Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Mar2013
What are we going to do now?
Imagine a beloved wife being violently
abused by several men during the night, until dawn and, worse, she dies.
How would any dedicated husband react?
What if the husband was God-fearing,
religious and peaceful?
Is this God’s will? Destiny? Karma? A
cross he must bear? A trial?
I don’t believe in any of that.
It is obvious that the Lord allowed it
to happen. But, why?
I do not know.
All I know is: whatever the disastrous
situation in which we find ourselves, the power of faith enables us to make a
comeback.
Furthermore, our faith in God does not
allow us to be passive in the face of such aggression.
There should be a natural reaction.
On the day the men of Gibeah took the
wife of a Levite and abused her to death, the Levite no longer took his
religion into consideration, much less his pacifism.
He immediately brought her back home,
took a knife and cut her into twelve pieces and sent them to the twelve tribes
of Israel.
The deep pain of such a loss, coupled
with the shame of humiliation, served as a trigger to move his faith of revolt,
a faith that works.
All those who saw the body parts said:
- We've never seen anything like this! Such a thing has never been seen or done,
not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt! Just imagine!
We
must do something! Judges 19.30 NIV
So, they came together as one and
declared war on their brothers, the sons of Benjamin.
Humiliation always provokes a reaction,
whether it’s positive or negative.
A negative reaction is limited to a
mere red face of embarrassment.
In this case, faith is a matter of a
religious routine. The embarrassment takes place and that’s it.
A positive reaction is an attitude of
revolt against a situation.
Faith boils and drives the person to
take an act of revolt.
- See more
at:
http://www.bispomacedo.com.br/en/2013/03/01/what-are-we-going-to-do-now/#more-7079
Monday, February 25, 2013
Sowing - Message from Bishop Macedo's blog
“There was a
famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of
Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you...” Genesis 26.1-3
Because of the famine and extreme difficulties, Isaac’s intention was
to seek for his livelihood in Egypt, since it was the richest and more
fertile place on the Earth at that time due to the Nile River, which
means ease.Isaac asked permission of the king Abimelech to stay in Gerar for some time, because he was convinced he would find a solution in Egypt. But God said to him: “Dwell in this land!”
Even though that command was, apparently, unreasonable, there is only one safe and prosperous place, and it is called “THE WILL OF GOD”.
He obeyed and sowed among his enemies and in that same year, he reaped a hundredfold. Something, that humanly speaking, is impossible, but when the seed of obedience is sowed, its fruits are surprising and abundant.
Sometimes search for better conditions to sow the Word of God – like radio, TV, newspaper, somewhere less violent or with less poverty – thinking that the evangelistic work will flourish there. However, if we will analyze Isaac’s example, we will see that he sowed where misery, violence and injustice had place – so much so that he feared being killed by the men of that place because of his wife’s beauty, he even told them she was his sister.
Is that not an example we must follow? To sow God’s Word in the land of the enemies? After all, it is the place where devil is acting more using injustice, violence, rape, addictions, persecutions, misery, etc.
That does not mean that the good seed must not be sowed among the rich, because the devil is also at work among them. However, where do the people that are more dedicated, converted, born of the Holy Spirit and that surrender themselves to God with sincerity most often come from? Without any doubt, from the places that are considered as the scum of society; normally, where social services, education, health and safety, or even basic sanitation do not exist.
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are” 1 Corinthians 1.27-28
If those who claim to be servants of God would be more worried about sowing the good seed in the land of the enemy, the devil wouldn’t be sowing chaff among the wheat, and we wouldn’t have so much jealousy, gossip, envy, discord, bad eyes and carnality in the church.
“…Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season...” 2 Timothy 4.2
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)