Are you building your own statue?

Saul had apparently done good deeds. He practiced acts of charity to the king by saving his life, and an act of devotion to God by separating the best of the cattle of Amalek to offer as a sacrifice. However, God sent the prophet Samuel to let him know he was doing very bad as king. What would be seen as noble gestures were the cause of Saul's rejection. 

The bible shows us why God had this attitude toward Saul. It shows us that Saul was making a statue for himself. Who knew that behind Saul's good deeds were hidden, inner selfish motives? What mattered to Saul wasn't the love he had for the king, nor that he wanted to honor God with this offer. It was plain and simple - Saul wanted to impress and pretend to be something he wasn't. 

That's how it is for everyone who does things with the wrong intention, no matter how beautiful and amazing the things they do are... They have the wrong motive in their heart. Likewise are those have do right things but in only to impress others. As well those who like raising praises to themselves. What they do is not to help others, but instead to impress them. People like this feel deeply offended when they don't get recognized for their good works publicly. Jesus said that they have received their reward, and therefore cannot expect anything of the Father who sees what all men do and the reasons why. (Matthew 6:1)

Of course, we ARE called to do good works, but every time we notice the desire within us to be recognized and congratulated, its time to examine our heart and ask God to purify us. Sooner or later whatever is in our heart will come to light. 

Saul wanted to be praised, but instead he was rejected. May God keep us from deceiving our selves!  (1 Samuel 15:12)

Always be yourself!

What blesses our life and everything we do???

Just being our self...

And before anything else confessing your true feelings in every situation. Say the truth without trying to disguise it, don't beat around the bush, and be superficious. It's not only telling the truth to others, but specially to yourself. It's recognizing what you did was good or bad. It's admitting that you want to do better than before... always. It's not caring whether or not the truth will be to your advantage or not, if it gives you something or not, and specially not themost convenient route to get what you want.

So, when you want to conquer goals and friends do it by being 'real'. Its a harder route but... in the end its much safer. Do not worry about being the person your not in some situations, in order to achieve something, because you will have it for some time, but you will not tolerate being someone your not, or even agreeing with things just to get along well with the others. Its a delay in your life and especially in your life with God.

Remember: We only find ourselves, after facing the truth. Just being real (who you are) will give you the opportunity to change. Some things need to change, but just by being who we really are, we are able to see them. When we are fake, we hide attitudes that are not good, and they harm us... it is difficult for God to help us. Only the truth creates peace to our soul. Lies and hypocrisy have two personalities: even though they don't show, they already produce punishment for not being true. You will end up losing credibility.

Hidden Secrets

Try walking around your house in darkness and see if you don't bump into two or three objects. Try choosing something without looking. Try singing without opening your eyes at all. No way, right? You're going to end up tripping and hurting yourself. You're going to end up choosing the wrong thing and you'll also fall for lack of balance. That's exactly what happens when we keep living a life of hidden secrets.

Hidden secrets tie up your life and over time, become even worse. And as if that were not enough, they remain in your consciousness and no matter how much you pray and ask God to forgive you, they never leave. And do you know why? Because they are hidden in the darkness, and God does not work in darkness. The more we cling to our secrets, the more will be in the shadows of darkness. You feel you're the only one with all these secrets and end up feeling vulnerable. Even though God can remove these thoughts from you, it will never happen - not because He doesn't want to, but because He can't. It's up to YOU to get rid of them.

Getting rid of these secrets requires bravery. So many people prefer to keep them safe and well kept in the darkness, so that way no one can judge or criticize them. They lack the courage to confess them and still continue living in the darkness. They live life hoping that God will do the work and get rid of them... Excuse me, but God does not work this way!

"For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." (John 3:20-21)

Even though you have no prideful attitudes for being a person of God, you are still transparent - you cannot hide anything from Him. Not even your mistakes or failures. Who doesn't have a past to be ashamed of?Who didn't do something embarrasing? We all have flaws! But when you purify yourself, those terrible mistakes are erased in an instant. Revealing these secrets is painful, but quick. However, when you keep avoiding this, thinking you'll never have to deal with them again, you end up feeling even more uncomfortable with each passing day. Every time you pray, your secrets accuse you. And because God's Word always comes true, they will show up when you least expect them...

