JFA Blog

Reflections, studies and news for your walk with God.

July 18, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Prayer: Forgiveness and Love

In the last texts we talked about forgiveness and perfect love. Although we’ve talked about the two separately, forgiveness and perfect love always go together. God’s love is full of mercy and grace, so we have the Father’s forgiveness at all times. Today I want to use this space to pray for forgiveness and love. I invite you to pray with me so that we can learn from the heart of God. Remembering that you don’t have to pray exactly as it is written here. Everyone has their own way of talking to the Father. Please feel free to pray as you wish and if you wish, I will be happy to accompany you in this prayer time. Prayer “Lord, Your heart teaches me so much! Your steps minister and illuminate mine. Mold my heart to be like Yours. May I in all my days remember the walk of Your Son Jesus, which was full of wisdom and full discernment of Yours word. Guide my life in love, teach me to love as You love. I know that in Your love lives complete forgiveness and I want to know how to release that forgiveness on other people too. As I […]

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July 13, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Worship the Perfect Love

Gratitude is also a type of worship. Being grateful and worshiping the Lord are natural responses of a heart that lives in His love. They are common actions of someone who loves the Father and His Kingdom. Love that drives “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.” Psalm 92:1-2 When we understand the size and beauty of God’s love and grace, it is natural for our hearts to overflow with love. This is praising God, expressing in words and actions how wonderful He is in every detail. We are loved unconditionally and that alone should be a reason to be grateful for the rest of our lives. But many times we stagnate by knowing that we are loved unconditionally. However, I want to tell you that this love does not exist to stop us. We need to evolve into thinking that if God loves us unconditionally, we need to move in that love. Really, this love is not a bargaining chip, it does not exist based on what we do or fail to do. His main goal is for you to move knowing […]

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July 11, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Where does forgiveness live

I want to talk to you today about the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. That’s how God demonstrated on the cross how he loves us. He calls us to act in this way towards one another as well. What have you valued? “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew 6:14 In this passage from Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us about the importance of releasing forgiveness. He underscores in that sentence how the forgiveness we offer others is linked to the forgiveness we receive from Him. Forgiveness shouldn’t be a choice for us, it should already be one of our foundations. When we offer forgiveness we can experience the fullness of the Father’s forgiveness. We are not perfect, we all make mistakes at some point. We are often inflexible. When we demand of the people around us that they be perfect, we seem to erase from our minds the fact that we fail too. To forgive is to say that we value the relationship and communion more than the pain and anguish that exist in pride. Beloved in failure “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just […]

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July 06, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Prayer: Good Fruits

In the last text we talked about the seed that He sows in our hearts and the fruit that is generated in us when we are in Him. Today I want to use this space to pray together about these fruits and these seeds. Let’s pray for the soil we are (or should be) to be fertile for the Kingdom. I invite you to pray with me. Remembering that you don’t have to pray exactly as it is written here. Everyone has their own way of talking to the Father and I want you to feel free to pray as you prefer. But if you want, I’ll be happy to accompany you. 🙂 PRAYER “Father, thank you for pouring so much on me, even though I didn’t deserve it. I am filled with gratitude for your work, for your mercy, love and care. For entrusting me with something so much greater than myself. I thank you for my gifts and my calling. More than giving thanks for what I receive from You every day, I want to pray for what I deliver before it. God, teach me to take care of what You have entrusted to my hands. Give me […]

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July 04, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Gift X Fruit

For a long time I had doubts about the difference between gifts and fruits. And the meaning is so deep and beautiful. When we understand this difference, we feel part of something and it fills us with hope and identity. A good soil “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.” Matthew 12:33 What God does and pours out to us concerns the gift. Fruit is the result of what we do with the gift He has given us. If the gift is the seed that God gives, it says much more about the Lord. The fruit speaks more about the type of land in which that seed was deposited. That is, the fruit speaks about us. Everything we receive from Him must be used for the sake of the Kingdom. We are graced by Him so that we can serve each other better. Thus, we can build the path to His Kingdom in the best way. These seeds planted in our hearts, the gifts we receive from the Father’s grace, need to be watered and cultivated. Through the […]

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June 29, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Prayer: Where will I go?

