Jerusalem - Holy Land
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Ground preparations for the construction of the Temple have begun. Currently, they’re preparing the foundation by removing rocks and dirt from the grounds. It’s hard work that requires time, patience and perseverance.
The same applies in the construction of the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is you. God's thoughts replace yours (dirt and rocks), leaving space to build up your faith. Obviously, this requires time, patience and perseverance. However, there must be a starting point to this Work. And that can be now.
Traumas from your past are added to the problems of the present. This heavy burden neutralizes your strength. It's as if you're stuck and completely helpless before the world. Many have given up and allowed themselves to be swept away by life’s strong currents. Others have even considered suicide.
If this is how you find yourself at this time and you’re determined to find an answer, here’s what you should do: go to the bathroom or a quiet place, close the door, kneel down and quietly speak to God. "I know that I’m not worthy of You, oh Lord.
But You said: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
I've been weary and burdened and need relief, now. If You really exist and that promise really came from Your mouth, then, in Jesus’ name, answer me now!"
Then, don’t say anything else. Just wait a minute for the answer. The Shadow of the Almighty will counsel you and when you get up, your life will never be the same.
Bishop Macedo
Thursday, October 21, 2010
40 Days or 40 Years?
The time promised by God for the people of Israel to take possession of the promised land was of just forty days but it ended up taking forty years, why? When God promises to do something in our life is because He is ready for that and no one better than Him knows that if we are blessed He will be glorified but when we prevent Him from doing what He has already planned for us then problems will be inevitable that was what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness, when they should have crossed the desert in forty days they took forty painful and tearful years, what did they do? They simply put into practice what they had in their mind, their own thought, they decided to follow the impulse of their flesh and as a consequence they got totally lost in the wilderness; that’s what we have seen to happen to many people inside and outside of the church, how many of them come to church and hear the word of God and promptly agree with what is preached but right after the meeting is over most of them forget what they were told by the man of God? They leave the church and it seems that they are running for their lives.
The truth is, if we don’t follow what the Holy Spirit brings to us there’ll be no way to bless and change our life, who can please two masters at the same time? Or you please God by doing what He wants us to do or you please yourself by doing what you have in mind, exactly like the children of Israel did and it took them forty years of their lives and during those forty years many people died and could not enter the promised land, they saw the blessing but could not possess it.
We are in all the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God praying, persevering and crying out everyday in all services because we do believe that during these forty days God will do great things in the life of those who are listening to what we pastors are preaching those who are following not their own ideas but what they are learning from the Holy Spirit, we all have the opportunity of conquering our victories within forty days, God doesn’t change nor lie if He said “Ask you shall receive” is because if we really ask with faith we’ll receive, God will never tell us to do something in which He is not going to honor. So, the secret for you overcome your problems and change your life is to do exactly as the Holy Spirit has been telling you through the men of God, don’t try to do what is in your mind or what you hear from other people it may cost your whole life and what you should conquer in forty days it may take forty years.
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6.7
Bishop Carlos E Da Costa
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Holy Spirit Intercedes For us
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8.26
To have the Holy Spirit is like to have a good lawyer at the court room in the Day of Judgment, someone who knows exactly what to say to defend his client, as the verse above mentions the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. Many people unfortunately have no idea why many of their prayers have no answers, no result is just because they don’t know how to ask, how to approach God in a correct way in order for them to receive what they need.
When we have the Holy Spirit and allow Him to act in our life He is able to intercede for us and without a doubt we will definitely receive the answer for any request we may make because no one better than Him knows what we need and knows we don’t ask as we should, that’s why, we ask but do not receive as He says, “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss,…”James 4.2,3
If you don’t have the Spirit of God dwelling inside of you yet then you should seek for Him daily and He will intercedes on your behalf before God for sure He has the answers to your prayers and on November 25th you will have enough reasons to raise up your hands to give thanks to God.
Don’t miss the Lord’s Supper Sunday Oct 24th at 11am and on Nov 5th Night of Crying Out at 8:30pm
Monday, October 18, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Why Fear?