"For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light(Luke 8:17).

And when they come to light, its not just for a little while... So, why go through all this? Why cling to secrets that sooner or later will be revealed? Your secrets are not safe, they prepare a big trap for you to fall into when they eventually are revealed. Do not give them this pleasure! Be transparant not only before the throne of God, but also before people.
　

It's worth the wait (Testimony of a Pastor's wife)

I came to the UCKG when I was 15 years old. I had dreams, was single and looking, had problems, friends, doubts, etc., I began attending the UCKG along with my family, I felt welcomed by the assistants, the youth group, and especially by God. I liked being in church but had not been born of God yet. So then, I started doing what my flesh wanted and began getting cold in my faith. Those good feelings from the beginning disappeared.

I met a guy, who at first was just a friend. We began liking each other, he was a good guy and he came to church with me, I quickly became his girlfriend. I didn't know I had to wait some time, to see if he was the right one for me. My dad was against this relationship from the start, but I insisted, and with that my spiritual life went up in ashes!

I was no longer in the mood to seek God, I became cold. Time went by and my mother kept fighting for me, took me to church, I kept going because I was forced then the unexpected happened: I started to go back, I became aware that I needed God in my life. In every meeting I felt God take me in and strengthen me. But it wasn't easy to go back, oh how I struggled fighting against myself, against the world, and against my own will but from then on I came back even stronger, I took part in everything, I was firm, I was very happy to be back but still, I had a problem. My current relationship was not pleasing God and that made me feel guily.

It was then that God used my dad to prevent me from dating sinceI was still living at home, I obeyed and broke up with my first boyfriend leaving behind all the dreams I had with him and replacing them with the dreams of God. Don't think this was easy... It was very difficult for me, I suffered a lot, I cried, but I believed and clung to God without knowing he was preparing me for the future...

The purposes of faith of my mom had been doing were being answered - she wanted me to marry a man of God. A year later I met Paulo, my husband. I never imagined that one day I'd marry a pastor, but God doesn't choose the perfect, right?

We have faced many challenges together, the distance, the wait (we dated for four years). Today, thank God we're together for four years, we're happy, he's a man of God, has a good character, he's not perfect, because nobody is a Prince Charming only in movies, but he's someone I love very much, admire and respect for his love of souls.

So that's it, now I'm twenty-eight years old, and I can say I gave up many things, but God given me the best. Believe me, it's worth the wait, it's worth trusting for.

Hugs,
Gisele

Eternal Dependence

I asked God for a response... and He answered me, it wasn't the way I wanted but, it still came. In a second I felt strange, lost, but with an inner strength, an immense peace and calmness because I know that with God I am more than an overcomer.

Sometimes we need to go through such compelling situations, to remind us we need God, and only He knows all things, He can take care of us. We can't forget that the most important thing in our life is salvation. So, no matter what you've been through, no matter what they say about you, or what you'll lose, the important thing is you have a Good Conscience.

It may be a situation that you never dreamed of going through, but if you know, really know the God you serve so then, a storm can be going on... but the peace inside of you will be tremendous and wonderful.

That's why I appreciate time, it makes us mature, it teaches and improves us, if everything were a sea of roses, we'd stop depending on God.

Be in God's plans. Do not give up, because the most important thing is your life with God, your salvation. If today you do not understand the reason of everything going on, you don't need to! Just know that your treasure is your sincerity, being yourself, being humble, that's what God loves... God is with You.

The parable of indecision

There was a large wall separating two large groups.

On one side of the wall was God, the angels and loyal servants of God.
On the other side was satan, his demons and all humans who do not serve God.

And on top of the wall was an undecided youth, who was raised in a Christian home, but was now in doubt on whether or not he should continue serving God or tasting a bit of worldly pleasures.

The undecided youth noticed that the group on God's side called and screamed non-stop to him:

"Hey, come down now... Come!"