It’s been a while since we’ve had a prayer moment around here, hasn’t it? Prayer is an opportunity to show our feelings to God and for God. We can use these moments to surrender our worship to Him, to learn in practice to trust, rest and say with our mouths how we want Him in every detail of our lives. I don’t want to bring a specific topic to pray together today, but I want to use this space to pray for His work in our lives. Feel free to pray in your own words as you present your needs and requests before the Lord. Or if you prefer you can accompany me. It will be a pleasure to have this moment together. PRAYER Lord, at this moment we cry out for Your complete act in our lives. We are human and constantly have a need to grab control. The feeling that everything is going according to our wishes and that our lives are going as planned gives us the false feeling that everything is going well. But with our failing hands everything can fall apart at any moment. Remind us at all times how we need to let go […]

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June 27, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Have you been a false prophet?

I recently spoke to you about the difference between being used and being approved by God. An approved character requires depth and obedience. Approval comes through real devotion. How to recognize I used Balaam’s donkey in the text I wrote before as an example that God uses what He prefers and finds appropriate for the moment. Isso não diz muito sobre o que ou quem Ele está usando, mas revela muito sobre Deus. About the story of Balaam, I want to remind you what he was called. In the Bible he is recognized as a false prophet. Although there is not a verse that clearly calls him that, there are passages in which we can understand this characterization. In 2 Peter 2:15, we can read the following passage: “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.” Or also in Jude 1:11 “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain. They have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error. They have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” When we read this, it’s normal to wonder about the revelations he made and the words he took to […]

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June 22, 2023·Rapha Abreu

No space for the new

How do you want to receive new things from God if you remain the old man? No, our attitudes do not change God. His character is something permanent and solid. But our actions directly interfere with everything we receive from the Father. Not because we influence His power, but because we impede the miracle and blessings in our lives by being full of ourselves. We leave no room for the will of God. Empty yourself “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” Galatians 5:17 In some of the texts I wrote here for the blog, I commented on how the actions of people at the time of Jesus prevented them from living profound experiences with God, prevented them from enjoying the presence of Christ. A very simple and quick explanation related to this is that God is not going to put new wine in an old wineskin. If we live a life for our desires, without emptying ourselves, we don’t make room for the new. Even if God poured out His new […]

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June 20, 2023·Rapha Abreu

I AM

God reveals who He is to us through various passages of the Bible. Until the moment when He sums it all up in the famous phrase “I Am who I Am”. Being “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.” Exodus 3:14 In the book of John God is presented to us as the Light of the World (8:12), the bBead of Life (6:35), the Good Shepherd (10:14), the Door (10:9 )… Throughout the biblical text, from the first book, we see God presenting himself to the people in different ways. In each moment He revealed himself in a different way. But he never ceased to exist in the other forms he had already revealed or would reveal himself in the future. Sometimes God needs to remind us of something specific in His character. In moments of pain, He shows himself as Comforter. In the hour of uncertainty, He is the Promise. In times of confusion, He is the Way (14:6). But in all these situations, even if an attribute of the Father is in greater evidence, He simply remains Being. God’s character […]

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June 15, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Led by the Spirit

The Holy Spirit transforms many things in us and many of them have to do with our positioning. These days I heard a preaching from a very special pastor and I would like to share with you some of the ideas he presented. To position “Be on your guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. Do everything in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:13,14 Sometimes we think that having the Holy Spirit, in certain situations such as arguments or difficulties, is keeping quiet and just holding back, sitting back and waiting for Him to do something. But the Spirit of God gives us discernment for a good position in any situation. To be filled with this Spirit is to know how to position yourself, but not with your own strength, but by recognizing your dependence on Him. God expects us to position wisely. Even if we are without strength, He calls us to act according to His will. If the call comes from Him, He will be the source of strength to walk toward it. He empowers you “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with […]

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June 13, 2023·Rapha Abreu

The number of the beast

In Revelation 13 we are introduced to the number 666, “the number of the beast”, a sequence that would bring with it curse, pain, distance, war… There are many explanations and thoughts about this on different theological lines. All the ones I’ve read about make sense at specific points and teach us a lot. But there is one in particular that caught my attention. Three 6 “This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” Revelation 13:18 I don’t know about you, but this subject scared me a lot when I was younger. The idea of a giant being, who affronts God and brings destruction, whose main objective is to distance people from the Father and generate wars, scared me. And that number? Why? If there are so many numerical combinations… The explanation that most calls my attention is in Revelation 13:16-17 that describes that only with the mark on the right hand or on the forehead, which is the name of the beast or the number that represents its name, we could buy and sell. The mark would be a precondition […]

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June 07, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Knowing True Love

Here in Brazil, June is Valentine’s month. Dating is the initial step towards one day having a marriage and building a family, which is the greatest ministry. Love is something that needs to be watered and taken care of. Once it exists, it is necessary that we work to keep it firm and grounded. Loving like Christ “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ… For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.” Ephesians 5:21-26 Bible shows how to keep love firm and grounded: Loving as Christ loved the church. Loving as He loved us is quite challenging and carries with it a weight and a very deep meaning. Jesus is the main and greatest example of a sacrificial and unconditional love. His love for us carries with it the full meaning of redemption and surrender. God calls us to love […]

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June 06, 2023·Rapha Abreu

What does “tetelestai” mean?

