Immediate relief!

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

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

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 25^th you will have enough reasons to raise up your hands to give thanks to God.

Don’t miss the Lord’s Supper Sunday Oct 24^th at 11am and on Nov 5th Night of Crying Out at 8:30pm

Using Your Faith

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!

Renato Cardoso's Blog: Gold from your enemies

Renato Cardoso's Blog: Gold from your enemies: "Exodus 11: 1 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here...."

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.

Bishop Carlos E Da Costa

5OCT

Carrots, eggs or coffee. Which one are you?

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

THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH PA

THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH PA

The Power of Asking.

The future of any human being depends on what he/she asks to receive, what we have today is a result of what we asked and received yesterday and tomorrow our life is going to reflect exactly what we are asking for today. But how about those who don't ask for anything? Those who usually say, "I don't need to ask"? Are they blessing their future or destroying themselves?

This event, "The Power of Asking" is the best opportunity ever given by God for us to have our life totally transformed by the Lord Jesus we just need to obey Him by doing according to what He told us to do, Ask! You shall receive. If anything prevents you from being a part of this event make sure is not of God, because He wants you to ask to receive.

October 17th can be the day in which you take the first step that can change your life.

Bishop Carlos Da Costa