind you that if you feel this way constantly, it is important to seek help, God left health professionals to help us and gave them skill and knowledge. I leave here a passage especially for you today: So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run […]

3 application features that can help you!

The year has started and with that people make plans and goals. We know that the goal of many of our users is to have a routine of prayer and reading the word. That’s why today we want to present to you some resources of our application that can help you in this objective so that your 2021 is a year when you grow in the word and take the relationship with God to another point. 1. Audios Now reading the Bible can be much more dynamic, because in our application you can listen to the Bible in audio, not to mention the original audios of the New International Version (NIV) and Christian Standard Bible (CSB) translations. Check out the explanatory video: 2. Versions Something that can make it easier for you to understand the word and find the version of the Bible that you are already used to and in our application you have the main versions in English. So, be sure to check it out and find the ideal biblical translation for you. Check out the explanatory video: 3. Pray more Pray more, it is a Christian social network for you to pray more, which you can access […]

A blessed year is a year with the knee on the ground

To have a blessed year we need to keep our knees on the ground, that is, we need to pray. Prayer is the main way to develop intimacy with God and the prayer of the just is powerful, so it is one of the main weapons of everyone who believes in the Most High. Surely, you have heard someone say that dialogue is the basis of every relationship, well, our way of dialoguing with the Lord is through prayer. Through prayer, we talk with our father, we are instructed by Him, we thank Him, and we deliver our supplications. God hears your prayers Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:17,18 Perhaps at some point you thought that God no longer heard your prayers, but God always hears us. Often what happens is that we want an answer, but we are not able to hear, or simply do not want the answer our God is giving. This happens because of our […]

Prayer: See the opportunities of God

Sometimes I find myself wondering if we don’t miss many opportunities for such banal reasons as time, mood, shame and so many others. I don’t speak only of those opportunities that are very clear, but also of those that seem more like a common everyday event. Examples of this are moments between children and parents that are lost because they are “too busy”, when a friend comes to tell us about a delicate situation that is going on, and we simply speak a generic phrase instead of being willing to pray, or when we have the great opportunity to speak of God’s love for someone and out of shame we stop doing it. Finally, in 2021, we cannot let opportunities pass us by, whether big or small, and today I invite you to pray that God will open our eyes before them. I also want to leave a passage here for you today: Be very careful, then, how you live not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15,16 Remembering that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I’m going to leave it here, because each one of […]

A year of victory!

We are on the fourth day of the year 2021, which is just beginning. Well, one of the most beautiful things for me at this time is to see how everyone fills up with hope, a few weeks ago I wrote here in one of the blog texts about how and important it is that this hope is not only kept in the time of parties, but that we carry it all year long. This is because we serve a God who is hope itself. Over the past year I’ve heard many pastors saying that this would be a special year for the people of God, of many victories and I really don’t doubt it at all. I don’t know if you noticed the same thing, but I saw many people returning to Jesus last year, choosing baptism and having their lives transformed, which is already a victory. The True Victory With this, I believe that 2020 has been a year of preparation, but the preparation does not last only a year when we are God’s people, but a whole life, because our victory is in heaven, it is on high. The true victory is the one we have in […]

Discover your ideal reading plan for 2021!

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8 We know that with the rush of day by day, reading the Bible daily can be a challenge. Sometimes in the midst of our routine we find ourselves completely out of time, but reading from God’s word is essential. The Bible is food for our soul and through it we are often directed by God. In addition, God’s Word says it is important that we seek knowledge and listen to the instructions and advice of the wise, and surely there is no wiser advice than we can find in the Bible. So today I want to present you with reading plans that can help you a lot in this challenge. Reading plans are super important, they can help you in your daily life and also to make you accumulate knowledge. In our application we have an area especially for them, which is very easy to find, just look in its menu section “Plans”. And now I invite you to get to know each […]

Be a messenger of good news!

Are you easy to talk about the gospel? In talking about the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior? Many times we think that we can be invasive or bother the other, but this is a mistaken thought on our part. That is because knowing Jesus is a privilege, and when we stop talking about His love we are being negligent in spreading salvation. Some time ago I met a girl who only heard about Jesus and his beautiful sacrifice of love, when she was 15 years old, even though she lived in Brazil, a mostly Christian country. Fortunately, this girl, who is now over 20 years old, had time to have a real encounter with Jesus and today has been used a lot to reach other lives. With this, I keep thinking, how many times have I stopped talking about salvation? how many lives could have been reached? Knowing Jesus is something wonderful and we who already know him have the mission to be messengers of the best news anyone can receive, the news of salvation. I know it can be challenging, but that is why we must prepare ourselves in prayer and reading the word. Well, thinking about it […]

How to find the path to prosperity?