In the text of John 19, which narrates the death of Jesus, His last words were: “It is finished”, meaning of the Greek word “Tetelestai”. “When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished’. With that, He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.” John 19:30 Do you know what the weight of that word was when it was uttered by Jesus? No more debts “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14 We were always taught in church about the last word of Jesus before his death, a word that carries so much devotion and surrender. But studying more about it I came across a wonderful explanation of how this word was used in the time of Christ. When someone committed a crime or had a debt to be paid, that person received a document as a certificate of debt. When the imposed sentence was fulfilled or the debt was fully paid, the Judge updated […]

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June 01, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Access to salvation

The word says that we must confess our sins and that, through this, He forgives us. But if He already knows everything before we even speak, why do we need to say? He has the password “According to His eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Ephesians 3:11-12 Salvation has been offered to us, but grasping it is in our hands. Jesus died for us and we now have full access to God, but if there is no movement from us, we are not saved. We need to receive Jesus! Do you know what I mean? It works for other areas as well. God won’t do anything if we don’t want to and if we don’t hand it over to Him. I look at all of this like a bank account. Imagine that someone deposited a very high amount in an account that you don’t have access to, because you lost your password. This money deposited makes no difference in your life if you cannot access it. You will need to go to a bank to solve the access impasse. God has already poured […]

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May 30, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Slaves of Desire

Immanuel Kant was one of the greatest philosophers of the 18th century. In one of his works (Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, chapter 2), he brought the idea that being free is not doing what you want, but doing what you don’t want. And today I want to talk about this idea and how it appears in different ways in the bible too. The power to evaluate “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Galatians 5:13 As humans we have the false feeling that, if we do what we want, we are free. Kant breaks this pattern and shows that, if you do what you want, without measuring consequences, you become a slave to desire and, from that, it is impossible to be someone free. To be free is to do what we don’t want to. For example, I train in a gym. If someone offers me a lot of candies and fried foods after a workout, my craving would be immediately accept it and eat it all at once. But that way I would become a slave to desire, which […]

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May 25, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Used or approved?

Many times we confuse God using us with approving us and we end up taking paths that are not what God wants for us. We seek to be used and do not act to move towards approval. Used by god “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13 To be used by God is to be a channel for a certain action. For example, at one point the Lord used you to say something to someone who was asking for an answer. When you minister over someone’s life, it doesn’t come from you and your knowledge, but it is an act of God through your life. And He can use anyone, any place, any situation. As in the book of Numbers, where the donkey that belonged to Balaam is used to send God’s message and guide the man in the opposite direction, where his mission would be. In many situations we seek to be used, but this is so momentary. The animal didn’t keep talking and having words of wisdom coming out of its mouth for the rest of its life. It was just that moment, and […]

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May 23, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Understanding God’s Wisdom

The quest for wisdom is something that goes far beyond the accumulation of knowledge on a subject. Wisdom leads us to a deep understanding of life and divine purposes. It guides us to a full and meaningful existence. The source of all understanding “For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.” Proverbs 2:6-7 When we are anchored in the wisdom from on high, that which comes from the Father, it becomes a sure lighthouse in the midst of dark moments and storms. True wisdom is not found in human sources, it comes as the gift and gift of God. It is revealed through the scriptures and by a communion with the Holy Spirit of God. It involves understanding God’s ways, purposes, and principles. It allows us to discern between right and wrong, choose wisely, and act with integrity. Divine wisdom guides us in all areas of our lives, whether in relationships, financial and career decisions, among others. It also helps us to find balance at times when our emotions struggle to rule our lives. God is the source of true wisdom. […]

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May 18, 2023·Rapha Abreu

The power of prayer

I have watched some sermons and read a lot about the power of prayer. Unfortunately we often forget about this. We have access to such a powerful tool. Our first step should always be to pray, but often, in the face of situations, we leave prayer for last. Prayer makes things possible “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.” Acts 12:5-7 Last Friday I brought the story of Peter’s arrest and the church’s fervent prayer for his release. The text in Acts 2 says he was in prison between two guards and bound with chains. There was no way he could get away from there, much less get out unnoticed. But while he was in that difficult situation, the church prayed to God for a miracle to be done. Then […]

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May 16, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Action or reaction?

