The most important commandment

The most important commandment

What has impeded you to receive the Holy Spirit

God's Strategy

God's Strategy

When the devil tried to take over the world, he used Nimrod to build the tower of Babel, to draw mankind’s attention to an achievement that, at the time, would only be possible through the power of the "gods". They thought that if the tower reached the clouds, it would also be reaching heaven. Since everyone spoke the same language, they easily communicated with each other and he could effortlessly impose domination over all of the earth through these wonders.

God didn’t allow this to happen

“But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” Genesis 11:5-7

The Language of God

When the Holy Spirit descended upon the hundred and twenty who were in the upper room, they began speaking in tongues and the Bible says that when the crowd came together to see what was happening, they were amazed because they were able to understand the language they were speaking, "When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken". Acts 2:6

This doesn’t mean that they spoke in a foreign language, but that the Holy Spirit was giving us a new language, which today represents the language of God, of faith, so that we become united and all those who approach Him with good intentions will understand it.

This language is spoken by the Universal Church (The Upper Room of the Holy Spirit), and even if we experience some difficulties with foreign languages, the gospel has reached the four corners of the world. Nothing can stop us because we are being guided by the Holy Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of God is, no obstacles can prevail.

Conclusion

The devil tried using the human language to impose himself but God stopped him in his tracks.

God poured out the Holy Spirit upon His people and established one language among them, the language of faith, which is exclusively for His people and all those who are willing to come to Him.

Nothing or nobody can stop those who speak "His Language".

OH! WHAT A DAY!

Bishop Vitor Silva

How to pray when you don't feel like it

How to pray when you don't feel like it

Sometimes even I don’t feel like praying — and I’m a pastor. It’s normal. Human beings are very fickle. One day you feel like you can take on the world. The next day you feel like you don’t want to be in the world.

Feelings… If we live by them, we’re doomed.

Thank God there’s an alternative: Doing what we have to do and not what we feel like doing.

When I don’t feel like praying, here’s what I do: I pray anyway. And I find that just like a lot of things in life, once you start doing something, the feeling will follow. First motion, then emotion. Sometimes I don’t feel like eating. But when I start, I want to eat more… I had to start writing this before I felt like doing it. I hate writing, but now, I’m glad I started.

You get the idea.

The main thing is to settle in your head that you absolutely NEED to pray. It’s not an option. Sure for a lot of people it is (because they don’t know what they’re missing), but not for you. The consequences would be much worse than the small effort you have to make to pray.

So you haven’t talked to God lately. You haven’t felt like it. No problem. Are you alone in the room right now? Can you go somewhere private? Then stop reading this and go pray. Two minutes or twenty — it doesn’t matter. Say what you have to say and that’s it.

Then come back here, and add your comments about how doing that made you feel.

Now go.

Bispo Renato Cardoso

The Shield Of Faith

The Shield Of Faith

Why do so many people fall away from the faith?

They’ve failed to use their shield of faith.

The soldier’s shield was designed to offer protection against the enemy’s arrows and swords.

Spiritually speaking, we know that the wicked one shoots his fiery darts at sincere Christians. That is, the devil and his demons are continuously firing darts of doubt to neutralize our faith.

The shield is an instrument of defense that’s used to guard faith.

What good is having an active, living, effective faith, if you’re not going to protect it from doubt?

The shield of faith can quench all the fiery darts of hell.

Whenever you have doubts about something, you must immediately grab yourprotective shield of faith. As a result, your faith remains pure and effective against evil.

When tempted, Jesus used His shield of faith - the Word of God. He used the shield of faith to protect Himself against doubt.

Those who want to keep their faith intact should never forget their protection.

Doubts will always come, but each one of us must fend them off for ourselves.

"Above all, take the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." Ephesians 6:16

Pr Julio Da Silva

Why Persevere

Why Persevere?

When asked by a reporter about the UCKG’s alarming growth rate, the leader of a certain traditional church said:

- We can’t stop them, but we can try to delay them.

The devil definitely knows it’s impossible to prevent God’s people from taking possession of His promises. Therefore, his only option is to create obstacles to slow them down.

The devil schemes against God’s people, by creating situations that will delay their success.

The weapons, we must use in the spiritual warfare to overcome these delays are: perseverance and patience.

To persevere means to stand firm until your final victory. And patience won’t allow you to stand around complaining, whining, groaning, etc...

Jesus said, "But he who endures to the end shall be saved”. Matthew 24:13

Your material achievements reflect your spiritual success. If your determined enough to realize a material dream, you’ll apply yourself just as much to achieve spiritual successes.

If you’re not perseverant enough to work hard towards your material goals, which are smaller and less important, let alone pursue the eternal and spiritual dream of conquering the Kingdom of Heaven!

PR JULIO DA SILVA

Faith Without Blood

After a serious car accident, a man is rushed into the emergency room. There is lots of blood loss. It seems serious. The patient is immediately taken to the trauma center. The doctor begins with the preoperative procedures while the surgeon waits for the blood to be brought in.

Suddenly, the nurse brings the fatal news: there is no more blood. The trauma team panics and yells: you need to find blood somehow, otherwise, there’s nothing we can do.

That’s the harsh reality of the public health care system.

Unfortunately, the same is true in regards to the Kingdom of God. There are people coming into the emergency room (church) on a daily basis. But many are dying without their salvation because of the lack of blood.

There are many doctors and nurses – bad pastors and bad assistants who only care about themselves. They make a living from the altar because they only care about satisfying their own needs.

Faith without blood is useless.

There’s a passage that condemns this type of person:

"Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood”. Jeremiah 48.10