Fear 1
The Bible tells us that the fear involves torment (1 john 4:18), which is exactly what the devil uses to bring destruction to the church of the Lord Jesus. Job confessed, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me”
Faith is a powerful tool for edification; fear is a powerful tool for destruction. Faith is a sign of success; fear is a sign of failure.
Fear is also a manifestation of negative faith. We fear because we are sure that our worries will come true. This is the total opposite of Christian faith, and yet it is still faith. In other words, in the same way that God, through the Holy Spirit, strengthens Christian faith in the hearts of His children, the devil, through unclean and deceiving spirits, strengthens negative faith, or fear, in the hearts of those who have rejected genuine Christian faith.
Satan used the apostle Peter to try and dissuade the Lord Jesus from doing what He came to do. He also speaks to us, trying to rush us into wrong decisions. He incites fear and, as a consequence, we become weak. How many times have we become fearful because of circumstances that were arranged by devil or words that were spoken by people we love?
In this respect, we must be very careful, because the devil will not use people we distrust; on the contrary, He will use those close to us, those whom we love the most. As a consequence we must be alert and yet not allow fear or worry to find room in our hearts. Fear and worry produce torment and death.
To be continued next week!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Renato Cardoso's Blog: Gold from your enemies
Friday, October 8, 2010
You Have Power
Many times we wonder why things don't work out in our life as they should work and we get embarrassed without knowing which way we should take to change our life. Amazingly, many people don't know that they are those who have power to defeat themselves. We all know that when a person is defeated the first thing he/she does is to look for someone to blame, is hard for a defeated person to blame herself is much easier to blame somebody else but who can be blamed for our failures? Can we sincerely blame others when things go wrong in our life? In this world we sow and we reap the fruit of what we have sown, then we are not suppose to blame anybody when we fail, we should look into ourselves and find out what caused the disaster in our life. God is so awesome that He always gives us the second chance to start everything all over again. If you need a second chance you just need to ask and you shall receive.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
A daughter complained to her father about her life and how difficult things were going for her.
She didn’t know what else to do and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting. It seemed like as soon as one problem was solved, another arose. Her father took her into the kitchen, filled three pots with water and placed each one over a high flame. It wasn’t long before the water came to a boil.
He put carrots into one, eggs into another and in the last one he put coffee beans.
He allowed all of them to boil and without saying a word.
His daughter was impatiently waiting, trying to figure out what he was doing.
About twenty minutes later, he turned off the stove. He fished out the carrots and put them in a bowl. He did the same with the eggs and as well as with the coffee beans.
He turned to her and asked: "What do you see here?"
"Carrots, eggs and coffee," she said.
He asked her to try the carrots. She noticed how tender they were.
He asked her to take an egg and crack its shell. She did and after pulling off the shell, she observed how the egg had hardened after being boiled.
Finally, he asked her to take a sip of coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich aroma and asked, "What does this all mean, dad?"
He explained how each one of them had faced the same adversity, the boiling water, but each one reacted differently.
The carrots went in strong, hard and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became tender.
The eggs were fragile. Its thin outer shell protected its liquid center, but after being put into the boiling water, its inside hardened.
However, the ground coffee beans were uniquely different from the others. Once they were put into the boiling water, they ended up changing the water.
"Which one are you, my child?” asked her father.
When adversity comes knocking on your door, how do you answer? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? Are you like the carrots that seem strong, but after enduring some pain and adversity become tender and lose their strength?
Or are you like the eggs, that start off with a soft heart, but after enduring difficulties becomes harder and harder?
Or are you like the coffee bean? It changed the boiling water, the same thing that was causing the pain. The coffee bean was able to extract its best flavor.
The hotter the water, the better tasting’s the coffee. When things get worse, you become better and improve everything around you as well.
How do you handle adversity?
Bishop Macedo
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Power of Asking.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Ask and Act!
Ask and Act!
“Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, he said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priest.” Luke 17.11-14
Without a doubt the Lord Jesus could have healed those ten men right away at the same time because He has enough power to do that, but instead of healing them He told them to go and show themselves to the priest, though it’s not written but I don’t think that those sick and miserable men were expecting to see the priest while they were suffering with lepers, but they simply believed and did exactly as Jesus told them to do and on their way to see the priest they conquered their healing.
Meditating about what happened to those men we can easily understand why many people get disappointed with their faith, they carry in their mind a false idea that everything they have to do to be blessed is to say a prayer and that’s it, a miracle is going to happen, and the miracle never happens. They get disappointed and frustrated. For a miracle to happen it is more than necessary that actions of faith be taken to provoke a miracle. That’s why, the Lord Jesus didn’t think twice, He told the ten men with lepers to go and show themselves to the priest.
Whatever miracle you want it is more than possible to happen but, your faith has to be put into action, if you simply ask and wait for something to fall from heaven you’ll never change your life. Whenever you ask for anything from God make sure you are ready to act your faith in order to provoke the blessing you most want in your life.
Sunday, October 17th we will start a forty days journey of the power of asking, you will have the best opportunity to ask and to act your faith to bless your life.
Bishop Carlos E Da Costa
Monday, September 27, 2010
Ask! You Shall Receive - Oct.17th
Friday, September 24, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Ask! You Shall Receive.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Ask! You Shall Receive
Anxieties, preoccupations, fear, doubts, remembrance of bad results of the past, pride, low self-esteem, negative thoughts...these are some enemies of faith they can easily neutralize the power of any type of prayer and no matter how big your faith is, it won't work once it mixes up with some of the elements listed above.Saturday, September 11, 2010
That night, as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said: "I have something important to tell you." She sat down, wordless throughout dinner. I could see the pain in her eyes.
Suddenly, I was also wordless. But I had to tell her what was on my mind. I wanted a divorce and was hoping to discuss the matter calmly.
She didn’t seem upset with what I had to say and simply asked in a low voice: "Why?"
I avoided answering, which made her very angry. She threw the silverware and shouted: "You're not a man!" We said nothing else to each other that night. I could hear her crying. I knew she wanted an explanation for why I was ending our marriage. Yet, I didn’t have a good enough answer. My heart no longer belonged to her, but to Jane. I just didn’t love her anymore; I felt sorry for her.
Feeling very guilty, I wrote up a divorce agreement; leaving her the house, our car and 30% of my company shares.
She took the paper out of my hand and tore it up violently. The woman I’d lived with for the past 10 years had become a stranger. I regretted having wasted my time and energy, but I wouldn’t take back what I said because I was deeply in love with Jane. As expected, she began crying out loud in front of me. As she cried, I felt liberated. I was fixated on getting a divorce over the past few weeks and now it was finally happening; the end was near.
The next day I got home late and found her sitting at the table, writing. I skipped dinner and went straight to bed. I was so tired from spending the day with Jane that I immediately fell asleep.
I woke up in the middle of the night and found her still sitting at the table, writing. I ignored her and went back to sleep.
The next morning, she presented me with the following conditions: she didn’t want anything from me. She only asked for me to give her a month before finalizing the divorce. She asked that we try to live together as naturally as possible during the next 30 days. Her reasons for this request were simple: our son would be taking very important exams next month and needed a supportive environment so that he could be well-prepared without the hassle of having to deal with his parent’s divorce.
It seemed reasonable, but then she said there was something else. She reminded me of when I carried her into our house on our wedding day and asked me to carry her out of the house every morning for the next 30 days. I thought she was completely crazy, but agreed to her request so that the following days could be a little less intolerable.
I told Jane about what my wife had requested, she laughed and thought the idea was totally ridiculous. “She thinks that by imposing conditions she’ll change something. She’d better face the facts and just accept the divorce." said Jane, sarcastically.