When we know God, He reveals to us our identity, His ways and His dreams. That way, it becomes much easier for us to surrender control into His hands. He is our origin “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them. Male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 When we want to know more about a fish, we need to dive into the sea and understand more about how the sea works. Just studying the fish won’t tell us much. It’s like that in our lives too. If we want to know more about ourselves, we need to delve into God first and in Him we will find answers. For if we dive within ourselves to find ourselves, we will lose ourselves more and more. We don’t have the answers inside us, they come from our Creator. Our paths and the steps we take should not be based on our own experiences, but on our origin. That origin is God. It was in Him that we were born even before we came into the world and it is in Him that we exist. Nothing stops Him “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in […]

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May 11, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Resting in uncomfortable situations

In Acts 12 we have access to a very interesting story. King Herod was persecuting the church and going against what it taught. In this persecution he ordered James to be killed and Peter arrested. But what seemed like the end for Peter became the story of a great miracle… Calling on the strength of the Father “It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison…” Acts 12:1-4 I imagine the fear of Christians at that time. Seeing relevant leaders being forcibly and violently taken away from them because of everything they believed in. If our faith is not firm and strengthened in God, in moments like this it can be shaken. Our minds can begin to question the Lord. We may think He is silent. Faced with that scenario, the church entered into intercession. The bible describes the church’s prayer for Peter as “fervent“. I can […]

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May 09, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Forged by fire

In the book of Daniel there are 2 very important passages, in chapters 3 and 6. One of them talks about when 3 men were thrown into a blazing furnace and the other talks about Daniel being thrown into a den of lions. The stories are different, but there is something in common in them that caught my attention… There was a 4th man “Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” Daniel 3:15 In the passage of Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar commanded that nations and peoples of all languages should prostrate themselves before the golden image that he had set up, when they heard the sound of the instruments. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not prostrate themselves before that image, for there was only one God whom they worshiped. Even knowing the risk they were taking, they didn’t go against their faith at any time. On the […]

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May 04, 2023·Rapha Abreu

What is greater than God?

Have you heard of Billy Graham? He was a pastor who was at the forefront of revivalist movements that took place around the world. He was a channel for approximately 2.5 million people to convert. This wise man, who lived the Word of God so intensely, said a sentence that really caught my attention. I always try to remember it when I’m having a hard time. “Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and His will for us.” Billy Graham Change of Measure “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” Proverbs 3:5 When our expectations and faith are focused on things other than God, it is normal for us to be exposed to fear, anxiety, hopelessness, and thoughts of giving up. Understanding that the greatest strength man can achieve would still be weakness before God, is also understanding how He is greater than everything and how we are nothing. If we are so small and fragile close to the Lord, our thoughts and feelings are also smaller than His and that’s why we can trust completely in this love and care from heaven. Just as we […]

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April 25, 2023·Rapha Abreu

Scars are Stories

In times when we go through turmoil, if our minds are not connected to the Father, they will make us believe that we will be known by our pains. But that’s not what He promised us. Tagged “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.“ 1 Peter 2:9 “Is the glass half empty or half full?” Do you know this phrase? You can focus on your pain and you have complete freedom to do that, although it is a bad path to choose. Such decision can stop you and lead you to a place of stagnation. That’s not what God called you for. The situations He allows us to go through are not to stop us, but are to mark us. And that doesn’t mean that we will be marked by pain, but by a victorious passage through difficult times. Pointing to a miracle When Jesus was resurrected, He didn’t come back unscathed. His hands still had the nail marks. Christ went to meet His disciples when Thomas was not there. So the disciples told Thomas that Jesus had […]

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April 25, 2023·Ana Júlia Luiz

The Cycles of Life

It’s interesting to think about how our life is made of cycles. People come, people go, situations come and situations go. Hardly anything that comes stays forever. There are exceptions, but often that’s not how it works. If you say you’ve never gone through a cycle closure in your entire life, I’m sure I’ll find it very strange. Chapters I love to read and even more to write. I like to think of our lives as a book. At first, for us it is blank, but for God (the Author) it is filled with stories, situations, twists and much more, from our first little steps to the biggest decisions. God sees from the moment we arrive in this world, still in our mothers’ wombs. Closing cycles can often be a very tense chapter in life. Situations or other characters can leave the protagonist (me or you) confused and make him question: “why am I living this?” I was once talking to a friend, venting about a bunch of things that were going on. She looked deep into my eyes and said: “you are in despair because everything got out of your control, but that is normal, it is part of […]

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