JFA Blog

Reflections, studies and news for your walk with God.

March 07, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Know your why

I’m sure you’ve already wondered about your purpose in life, your mission, why you are where you are. I’ve wondered about this myself many times! After the conversion of my family, when I was 10 years old, I grew up seeing leaders, pastors that I love until today, exhaling their wisdom, teaching and showing the Glory of God through their lives. I confess that I often wanted to be like most of them. However, I need to discern what the Lord wants for my life in particular. As much as someone’s ministry is amazing and admirable, God may have something totally different for me. My purpose is not the same as yours I still remember my first supernatural experience with God. I must have been 11 years old and they decided to play a song during EBD. I closed my eyes listening to the song and said, “God, I don’t want anything but You. Come live in my heart”. When I realized it, I was sobbing from crying, feeling all the Father’s love enveloping me. After this experience, I went through a process of a few years until I understood that the purpose of the other is different from mine. […]

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February 28, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

It’s not you

These times I heard a song that had the following phrase “And if my voice fails, You sing for me”. That single sentence, repeated only once, in a song lasting almost 7 minutes spoke to me a lot. Then I found out that the singer had gone through a surgery on her vocal cords and, even after the surgery, she would be unable to sing. During that time she wrote this song and added this line to the lyrics. Today she is fine and is singing again. It was a miracle from God in her life. Still, it wasn’t her story that spoke to me, but the snippet of the song. If you fail, do you continue? Think about what you do. Do you preach? Play? Sing? Teach? If something happens and you can’t do it anymore, what will it be like? What really motivates you to keep going? That’s exactly what God spoke to me. In my church I work in communication, recording, editing and writing, just like I do here on Bible Offline team. And the Lord asked me why I keep doing these things and that got me thinking. I write, record, edit, take pictures, but simply […]

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February 27, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Do you understand Agape Love?

I’ve come here a few times to talk about how the word of God generates real changes in our hearts. These changes start within us and, without forcing it, spill over onto other people. Thus, we become channels of blessings in the lives of others. For we have been blessed to bless. Was born of him “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35 I want to start by talking about the importance of focusing on blessing, not receiving blessings. “But why should I love?”. Simple, because He loved you first. Whoever is born of love is love. A bird does not give birth to a cat. If we are children of God, we are also filled with love, for we are children of Love. I know that sometimes we can’t connect with certain people because they are very different from us in some points, so we end up being closer to others with whom we identify more. Just like some people might have the same feeling about us. And that’s okay. But […]

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February 22, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Sin does not stop the miracle

The Bible often has that part that we almost always skip when reading: the long and neglected genealogy. I understand why we skip. There are many names and that gives that feeling of wasting time in our devotional. But today I want to show you something very special. Everything has a reason “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness“. 2 Timothy 3:16 Everything in the Bible has meaning and importance. God doesn’t do anything for nothing, without purpose and that doesn’t carry a special message. Understanding where we came from and the path we took to a certain place teaches us to be grateful for where we are in the present and also to be hopeful about where we will go. Even if the walk was not made with 100% beautiful steps and only correct choices. An imperfect lineage “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope“. Romans 15:4 The genealogy of Jesus is presented in two ways: by Matthew, beginning with Abraham, and by Luke, who tells it from Adam. Regardless […]

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February 16, 2023·Gabriela Angerami

A Faith according to the Bible

In today’s text I would like to talk about FAITH. My heart’s desire is that my confidence in God’s increases more and more so that I reach a truly mature faith, according to the truth of the Word of God. I say according to the Word of God because there are many misconceptions about what Faith is. For some it consists of any form of spirituality. Recurrently we hear someone say “he is a person of faith” simply because that person has some religion. For others, having faith is directly linked to hoping that something good will always happen, as a kind of constant optimism in relation to health, wealth and happiness. Others regard faith as something completely dissociated from reason and intellect. But how does the Bible define faith? Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews is one of the most cited when the subject is FAITH, as it lists people from the Bible who stood out for being great examples of conviction in the promises of God. This chapter is also known as the “gallery of the heroes of faith”. But before listing them, the first verses bring just a definition: Now faith is confidence in what we […]

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February 16, 2023·Rapha Abreu

What is revival?

