JFA Blog

Reflections, studies and news for your walk with God.

July 22, 2021·Nicole Leao

God is love and consuming fire! What does it mean?

The term consuming fire is often used in Christian circles, but do you know what it means? Are you unsure if one contradicts the other? Well our reflection today is to understand where this term comes from, why we use it? What is its meaning? And how does God’s love relate to his consuming fire? To begin with in the Bible fire appears many times directly related to God, as a symbol of his presence in some aspect. Examples of this is when God makes his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:17, or when he summons Moses when he saw a burning bush in Exodus 3:2. There is also the pillar of fire that accompanied the Israelites, reported in Exodus 13:21. So as we can see, fire can represent the symbol of their presence. Fire is also used for purification, something that we see in our daily life, but spiritually it represents holiness, which is one of God’s moral attributes, for He is fully holy and is the source of all holiness. As it is written in Habakkuk 1:13, God’s holiness is such that His eyes cannot behold iniquity. So why is God a consuming fire? God is consuming fire […]

follow-jesus love-of-god

July 20, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: For a Generous Heart!

Generosity is a powerful tool of connection as we wrote these days around here, which is essential for all areas of our lives, whether in the church, at work, or in our homes. It has the power to transform environments, people’s day. Our God is generous with us many times, although we don’t always realize it, He is so generous that He gave us His only son so that we could have eternal and abundant life. And thinking about this I want to pray with you that we can be more and more generous, have a generous heart. I leave here a passage especially for you today: As a result of your service, (1) they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers (2) will show that you are obedient to the good news of Christ. And (3) they will pray for you with deep affection, because of the overflowing grace God has bestowed on you. 2 Corinthians 9:13-14 Remembering that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I am going to leave it here, because each one of us has a specific way of communicating with the Lord. But if you […]

generosity prayer

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 07, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Crying out for God’s help!

What is the help or care from God that you need? We live in a world of 7.874 billion people and each one is going through a different struggle, has a different need, which God knows well and is there to care for and teach. Even with so many people in the world, our Lord still knows the innermost of each one, for He is God, powerful, omnipotent and omniscient. Have you ever thought about how wonderful this is? Well, even with all His majesty, He still has patience for you and me, He cares for each of His children. That is why he hears your and mine cries, in the desert times he is by our side and thinking about this today I want to pray with you. Let’s pray together for God’s help, in whatever area you need it. I leave here a passage especially for you today: The Lord watches over the life of the upright, and their inheritance will remain forever. In times of trouble they will not be disappointed; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. Psalms 37:18-19 Remember that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I’m going to leave it […]

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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 05, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Gathering treasures in heaven!

The other day we wrote here about store up treasures in heaven, we saw that despite the importance of our work and projects, we must also keep in mind where our real good is, that is, in our eternal home. This reminds us that the riches of this world are temporary and as much as we should plan and save, we cannot see our neighbor in need and fail to act. More than having a fat reserve, diversified investments that provide us with a secure future here on earth, when we are generous and invest in people, in the church, in the Kingdom of God, we are accumulating a secure treasure in heaven. So today I want to pray with you to rebuke greed, remembering that your trust is not in earthly possessions, but in God, even if overnight everything is lost, he will still take care of you, because you are His child. I leave here a passage especially for you today: Sell your possessions and give to the needy. By this you will store up treasures in heaven, and the purses in heaven will not wear out or crumble. Your treasure will be secure; no thief will steal […]

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July 02, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Impacting lives!

We are the salt of the earth, and we can’t lose the flavor, we can’t forget what our mission is, and we need to fight for it. I want to remind you that to impact lives we don’t need to be just in a prominent position, we can do it where we are with the surrounding people. In fact, we must start within our own families, after all, if we don’t make a positive impact at home, how are we going to do it out in the world? I leave here a passage especially for you today: You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how can it be restored? It will be good for nothing, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. You cannot hide a city built on a hill. Also, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a vessel. Rather, he puts it in its proper place, and so it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. […]

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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 […]

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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 29, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Trusting in the unshakable rock!