Have you noticed what we say to each other when the Year ends …? We wish you all a Happy and prosperous New Year! To prosper is to advance, to grow, to move forward. So, when we think about prosperity, we think about the future. Do you think 2021 can be a prosperous year in your life? Do you think, want or need? In fact, the distance between being prosperous and wanting to be prosperous is not wanting too much or needing too much … who doesn’t? Many need it! It is also not to have a hunch or even a feeling. The difference is in finding, finding the path to prosperity! So I want to leave here some tips of what we learn from the Word of God about it: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what […]

We want to thank you!

Prayer: Renew your hope!

We are already on December 23rd and as we have already said, this has been an intense year, very different from what we could imagine and what we would like to experience. But now it is time to look at what is to come, to remember God’s faithfulness this year to us, and to renew our hopes. We must do this having the confidence that God will not abandon us, he is with us even in the midst of the storm. The year is ending but it is still a time of hope, every day is a day to keep hope. Our Lord will not act only in 9 days when the year “turns”, no, he for sure has already done great things throughout this year, is doing, and will continue to do. So, today my prayer is for us to keep hope and have hope in the one who has the power to change everything. I also want to leave a passage here for you today: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 […]

Have you made plans?

Are you a person who plans or who prefers to see where it goes? I particularly have always planned everything, which does not mean that everything has happened as I thought. But the point is that I have always made plans, about my education, lifestyle, family and so many other areas that I consider important. The Bible teaches us to plan, in Luke 14:28, it is written: “Which of you, if you want to build a tower, first don’t sit down and calculate the price, to see if you have enough money to complete it? As reported in this verse, planning is essential if we want to make our dreams come true. In another passage of the Bible, Proverbs 13:16, we are also warned about the need for prudence, which is so necessary when we have dreams and plans, in the first place so that we can evaluate whether or not such a desire is convenient and plan how to make it come true. Act upon your dreams I believe that every realization begins in our dreams, one day a little seed sprouts in our hearts and minds, which may or may not be cultivated – now if you’ll allow […]

Generosity beyond festivities!

The world seems more colorful between Christmas and the New Year, people tend to be more kind and generous. With this, they leave aside little silly or intrigues because after all, it’s time to party, to rejoice and be united. But it shouldn’t be like this only at this time of year, should it? Today, together with you, I want to reflect about this great generosity that ravishes people at this time and why it doesn’t last the whole year. The birth of hope itself Well, I believe that the first point to think about is that Christmas is considered a time of hope, since the birth of hope itself is celebrated, which explains the behavior of many. After all, a birth is something beautiful and that brings joy, of humanity before and after Christ. Therefore, as much as there are differences of thought regarding the true day when Jesus came into the world, even though we commemorate such an event regardless of the date, it reminds us of our Father’s faithfulness and that in Him our hopes are renewed every day. And from this I think: If our hope is in a faithful God who sent his son to […]

Prayer: Bringing to mind what God has done!

How many times have we forgotten what our Father did and has done in our lives? We live daily miracles that are beaten or simply seen as chance. The point is that 2020, with all its problems, was also a year of provision, family reunion, healing and faith. That’s why in today’s prayer I want to remember the good things that happened to us, because no matter how difficult the moment may be, there is still something for which we can be grateful. Once I heard the following phrase which I don’t know who the author is: “Your reality is someone’s dream. So let us bring to mind what God has done in our lives. I also want to leave a passage here for you today: Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, you his servants, the descendants of Israel, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob. 1 Chronicles 16:11-13 Remembering that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I’m going to leave it here, because each one of us has a specific way to communicate with the Lord. But if […]

Hope, the art of waiting with faith!

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:21-24 It’s almost mid-December, near the end of the year, and usually this is a time when we get more reflective, thinking about what happened and what is to come. I don’t know about you, but I usually get even more excited, thinking about what I’m going to do, what’s to come, and this always brings me hope, a subject I want to talk to you about today. Hope in a different year The year 2020, for sure, was very different from what we could imagine there in January. The virus that the whole world has been living with had just been discovered, it was still not possible to imagine everything that would come. But soon after the world scenario changed and we saw despair, fear and insecurity probing the lives of many. The rate of death by covid increased, that of unemployment skyrocketed. We began to experience a […]

Learn to deal with different opinions!

Since childhood people have different opinions, either for simple everyday things or even more serious questions, topics that need further deepening and reflection. Even within the church there are disagreements or different understandings on certain issues. And one of the points that makes fellowship so important is this one, through these debates and conversation, one can help the other to see more clearly. The divergent opinions in the book of Job In Job’s book, it is reported that they and their friends had different opinions about the reason for the tragedies that affected his life. Eliphaz, for example, was sure that his friend had committed some serious sin and was therefore being punished, as described in Job 22. On the other hand, Job was convinced of his innocence and believed that even God would be in his favor. In the course of the book, Job’s four friends presented their different and divergent opinions. As we read a few paragraphs we can even imagine them exalted, with each one defending his point of view. But it is also remarkable that there was mutual respect there. Each one listened to the other attentively, at times it was almost a speech, the placement […]