Much has been said about revival. Either because of a wish for it to happen or because of the recent occasions like the Asbury university subject which is on the rise. However, I saw many people questioning what this was and why people are using this term. Do you know what revival means? What it means? When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4 Revival is about special visitations of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Old Testament revivals brought renewal and obedience at specific times when people were far from God. In the New Testament in Acts 2, according to the biblical passage above, the great move of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is also narrated, which enabled and impelled Christians to start preaching the Gospel. Throughout recent history, it is also possible to see […]

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February 14, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Attracted by the Presence

I wasn’t born in a Christian home, quite the contrary. Whenever I tell our testimony, I like to say that we didn’t meet Jesus, He found us, or rather, He attracted us to Himself. So many times we have the feeling that we are going after Him, but the truth is that it is very difficult for you to look at a church, a bible or whatever it is and say “I found Jesus”. He finds us, he attracts us and when we realize it, we can say “I found what I needed”, not because we looked for it, but because He called us. Moses and the Burning Bush “Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed.” – Exodus 3:1-2 What was going on in this situation? Well, the title my bible gives to this text is “God Speaks to Moses” which if […]

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February 09, 2023·Rapha Abreu

How to know God?

Do you know what a house of prayer is for? Do we need to “consecrate” a space as a place of prayer? I wanted to bring some thoughts about the text of Isaiah 56: “For my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”. Go to him “If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you”. 2 Chronicles 15:2 The Father’s house was not called the house of “preaching” or “mysteries”, such as miracles and prophecies, but of “prayer”. Pointing directly to a relationship with God and the way worship should be performed. Several times I come here to talk about one of our actions. That’s because a lot is heard about what He does and we already know His promises, but it’s important to remember daily what needs to come from us. Knowing God through preaching and miracles takes away our action to build a relationship with Him. Receiving is easy, watching God speaking and doing is easy. But being willing to seek Him requires a step on our part. Listen and do “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you”. Job […]

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February 07, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

The God’s Time

I’m sure you’ve heard the advice several times: “calm down, wait for God’s time, everything will be fine”, but it’s never easy to wait, quite the contrary, you always think that a certain thing should already be happening, but still nothing. But don’t worry, I assure you it’s always worth it. I’ve been through some situations of God’s time not being the same as mine, and honestly? If I didn’t wait, I wouldn’t be ready to live what He gave me, I don’t regret waiting one bit. Life is made of processes “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:. a time to give birth 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 and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; a time to search and a time to count as lost; a time to keep and a […]

bible devotional gods-time processes

February 02, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Does God punish us?

Have you understood the weight and responsibility of freedom or have you constantly tried to sign your decisions with the name of God? Have you remembered that even though everything is released to you, not everything builds your life? “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive“ 1 Corinthians 10:23 Divine punishment “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Father, serve one another humbly in love“ Galatians 5:13 It is normal (but should not be) to hear the phrase “God punishes” as a warning to stop acting in some way, transforming the fear we should have into God by fear, distorting the image of a loving God and merciful, placing in His hands a whip. I see that this phrase arose in the face of a difficulty that human beings have in assuming responsibility. We celebrate the freedom of choice that God gives us, but after we choose, we want Him to take the blame for our bad choices. It’s not fair to blame the tools if we are the ones operating them. The […]

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January 31, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Don’t be like a fish out of water

It is very common to hear or use that expression “I feel like a fish out of water”, but at this point I would like to use this phrase with a different meaning. Our Christian life is like being a fish, living in a pond or in the sea. Just like a fish out of its natural habitat, when we leave God’s presence, we end up dying, not physically, but in our interior. The absence of God generates discouragement, anguish and emptiness, because only He is able to fill us completely. As Psalm 16:11 says: You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. That is, a path of life is only found in God. He is the source. It is in His presence that we find full joy. Responsibility in Life with God During our Christian walk we constantly hear the phrase: “Jesus loves you”, and that is a fact, because it was for love that He laid down His life for us. However, several times we end up using this as an excuse, after all “if He loves me regardless of doing something wrong […]

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January 26, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Have you turned the key?

It is true that God opens doors and paths. But we are so preoccupied with His opening that we forget the importance of the passing action. It is necessary and essential that we trust in God’s work, but we also need to remember certain steps that depend on us. We must move Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. Ecclesiastes 11:4 Doors separate places. To access one place, we need to leave another. For example, you live in a condominium where there is a guardhouse with a doorman controlling entry and exit. If you need to leave the house, you’ll need to go through the gate. Even if the doorman opens it for you, is it any good if you just stand there and not move? We can’t just watch! God opens doors, but the choice to go there and enjoy what’s on the other side is completely yours because the Lord gave you freedom of choice. He can only guide you on a path if you want to walk towards it. God will not force you. Trust comes from knowing Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those […]

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January 24, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

God is not a genie

I would like to invite you now to close your eyes for a moment and stop to think about your prayers and the hours/minutes you spend with God. Analysis: what do you usually talk about? Do you ask for more or do you have quality time with the Father? Did you think about it a bit? Have you opened your eyes yet? Excellent! Let’s talk about it then. We can easily live a theology in which the human being and his will are placed above everything and God (I hope unconsciously) is reduced to a servant or a genie, etc You may be wondering where I’m going with this and if I’m implying that presenting your needs to God is wrong, but no, that’s not the point. It’s not that you shouldn’t ask, but you can’t summarize your life with the Father in just requests and more requests. Ceaseless search I recently started reading a book that is quite famous here in Brazil, called “The God Who Destroys Dreams – Rodrigo Bibo”. He has several analogies to things in our daily life to explain the central theme of the book, that no, it’s not an evil God who doesn’t let […]

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January 19, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Has your heart agreed with God?

