Day 1 - The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity is perfect. We know that it is revealed only when we come before the Throne of Grace. But, an apparent example of this Trinity was the baptism of the Lord Jesus.

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

The Son, having been baptized in the water... The Holy Spirit, descending upon the Son like a dove... and the Father, identifying from heaven His beloved Jesus.

God the father sacrificed His son whilst being God... God the son having a Spiritual nature sacrificed Himself by not calling on His Spiritual nature... God the Holy Spirit is God — Father and son, who is willing to live in the lives of those who allow Him. Many want to have this miracle inside of them, but they aren't willing to pay the price.

What is the price to pay? The total surrender of YOUR WILL AND 100% OF YOUR ALL for everything God has!

What do you gain with this? SUPERPOWERS! The Holy Spirit inside of you, you become a power person in the Spiritual world. You receive The Spirit to recognize God's voice... He makes you reason, He guides you! Typically, you use these super powers in difficulties and trials.

Why is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit necessary? It's necessary for the survival of faith in this world, every day it's much harder to dwell in it. It's impossible to be a Christian in this world without the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Being a Christian without the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the same thing as hearing about a delicious plate of special food and staying hungry wishing one day being able to eat it. The baptism in the Holy Spirit enables us to personally know the Lord Jesus, it takes us to have personal experiences with God, it guarantees our salvation and it impedes us from being deceived or mislead by our weaknesses, emotions, and feelings by motivating us towards a constant spiritual growth.

The Holy Spirit is the Flame that impedes our faith from going out. Only those who have been sealed by Him have stayed firm.

21 days - Meditation

During the Fast of Daniel, I will be meditating with a few youth in the church over the book of Bishop Macedo The Holy Spirit... Starting on Monday (August 13th), I will be posting on this blog a bit of what we'll be meditating during these 21 days (everyday). If you want, come here starting the 13th... let's be in that faith of fasting :-)

Willing to Compromise (Testimony of a Pastor's wife)

I've wanted to share an experience I had with God in order to help someone out for a while now but, I was always leaving it for later, I didn't have time. Actually, it's not that I didn't have time but I didn't know how to say it. In the end I got the courage to overcome this challenge.

It's been two years since I've been doing the Work of God on the altar. My husband and I had only been married 4 months and were then transferred to assist a more experienced pastor. In the beginning it was very difficult for me, being away from my family, my pride wouldn't allow me to compromise in my marriage resulting in many arguments and nights of crying. When I was an assistant, I thought I was so strong until I came across a problem much bigger than any other I had overcome as an assistant: overcoming myself, my ego. It took me time to recognize that I had to change because I was very spoiled, I wanted to compare my marriage to that of my parents. There was no point to this because the more I criticized him the less he changed.

He worked exhaustively winning souls and when he got home, besides than the bad food (lol), he had to hear my complaints and comparisons, and whatever he said I took it as an offense. If he said that I had to learn to make bread like his mom or his favorite dessert, it led to an automatic argument. I kept grinding it between my teeth feeling inferior every time. Do you think I did something to change this? No. I thought the problem was on his behalf, he was expecting too much of me.

All he wanted was to have peace and dinner on the table (lol). And I in a bad mood just wanted to compare everything to my old life as a single woman. I was on MSN wasting too much time chatting with my single friends that I didn't have time to hear the voice of God. Only until the time that I managed to disconnect from all those (which deep down I knew was taking up the time I was supposed to be serving God) things of no help, I then started reading books on marriage, participating in meetings that the main pastor's wife of the state had with those that had been married for 3 years or less and God started showing me how selfish I was being and how I wasn't valuing the man God had given me to help.

I had prayed so much when I was single and now had to face the truth. I needed to compromise, I needed to mature, I needed to be humble and recognize that my husband's life could not revolve only around me but in the suffering souls because, that is what God had called us for. I began to realize that if I didn't become the helper he needed, he'd never be the man of my dreams and that's when everything began to change. I began reading cooking books and making those recipes (lol), he got so happy that he began complementing me and I began feeling more secure about helping more around the church, organizing more my time. Many times, he was in need of a shirt and it wasn't ironed or cleaned, it wasn't the lack of time but lack of organization and willingness, I'll talk more about this another time.

Summarizing, my marriage began changing once I took the first step, without waiting to receive anything in return, that's where I learned what true love is, and that the stage of adaptation lasts for a short amount of time when we are willing to compromise. 

Daniela Garces - Paraná, Brazil