The group of satan didn't scream or say anything. This continued for some time, until the undecided youth asked satan:

"The group on God's side has spent all their time telling me to come down to their side. Why hasn't your group called or said anything about descending to your side?"

The youth was extremely surprised when satan replied:

"It's because the wall is MINE."

Never forget: There is no 'in-between'. The wall already has an owner. Think about this.

Repairs aren't good enough!

One day, I picked up an object in the closet of a friend and BAM! A porcelain mug slipped and fell, breaking loudily on the floor. Besides the horrendous noise, which called the attention of my colleagues, bits and pieces fell broken on the ground. Embarrassed, I tried to take it out, close the closet door quickly and gathered each broken piece one by one. I knew I couldn't, but the instinct to "fix" is very strong in me, so I tried fixing it. I bought super glue and patiently glued the 'puzzle' formed by the many broken pieces. The first ones turned out well, making it almost intact, but eventually I found that I had small parts that were unfixable, and so then cracks began to appear. The results were not pleasing.

I was really disappointed about the mug, and then it became clear in my head, "Even if you try fixing your life, you still won't be able to restore it to the orginal condition." There will always be plenty of 'junk' left by the disasters of life. Right then the Holy Spirit spoke to me: "Only God makes all things new." I would end up having to pay for a new mug for my friend after all.

This same way the Lord Jesus paid the price for our life brought by sin on the cross. Jesus sacrificed His life on our behalf in order for us to have the "new life". My friend, there is no doubt that this freed me from any debt. The nice thing about this incident was that it made me think about how God is also gracious, forgiving us our debt.

I leave you with this question: Are you still trying to pick up the broken pieces and fix it all by yourself? It's an impossible job to be done on your own. Put your whole life in God's hands, the potter, He makes all things new.

Strength is exactly what we need

One day a small opening appeared in a cocoon, a man sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to pass its body through that little hole. All of a sudden it stopped making progress.

It seemed that it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. So then the man decided to help the butterfly, he took scissors and cut the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But its body was withered, small, and it had shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the the body,which would become firm in time.

Nothing happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a withered body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly. What the man did not understand in his kindness and goodwill did to help the butterfly was that, the struggle inside the closed cocoon was necessary for the butterfly.

Passing through the tiny hole was the way in which God made the fluid from the body of the butterfly pass onto its wings so that it would be ready to fly once it was freed from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives.
If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, this would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could be. We would never be able to fly.

I asked for Strength... and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for Wisdom... And God gave me Problems to solve.
I asked for Prosperity... And God gave me a Brain and Muscles to work.

I asked for Courage... And God gave me fears to overcome.
I asked for Love... And God gave me Troubled people to help.
I asked for Favors... And God gave me Opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted... But I received everything I needed.

Be inside the arena

"The credit belongs to the person who is really inside the arena, whose face is marred by dust, sweat and blood, who bravely exerts effort, who fights repeatedly because there is no effort without obstacles; the one who really strives to accomplish the tasks at hand, they know what it is to have great zeal and devotion and apply all their strength for a worthy cause; at the end they discover the success of great ACHIEVMENTS and if he were to FAIL, at least he fails with dignity. This way his place shall never be with the cold and timid people who know neither victory nor defeat. "

Attitude

The more I live the more I recognize the impact that our attitude has in our lives. To me, attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than the current circumstances, than our failures, and more important than what people think or say. It is more important than just an mere appearance.

It can make you or break you...

The amazing thing is that we can choose the fate of our day according to the attitude we decide to exercise. We can't change the past... we can't change the facts that make people act, we can't change the inevitable. We can only accomplish something that's within our reach, and this is our attitude. I am convinced that 10% of our life is what happens to us and 90% is how we react to these events. So it all depends on us ...

"We are responsible for our actions."

Hello

I'm going to start this blog to share with you things I've experienced in my life hoping that somehow I can help you because when you depend on God, nothing is impossible. "Being happy doesn't mean having a perfect life, it's deciding to stop being a victim to your problems and actually become the writer of the story of your life."

Graci