God says in the bible that whatever I ask in faith will be given to me. So why have I been asking with all my strength and He won’t give it to me? Does he not hear me? This has happened to everyone at least once. Praying and waiting on God, but not receiving what was asked, thinking that the Lord is not listening to us. But that’s not true. On the opposite way “Before they call I will answer. While they are still speaking I will hear” Isaiah 65:24 The Father always hears us, His ears will always be turned towards the children. And even stronger than that, the heart of God hears our insides before we even speak. In all your prayers He was always by your side listening to every word. But He will not give you what is not linked to what He dreams for your life. God has a plan for every person even before birth. All life has a purpose, because He doesn’t do anything “just in case”, every detail has already been dreamed up. And our prayer may not be aligned with this desire of the Father, which makes us think that He closed his […]

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January 17, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Watch out for distractions!

I’ve been playing a mobile game called Candy Crush for a while now. I like him because he helps me distract my head and even de-stress. I noticed that, as you progress through the levels, the game starts using a new strategy to make you lose: distraction. Each level always has a goal, but it is common for other things to appear so that I focus on them and forget about the target of that stage. Us and the distractions In our lives this is exactly how it happens. We live our days often focused on what is not related to our goals. The Lord may have given you some targets: to dedicate yourself to His work, to do something He ordered, to follow the call He gave you, among others. Anyway, He can direct us to so many purposes to fulfill in Him. But the devil has many ways to divert us from our goals. The main one is distraction. How many times have you seen yourself on a path that seemed to make so much sense in your eyes, but when you turned to the Lord, He showed you that it wasn’t that? It is usually a slow […]

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January 12, 2023·Rapha Abreu

When is the right time to pray?

When is the right time to act? To what extent is risk taking the right decision? How long should we wait for something? With each passing day, the answer to these questions becomes clearer to me. The answer is always Jesus. Who knows more “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you”. James 1:5 A while ago my car started making an unusual noise. Instead of consulting a mechanic right away to find out what that noise was and what to do, I postponed it for a few long days. The noise was coming from the damper. If I had changed it when it was defective, I would have had to change it alone. But as several days passed, the bad shock absorber ended up overloading the other 3, so I had to change them all. Conclusion: I spent more, I needed to spend more days without a car and I almost had problems with other parts of the car. If I had changed it too soon I would have thrown a still good shock in the trash and had unnecessary work. So who […]

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January 10, 2023·Ana Julia Luiz

Prayer for the weary and burdened

The year is starting, but we came from a very troubled year for many people. It’s common to feel tired and overwhelmed, even if 2023 is just beginning. In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29 May we cling to Jesus and learn from Him to be meek and humble. Today, I invite you to pray for your neighbor and maybe for yourself so that God will bring you rest, remembering that you don’t need to pray the same way I will leave it here. After all, everyone has their own way of talking to our God. Prayer Lord, my God and Father, we thank You for another breath of life that You have given us. It was through Your grace that we came this far. Holy Spirit, we cry out to You to bring relief and comfort to our hearts. Bring peace and rest into our lives. That rest that can only come from above. Father, we ask for […]

devotional prayer rest tiredness

January 05, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Seeing with Eyes of FAITH

Claude Monet was one of the most important impressionist painters of the 20th century. He once said a sentence that always caught my attention: “To see, we must forget the name of the things we are looking at”. I don’t know about you but, in addition to using it for many areas of my life, I can see this phrase in the gospel too. Discernment and vision “To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue’. Proverbs 16:1-9 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds“ Daniel 1:17 We are the only beings who receive from God rational abilities to plan, decipher codes, dream… This characteristic leads us to always seek the path of reason. We often rationalize too much, question and wish that everything makes the most sense to us. We want to have complete knowledge of everything that happens in our lives. However, God in different situations will use what makes no sense to us. He breaks the mold and invites us to see through faith and understand through His voice. And faith […]

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December 21, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Prayer for the New Year