Our Father is the unshakable rock and as it is written in Psalm 125, those who trust in the Lord are like the mountain of Zion that is not shaken. We will have afflictions in this world, but as we well know our savior has already overcome them all. Know that even if the struggle is difficult, our God is a righteous judge and has the power to change any story. With this in mind, today I want to pray with you who are going through a struggle, making a prayer of adoration and surrender. I leave here some passages especially for you today: ‘For it is I who know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. John 16:33 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken, but which stands forever. Psalm 125:1 Remember that you don’t have to repeat the prayer […]

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June 29, 2021·Nicole Leao

Those who trust in the Lord are like the mountain of Zion

How beautiful is this verse from Psalm 125, isn’t it? In Portuguese this Psalm has become a hymn that I like very much and it goes like this: “Those who trust in the Lord are like the mountain of Zion that do not shake but remain forever / As the mountains are around Jerusalem, so is the Lord around his people. Very strong verses indeed. Surely you have gone through a time of instability on this earth, for as we know the evil one lies there, yet I am sure you have overcome or are overcoming this adversity. Now ask anyone who has gone through or is going through a difficult time, how they had the strength to go on, and in general, the answer will always involve faith. We Christians know and know very well who is the God from whom this strength comes, from the one true God, our Father, comforter, just judge, Lord of lords and best friend. From the One who is always by our side and watching over us, who is goodness, but who is also a consuming fire. When we have God by our side, we survive the hardest day. To have God in […]

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June 21, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Calm down and everything will be solved!

Stress is not good for anyone, but we know that with the rush of everyday life it comes and only makes everything worse. However, the word of God, in Romans 12:12, talks about being patient in tribulations and there it is written: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, persevere in prayer. Certainly we are not 100% every day, but stress only creates more stress, so today I want to talk to you who find yourself in one of those days where one thing happens after another and it seems like nothing will ever get solved. I also want to remind you that feelings and situations are transient, after all, there is no evil that lasts forever. I leave here a passage especially for you today: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplications, and with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 Remember that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I am going to leave it here, because each one of us has a specific way of communicating with the Lord. But […]

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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 […]

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June 15, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: Our treasure is in heaven

These days I wrote a text about the importance of remembering that those who have been renewed in Christ do not belong on earth, but in heaven, with our Father, where we will praise him at all times. When we know this we change our way of living, because we know that our treasure is in our eternal home. Then we start to live for the honor and glory of God, no longer for ourselves or to accumulate worldly treasures, but to serve others with the certainty that one day there will be no more sadness, hunger or pain. With this in mind, today I want to pray with you that our goals and dreams will be in the right place. I leave here a passage especially for you today: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; John 11:25 Remember that you don’t have to repeat the prayer exactly as I am going to leave it here, because each one of us has a specific way of communicating with the Lord. But if you want to follow me, it will be a pleasure, feel free to speak it […]

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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 […]

devotional

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 28, 2021·Nicole Leao

Can Love End?

Today we will address a topic that can give much to talk about, so I want to focus on love between a couple, the love in the marriage, that is a great blessing from God. The Father created man and woman to be together. Love keeps the couple together, even in the most difficult times. In Songs 8:7, it is written, “Many waters cannot quench love; the rivers cannot carry it away in the current. If anyone were to offer all the riches of his house to acquire love, he would be utterly despised.” So you may wonder, why do we see love running out all over the place these days? Well, this is not an easy question to answer, but I invite you to come together to better understand why. Love is a decision The first thing we need to establish here is that love is much more than a feeling, it is a decision that must be made on a daily basis. We can say that when a man and a woman like each other, they need to decide: to love or not to love. Love is more than attraction, it requires wanting the good of the other […]

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May 26, 2021·Nicole Leao

Prayer: For a world without hate!

The first biblical commandment, to love your neighbor, seems to be one of the most ignored in recent times, especially during the pandemic. Of course we also saw many acts of love and solidarity, but the excess of hatred was also noticeable. Relatives who no longer speak to each other because of differing opinions, attacks on the internet from all sides. I wonder where the wisdom that those transformed in Christ should have gone. As children of God, we are called to respect, to love, to be light in the world and salt on Earth. Called to be peacemakers, after all, as it is written in Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. This does not mean that we should not take a stand, but rather, that the reactivity that is so rampant out there leads nowhere. The soft word deflects the anger and it is in this space of dialogue where we can all grow with each other and as the body of Christ. So if you want to live in a world where there is more love than hate, I invite you to pray this prayer with me. I leave […]

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