My wife and I had had no physical contact for a long time, so it felt totally weird to carry her out of the house the first day. Our son clapped and said, "Daddy’s carrying mommy in his arms!" His words made me embarrassed. From the bedroom to the living room, from the living room to the front door; I must have carried her for about 30 feet. She closed her eyes and said softly: "Don’t tell our son about the divorce." I nodded my head, even though I disagreed and then put her down after we crossed the doorway of the house. She took the bus to work and I drove to the office.
The second day was easier for both of us. She leaned in on my chest and I could smell her perfume. I thought about how long it’d been since I’d given this woman any attention. She certainly had aged over the past 10 years; there were wrinkles on her face and her hair was getting thin and gray. Our marriage had taken a toll on her. It got me thinking, for a few seconds, about what I had done to get her like this.
When I picked her up on the fourth day, I felt a greater intimacy with her body held up to mine. This woman had dedicated 10 years of her life to me.
The same thing happened on the fifth day. I didn’t say anything to Jane but it was getting easier to carry her from our room to the front door. "Maybe my muscles are getting stronger because of all this exercise,” I thought.
One morning she was trying to choose a dress to wear. She tried on several dresses but couldn’t find one that fit properly. With a sigh, she said: "All my dresses are too big on me." I figured out the reason why it had become so easy to carry her these last few days; she had lost weight.
Reality hit and I felt a bit of remorse. She carries so much pain and sadness in her heart... Instinctively, I reached out and touched her hair.
Our son came into the bedroom and said, "Dad, it's time for you to carry mom." It had become routine for him to see his father carrying his mother every morning through the house. My wife hugged our son and held him in her arms for a few seconds. I had to get away, fearing that I would change my mind now that I was so close to my goal. Then, I took her in my arms and carried her from the bedroom to the living room and from the living room to the front door. Her hand rested on my neck. I held her tight against my body. It reminded me of our wedding day.
Seeing how skinny she was made me sad. On the last day, as I held her in my arms, for some reason I couldn’t move my legs. Our son had already left to school and I found myself saying the following words: "I didn’t realise how much intimacy we’d lost over time."
I was unable to drive to work. I went to my future new address; I hurried out of my car, afraid to change my mind. I climbed the stairs and knocked on the bedroom door. Jane opened the door and I said to her: "I’m sorry, Jane. I’m not getting a divorce anymore."
She looked at me in disbelief and touched my forehead: "You must have a fever?" I took her hand away from my forehead and repeated, "Sorry, Jane. I’m not getting divorced. My marriage was boring because we didn’t know how to value the small things in life and not because we didn’t love each other. Now I know that, the same way I carried my wife over the threshold on our wedding day, is the same way I should carry her until death do us part.
Jane now knew that I was serious. She slapped me in the face, slammed the door and I could hear her crying hysterically. I went back to my car and went to work.
On my way back home, I stopped by the flower shop and bought a bouquet of roses for my wife. The store clerk asked what I would like to write on the card. I smiled and wrote: "I will carry you in my arms every morning until death do us part."
That night, when I got home with a bouquet of flowers in my hand and a big smile on my face, I went straight to our room where I found my wife lying in bed, lifeless.
My wife had cancer and had been receiving treatment over the last few months, but I was too busy with Jane to notice that something was wrong. She knew that she would die soon and wanted to spare our son from having to deal with our divorce. That’s why she prolonged our life together. She wanted to leave our son the memory of seeing us together every morning. At least in my son’s eyes, I’m a loving husband.
It’s the small details that really make a difference in a relationship. It’s not a mansion, a car, properties or the money in the bank. These things are helpful in creating a happy environment but it doesn’t provide anything more than comfort. So find time to be your wife’s friend; do little things for each other to keep yourselves close and intimate with one another. Have a genuine, happy marriage!
If you chose not to share this with somebody, nothing's going to happen.
But if you choose to send this to someone, maybe you’ll be saving a marriage.
Many who have failed in life are people who didn’t realise how close they were to success and chose to give up.
Bishop Macedo