2022 was quite a year! So many things happened: elections here in Brazil, the World Cup, among other international events, not to mention what happened in our personal lives. We can say that we only got this far because the Lord kept us. Taking that into account, I believe it’s important to pray for this year that is starting too. May 2023 be a year of blessings and joy in the presence of God. Today I invite you to pray and intercede for the new year, remembering that you don’t have to pray the same way I will leave it here. After all, everyone has their own way of talking to our God. Prayer “Lord my God and Father, We thank you for this day and for another year that You Lord is giving us. Thank you also for Your faithfulness and love. Thank you for taking care of us this past year. Despite adversity and difficulties, we know that You were always present and never abandoned us. Father, we ask you for this year that is beginning. May days of joy come! May we learn to find joy in living Your purposes and Your will. May we love our […]

devotional new-year prayer

December 19, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

A new life

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard the phrase: “New Year, New Life”. At the end of the year, here in Brazil this sentence is posted on the social media and said by family members, friends, pastors… It is a typical end-of-year sentence. During this period of the year I have the habit of briefly reflecting on my year: what got better, what got worse, the best moments, the worst, among other points. A former leader once also encouraged me to think about something I take into my life: what about my relationship with God? Has it improved, worsened or stayed the same? After all, regardless of all the other things that happened (if I got a job, got into the school/college I wanted, got a car, moved house), what matters most is my relationship with God. Everything loses value if I don’t dive deeper. Relationship with God Sometimes I find myself thinking about the ups and downs I’ve had throughout the year, including my relationship with God. After all, I’m not perfect. I always end up sinning and moving away from His presence a little, but the important thing is to always return to the Father’s feet. […]

devotional life new-year

December 19, 2022·Rapha Abreu

Have you been grateful?

When a new year begins, we always look for dreams in the drawer to put them into action during the new months and not let them stand still. And filling our heart with hope is great! Having a goal moves us and, when we hear His voice to know the best path, it also takes us closer to Him. The problem is when we transfer our happiness to our dreams, putting the responsibility of making us happy on them. Gratitude in the now “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 It makes me question whether I’ve been grateful for what I already have. Have I been seeing the little things that God has already poured into my life or am I busy waiting for a hyper event that takes me off the ground and makes me lose my breath? When we plan big things, we end up focusing too much on them and forgetting about the small pieces that put together such a bigger and amazing puzzle. As human beings, we are used to easily noticing the big and we let go unnoticed or with less attention to what is […]

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December 16, 2022·Rapha Abreu

The meaning of the gifts

When Jesus was born, the story tells that the wise men went to the baby and presented him with some objects. Have you ever wondered about the meanings of each gift given by them? “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11 The gold This gift represented and reaffirmed the royalty of Jesus. “The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty. The Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength. Indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. Your throne was established long ago. You are from all eternity”. Psalms 93:1,2 The boy was born in a manger, surrounded by animals and hay. But he was still the Son of the King of Kings. Jesus was King right there in Mary’s lap and King in every heart that recognized Him as Lord. He just wasn’t a king who would reign in a palace. As stated in Philippians 2:6, He was God Himself in human form but, even though He was the greatest in the world, He did not attach to titles, but came to earth to fulfill His purpose […]

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December 16, 2022·Ana Julia Luiz

Our Gift

This week I heard a sentence that I found very interesting. “At Christmas, it is Christ’s birthday, but we are the ones who receive the gift of love, grace and care coming directly from the Father”. And this is a fact. Thanks to the birth of Christ we are entitled to the greatest gift there is: redemption, grace and being able to enjoy the Father’s love. Tradition Have you ever wondered what is the origin of this tradition of exchanging gifts? According to what the stories say, it began with the birth of Jesus. In Matthew 2:1-12, it is told of the three wise men from the East. In this passage each of them brings a gift to Jesus after His birth: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They say that it was Pope Liberius who made it official in 354 a.C. There is also the story of Santa Claus, which began with a Bishop who delivered gifts to needy children on Christmas Eve. All these are stories that started the tradition of gifts, including the most socially accepted and passed down from generation to generation. A proof of this for me is that even if my family is not well financially, […]

christmas devotional present

December 13, 2022·Rapha Abreu

Have you been a disciple or one of the crowd?

In the stories of Jesus we see several miracles happening wherever He went. But what most calls my attention in them is where the focus of each character was in the face of everything that happened. We can compare it to our focus on situations these days. The crowd seeks the miracle “And the people all tried to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all” Luke 6:19 The crowd followed Jesus for His works, often craving what He could offer rather than who He was. After the healings and miracles it was possible to see people worshiping Him with greater vehemence. It always leads me to think that I too am often the crowd. Who asks, begs and hopes for a miracle, but who only has that as a goal. We seek God many times for what He can do for us, and we forget to seek Him just because He is God, our Father. The Master for the crowd was often an attraction. The disciple seeks Jesus “Many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’, Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, ;Lord, to […]

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